zachxlutz
New member
You'll have to make another video once things get normalized, I thoroughly enjoyed your last one.
Caribbean Biotope Seagrass Tank
- Thread starter Michael Hoaster
- Start date
You'll have to make another video once things get normalized, I thoroughly enjoyed your last one.
I just ordered some fish, invert and plant foods from Petsolutions. Some was on sale, plus free shipping over $49. I got iron and trace elements for the plants, phytoplankton for filter feeders, and pellets for the fish.
I'm trying to make sure I have all that I need to drive the ecosystem at a high rate, similar to a high tech freshwater planted tank.
I'm trying to make sure I have all that I need to drive the ecosystem at a high rate, similar to a high tech freshwater planted tank.
Good idea Zach, and same to you!
I should at least post some pics of it now, pre-bloom. It's not much to look at, but I like to get a record of all the phases.
I'm just so pooped, with all the snowboarding this week…heh heh.
I should at least post some pics of it now, pre-bloom. It's not much to look at, but I like to get a record of all the phases.
I'm just so pooped, with all the snowboarding this week…heh heh.
OK, these are cloudy. I made the mistake of dosing iron before shooting-dumb!
The grasses are a little sparse, but nice and green.
Grasilaria popping up. Bits of ulva everywhere.
The shoal grass catches the light nicely. Note the big ball of chaeto and the anemone peeking around.
Another view of the anemone through the grass.
The grasses are a little sparse, but nice and green.
Grasilaria popping up. Bits of ulva everywhere.
The shoal grass catches the light nicely. Note the big ball of chaeto and the anemone peeking around.
Another view of the anemone through the grass.
Thanks Zach!
Yeah, I'm hoping it fills in soon. It's embarrassing to show it like this! I think I'm doing everything I need to do, but you just don't know until it happens! I need to be patient. It's weird. I feel like I have to prove myself all over again.
I can imagine what some folks must think. "Wow, what happened to his tank? It looks terrible! I was just on this thread a couple months ago and it was awesome. How'd he screw it up so quickly?"
I know that low points make the high points higher, so I'm trying to enjoy the "before" phase. Assuming I don't blow it, it will be nice to look back at those pics and say, "see what you came back from?"
Yeah, I'm hoping it fills in soon. It's embarrassing to show it like this! I think I'm doing everything I need to do, but you just don't know until it happens! I need to be patient. It's weird. I feel like I have to prove myself all over again.
I can imagine what some folks must think. "Wow, what happened to his tank? It looks terrible! I was just on this thread a couple months ago and it was awesome. How'd he screw it up so quickly?"
I know that low points make the high points higher, so I'm trying to enjoy the "before" phase. Assuming I don't blow it, it will be nice to look back at those pics and say, "see what you came back from?"
Thanks Chasmodes!
It certainly could be worse. I really should be grateful for everything that has gone right.
It certainly could be worse. I really should be grateful for everything that has gone right.
Live sand and pods just delivered!
I ordered Florida Pets' golden live sand, since that's all they had. It looks to be about half silica sand and half shells. I spread it around the DSB in a thin layer. Then I covered it with another thin layer of calcium carbonate sugar size sand.
It didn't look to have much life in it, but who knows. My hope is that there are some players that add to the sand bed's diversity. The mixed pods should help too.
I ordered Florida Pets' golden live sand, since that's all they had. It looks to be about half silica sand and half shells. I spread it around the DSB in a thin layer. Then I covered it with another thin layer of calcium carbonate sugar size sand.
It didn't look to have much life in it, but who knows. My hope is that there are some players that add to the sand bed's diversity. The mixed pods should help too.
This one cracks me up.
Chasmodes
Well-known member
It's coming together Michael! It won't be long that your tank ecosystem will be stronger than ever!
I love that pic :fish1:. Barnacle blennies remind me of muppets :lolspin:
I was looking at some the pics in your past posts. The colors and beauty of macro tanks really do rival the coral reef tanks. What a beautiful ecosystem to emulate.
I love that pic :fish1:. Barnacle blennies remind me of muppets :lolspin:
I was looking at some the pics in your past posts. The colors and beauty of macro tanks really do rival the coral reef tanks. What a beautiful ecosystem to emulate.
I sure hope so, Chasmodes!
It was good to get some new sand. It covered up most of the mulm/detritus nicely. So far, no signs of spaghetti worms though. I may have to order some. I keep waiting for some kind of explosion of plant growth, but no. But if I look back at pics from a few weeks ago, I can see that the seagrasses especially have progressed well. So I need to be satisfied!
I'm glad you like the pic. See why I had to get more of them? They're just funny looking! I've been looking back at old pics too. Lot's of fun colors!
It was good to get some new sand. It covered up most of the mulm/detritus nicely. So far, no signs of spaghetti worms though. I may have to order some. I keep waiting for some kind of explosion of plant growth, but no. But if I look back at pics from a few weeks ago, I can see that the seagrasses especially have progressed well. So I need to be satisfied!
I'm glad you like the pic. See why I had to get more of them? They're just funny looking! I've been looking back at old pics too. Lot's of fun colors!
The seagrass without turtle grass. Just the manatee and shoal grasses, which are both thin bladed. This looks more mono-specific. I love it. Once the shoal grasses fill in and the manatee grasses get tall again, it's going to be so pretty.
Here you can see the new sand, making everything look tidy.
More and more red popping up along the DSB rock wall.
I've been playing around with the live rock scape.
The molly fry are destroying the new codium. Kind of a bummer, except that I saw little bits floating around. Maybe these will seed new plants.
I wonder how many times has that movie quote has popped into my head, when working on my aquarium! That, and "You will remember to wash your hands before eating."
Everything's coming along nicely, I guess. I just hope I can get some explosive growth at some point. It feels like there's something missing, or more likely limiting plant growth. The big three are covered, carbon, nitrogen and phosphate. Also iron, potassium and magnesium. It could be a trace element is missing. I've got a trace element supplement on the way.
What's more likely is that everything is still adjusting to the corrected water chemistry, and I just need to be patient. I should remember another 'famous' quote: Good things happen slowly in aquariums, bad things happen fast.
Everything's coming along nicely, I guess. I just hope I can get some explosive growth at some point. It feels like there's something missing, or more likely limiting plant growth. The big three are covered, carbon, nitrogen and phosphate. Also iron, potassium and magnesium. It could be a trace element is missing. I've got a trace element supplement on the way.
What's more likely is that everything is still adjusting to the corrected water chemistry, and I just need to be patient. I should remember another 'famous' quote: Good things happen slowly in aquariums, bad things happen fast.
Hey, I just wanted to point out that Gulf Coast Ecosystems is the best macro store on the web. They have the largest portions, the best prices (including shipping!) and the best customer service of ANY of their competitors. I've tried others-no one's even close!
Still no sign of spaghetti worms. So, I ordered GCE's refugium pack, which includes two pounds of live sand and an assortment of macros. I'm hoping their sand has those little, orange wrigglers. Adding more sand to the DSB is good. I need to replace sand that gets removed through maintenance and dissolution.
The more sand sources, the more diversity. This is what I meant with building the ecosystem from the ground up. How does nature process the constant settling of detritus? Detrivores. The more diverse your detrivore community is, the better equipped it is to handle a wide variety of input. They process all this stuff down to food for the plants. I had a huge buildup of detritus resulting from hypo salinity treatment. Spaghetti worms and other detrivores perished. Snails and pods survived.
Understanding how everything is connected, through the food chain, we can pick and choose not just the fish and plants, but the whole cast of thousands, who support the rest of the ecosystem. Complicated? Lucky for us, live sand and rock is readily available, to seed our little communities. Some critters brought in with them will die, and some will survive and reproduce. The survivors are the ones that 'belong', and take their place as valuable members of a diverse ecosystem.
Certain creatures in nature have to be avoided in the confines of an aquarium. Why? Because they pray on players more valuable to the system than themselves. For example, I wouldn't keep sand-sifting fish or sea stars in my tank, because I want my sand dwelling detrivores at maximum capacity. I added peppermint shrimps to control aiptasias. They seemed to work, but once they ran out, they went after my precious spaghetti worms! The shrimps were removed.
It's not always easy, but it's best not to get too attached to ANY organism in our tanks. No one organism is more important than the whole system's health. Once you realize there's a problem, you need to act fast, because one wrong cast member can quickly devastate living components of a finely balanced ecosystem. The space limitations of aquariums compounds the problem.
This is why it's so tricky for me to pick fish. They have to perform in a way that benefits the ecosystem. Right now, in this transitional phase, the mollies have been invaluable. But once I'm convinced that algae is no longer a threat, I'll remove them. I've kept a variety of 'temps' to perform special services.
So there is no rush to add fish. First, I need to get my cast of thousands ready for the big show. A proper sand bed community is like a wall (or floor), of mouths. And the more mouths and variety of mouths, the better!
The more sand sources, the more diversity. This is what I meant with building the ecosystem from the ground up. How does nature process the constant settling of detritus? Detrivores. The more diverse your detrivore community is, the better equipped it is to handle a wide variety of input. They process all this stuff down to food for the plants. I had a huge buildup of detritus resulting from hypo salinity treatment. Spaghetti worms and other detrivores perished. Snails and pods survived.
Understanding how everything is connected, through the food chain, we can pick and choose not just the fish and plants, but the whole cast of thousands, who support the rest of the ecosystem. Complicated? Lucky for us, live sand and rock is readily available, to seed our little communities. Some critters brought in with them will die, and some will survive and reproduce. The survivors are the ones that 'belong', and take their place as valuable members of a diverse ecosystem.
Certain creatures in nature have to be avoided in the confines of an aquarium. Why? Because they pray on players more valuable to the system than themselves. For example, I wouldn't keep sand-sifting fish or sea stars in my tank, because I want my sand dwelling detrivores at maximum capacity. I added peppermint shrimps to control aiptasias. They seemed to work, but once they ran out, they went after my precious spaghetti worms! The shrimps were removed.
It's not always easy, but it's best not to get too attached to ANY organism in our tanks. No one organism is more important than the whole system's health. Once you realize there's a problem, you need to act fast, because one wrong cast member can quickly devastate living components of a finely balanced ecosystem. The space limitations of aquariums compounds the problem.
This is why it's so tricky for me to pick fish. They have to perform in a way that benefits the ecosystem. Right now, in this transitional phase, the mollies have been invaluable. But once I'm convinced that algae is no longer a threat, I'll remove them. I've kept a variety of 'temps' to perform special services.
So there is no rush to add fish. First, I need to get my cast of thousands ready for the big show. A proper sand bed community is like a wall (or floor), of mouths. And the more mouths and variety of mouths, the better!
Chasmodes
Well-known member
I really believe this also, and that's a goal of my tanks.
Agreed. There are such creatures throughout the food chain. Some make for nice pets, like mantis shrimp. But, as cool as they are, they would make quick work of the fish that I'd like to keep. Other species like ghost shrimp might make for cool additions, but the more valued players will munch on them. Those critters might be better off in my sump. So really, it isn't practical to have a complete ecosystem that we're trying to duplicate. Rather, the goal is to have one as complete as doable within the confines of our system and goals.
This is good info, thanks!
Agreed. There are such creatures throughout the food chain. Some make for nice pets, like mantis shrimp. But, as cool as they are, they would make quick work of the fish that I'd like to keep. Other species like ghost shrimp might make for cool additions, but the more valued players will munch on them. Those critters might be better off in my sump. So really, it isn't practical to have a complete ecosystem that we're trying to duplicate. Rather, the goal is to have one as complete as doable within the confines of our system and goals.
This is good info, thanks!
Great to hear that you agree, Chasmodes. I don't think there are many that do. I love talking about it. Any one else out there into this nature stuff? I'd love to hear from you! It's funny, I didn't start that post planning to get up on my soapbox, but I got there! It helps me to write this stuff down.
I agree, it would be a monumental task to try and duplicate a natural ecosystem in an aquarium. Luckily, we don't have to. We just need to consider our little ecosystems as a whole, then pick the appropriate community citizens-or at least give them a try-out.
When I pick plants, inverts or fish, I first consider how they can 'help' me maintain my tank. If they don't help, they don't get picked. If they pray on a helper, no dice! It can get tricky, building a community to work well together in these little boxes, but it can be done. I love using nature to do most of the work for me. Figuring out how to do it is half the fun!
I agree, it would be a monumental task to try and duplicate a natural ecosystem in an aquarium. Luckily, we don't have to. We just need to consider our little ecosystems as a whole, then pick the appropriate community citizens-or at least give them a try-out.
When I pick plants, inverts or fish, I first consider how they can 'help' me maintain my tank. If they don't help, they don't get picked. If they pray on a helper, no dice! It can get tricky, building a community to work well together in these little boxes, but it can be done. I love using nature to do most of the work for me. Figuring out how to do it is half the fun!
After leaving it alone, in better lighting for a week or so, I fed the condylactis anemone today. It hasn't 'swallowed' yet, so it may still be too soon. I'm hopeful it can come back, but progress is slow.
I've got more live sand and plants on the way tomorrow. Can't wait!
I've got more live sand and plants on the way tomorrow. Can't wait!
