Caribbean Biotope Seagrass Tank

Thanks JZinCO.

Yes, it's a little hard to believe that caulerpa could be killed, simply with low salinity, but I guess we'll see. Even if it does die out, it could still come back. When I originally added it, when starting up the tank, it gradually disappeared. At least two months later, it came back, and basically took over the tank.
 
I don't understand what you are saying, SantaMonica.

"Yes, but it's how real reefs operate".

I'm not seeing how your statement relates to what you quoted me on. Can you explain?
 
We need an update! How are your fish doing? What salinity and sg are you at now? How about the macros and grass, are they doing OK?
 
OK, an update.

So, I wasn't able to do a fresh water change on wednesday, as I had planned. I finally got it done thursday night. I just checked salinity this morning, and I'm still not quite down to hypo levels. Kind of frustrating, but it makes sense. The lower it goes, the more water you have to exchange to affect change. So, I guess it's going to take one more water change to get there. That will make it 4 steps to get there instead of three. I doubt doing it this way is really helpful, but it may be good for the inverts, like snails and spaghetti worms, which still look good. If I had had a formula for doing it in one step, I would have done it that way. But, given my concerns with harming a variety of organisms, I guess this will work.

My initial assessment of the caulerpa, seems to be continuing. It does appear to be dying back. I am OK with that! Having a couple of years experience with C. racemosa, I can say I'm definitely tired of the pruning it. Having it go away would give me the opportunity to try something else, less invasive and less greedy, in terms of nutrient dosing.

I'm also seeing the hypnea pannosa being affected. It is changing from blue to a pale green color. I have a few frags of it in the QT, so I'm not too concerned.

So far, all the red macros seem unaffected, which is a little surprising to me, but what do I know, I've never done this before.

The royal grammas are all great. They don't even scratch that much. I think they would probably live long lives, even if I didn't do the hypo treatment, but I'd like to add more fish, so I HAVE to lose the ich.

The seagrasses look somewhere between unaffected and slightly off. I'll keep an eye on them.

It occurs to me that some good info could come from this endeavor. For example, I may be able to determine that hypo salinity could be a viable way to rid an aquarium of caulerpa racemosa. Or that certain plants can be left in a hypo tank, while others would need to be removed. Anyway, I'm sure I'll learn something from this, and of course I'll pass it along.
 
I did another fresh water change saturday. I'm still not down to hypo (1.008 - 1.010) salinity levels! I'm at 1.011 today, so I have to do another water change. Yay. Kind of a pain in the @$$ but whatever.

The caulerpa is still wasting away, but everything else looks good. I suspect that running the tank this way for a month or two, will result in significant changes. Hopefully some will be good, and the rest I can bounce back from.
 
"How many 10% water changes with 0ppm water would it take to drop salinity from a specific gravity to 1.026 to 1.008?" sounds like a great gen chemistry I problem.
 
Thanks zachxlutz. I tried it out. Too late in the game to help me, but maybe this could help others. If I ever need to do this again, I will definitely use it.
 
Quick update on the hypo display treatment:

I still have to do one more (please!) water change to get to 1.009sg, but I'm very close.

On the bright side, the caulerpa racemosa is vanishing! I suspect it will be completely gone in less than a week. I have suspended dosing, as the caulerpa is doing it for me. Today I remembered that I had put a little of it in the qt. So, I ripped it out as best I could. Any remaining traces on rocks will be put into the display for eradication.

The grammas, of course, are still doing well, with only a few scratches here and there. Once I get salinity down to hypo levels, I will keep it that way for at least a month, maybe two. I'll base it on the health of the manatee grass to some extent.
 
I'm there! I finally got my tank down to 1.009 sg. with another freshwater change this morning. I'll keep it this way for at least a month, to make sure to eradicate ICH-maybe until the end of march. I'm in no rush. I'll just keep an eye on my manatee grass, to make sure it comes through OK.

Sorry I haven't posted any pics lately. The tank's not very pretty and I'm so vain…
 
It's pretty bizarre, seeing the caulerpa disappear. One thing that occurred to me is that all the nutrients bound up in the plant's tissue is being released into the tank. At first I thought no biggie, the other plants will take it up. But with the hypo salinity, they may not. So, I may get a micro algae bloom. It may have been good that it took multiple water changes, which should have exported some of those released nutrients.

It will be interesting to see if the caulerpa really does get eradicated. Seeing as how it disappeared for two months, and then came back on its own before, I have some doubts. With at least a month of hypo treatment to come, that may be enough to really get rid of it. We shall see.

The hypnea pannosa looks to be dying off too. Everything else looks good so far. I left a lot of snails. They all seem okay too.

I wonder what my tank will look like at the end of the treatment. Probably rather bare. I think I'll lose much more than I have so far, in this very early phase. I just hope the research I read is correct, that manatee grass can survive hypo events. If I lose every plant but the manatee grass, I can live with that. It would give me the chance to decide what I do and don't want, going forward.
 
Yes, that's very interesting to me, especially since my oyster reef tank will be between 1.010 to 1.015 sg. to start. Once I catch everything there is to catch to stock the tank that is local to me, then I'll increase my specific gravity to 1.023. That way, if I collect further South toward the mouth of the bay, I have a better chance to catch a few exotic strays like spotfin butterflyfish, or perhaps get more inverts or macroalgae that don't live well up my way. That is way down the road though.

My plan for my tank is to go as natural as possible, including the use of macros. So, I'm glued to your thread, and the macro board as well. There is so much good info here and experience.

Oh, that calculator is cool!
 
Cool strategy, Chasmodes, starting at one salinity then increasing it to accommodate 'saltier' species. I suppose you could average salinities once you have all the players in place.

It is kind of interesting. Forcing a 'hypo event' on my display kind of simulates seasonal changes that happen in inshore lagoons. Different plants come and go with seasonal changes in salinity, nutrient levels, etc. It will be interesting to see what plants flourish in the vacuum of the rapidly departing caulerpa.
 
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2/12/17 FTS


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I pruned the seagrass today, removing encrusted blades. Simulated manatee grazing event.


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Also notice the back wall is nearly bare. Hypo salinity defeats caulerpa race mosa? We shall see…


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The gramas still look great. The tree grasilaria, not so much. Also, I'm seeing sponge recession.


This hypo treatment is going to be rough on my little ecosystem. But I believe it can rebound, as in nature.
 
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