Caribbean Biotope Seagrass Tank
- Thread starter Michael Hoaster
- Start date
Thanks taricha! Me too. I love scoping around the tank, looking for stuff.
Thanks Dawn! Me too. The fake root will return. Hopefully with a repaired crack and a new paint job. It's drying out right now.
I got some mollies today. They will go into the QT to start. I'll move some into the seagrass holding tank later.
One thing at a time…
Thanks Dawn! Me too. The fake root will return. Hopefully with a repaired crack and a new paint job. It's drying out right now.
I got some mollies today. They will go into the QT to start. I'll move some into the seagrass holding tank later.
One thing at a time…
So it looks like my next course of action will be to set up a holding tank for 'desirables'. That is things like seagrass, snails, worms, fish, and anything else I'd like to hold onto, before I drain the tank.
I have set up a long table in my home office that I've put the big QT on. It looks like there's enough room to put a holding tank next to it.
I've been reading about disinfecting plants online. I want to make sure I don't bring any undesirables, like dinos and aiptasias, along to the 'new' tank.
Once I get that setup, I'll be ready to drain the tank and tackle all the projects I have planned. Ye ha!
I have set up a long table in my home office that I've put the big QT on. It looks like there's enough room to put a holding tank next to it.
I've been reading about disinfecting plants online. I want to make sure I don't bring any undesirables, like dinos and aiptasias, along to the 'new' tank.
Once I get that setup, I'll be ready to drain the tank and tackle all the projects I have planned. Ye ha!
vlangel
Premium Member
If I recall correctly, I think dwarf seahorse keepers use Panacur to kill hydroids and other undesirables on their live plants.
Thanks Dawn! I'll check it out.
Right on, taricha. I'll use that for the grasses. I'm wondering what to dip the gorgonian in. Maybe a hydrogen peroxide solution? I should look in the corals forum.
I'm hoping to get the desirables holding tank set up this weekend.
I'm hoping to get the desirables holding tank set up this weekend.
I got the substrate, water and light going on the holding tank. Soon I'll be able to transfer grasses over. I put a nice layer of dirt on the bottom, sand and dirt mix next, and it's topped with a fine sand mix. After filling with water, there's a layer of detritus on top of the sand. It looks like a good place for seagrass to grow. Hope so!
I looked up Panacur. It is a pesticide/dewormer for dogs. Not likely to help with Dino’s.
Michael,
What are your thoughts on dilute bleach? Do you think that Sea Grasses are more resistant to bleach than Dino’s?
I have an issue with Halymenia digitata. When grown inside under moderate LED 12K lighting, this ornamental macro is gorgeous. When I bring it outside in a 150G glass tank using a tumble culture, I have an aggressive green macro that grows from the surface of dragon tongue leaves.
https://www.marineplantbook.com/marinebookenteromorpha.htm
At present, a 40W UV sterilizer is circulating this water at 300 GPHr to prevent spread of spores. Previous to adding salt in this tank, chlorine tablets bleached the tank and water. Aggressive air bubbles circulated chlorine out and salt was added. Two days later, Dragons Tongue was added. Macro grew very fast, more than doubling in one week. A few pieces of Dragons Tongue were noted to have trailing green threads. These were disposed of.
In the past, I tried using H202 to selectively kill undesirable from surfaces of desirable macro without much success. If you try bleach with success, share dilution ratio and soaking time.
Michael,
What are your thoughts on dilute bleach? Do you think that Sea Grasses are more resistant to bleach than Dino’s?
I have an issue with Halymenia digitata. When grown inside under moderate LED 12K lighting, this ornamental macro is gorgeous. When I bring it outside in a 150G glass tank using a tumble culture, I have an aggressive green macro that grows from the surface of dragon tongue leaves.
https://www.marineplantbook.com/marinebookenteromorpha.htm
At present, a 40W UV sterilizer is circulating this water at 300 GPHr to prevent spread of spores. Previous to adding salt in this tank, chlorine tablets bleached the tank and water. Aggressive air bubbles circulated chlorine out and salt was added. Two days later, Dragons Tongue was added. Macro grew very fast, more than doubling in one week. A few pieces of Dragons Tongue were noted to have trailing green threads. These were disposed of.
In the past, I tried using H202 to selectively kill undesirable from surfaces of desirable macro without much success. If you try bleach with success, share dilution ratio and soaking time.
For your coral dip, use a ten percent solution of H202 for ten minutes. This will bleach your algae as well as collateral damage to pods and worms.
Subsea, I've found a 20-1 ratio of water to bleach to be the most prevalent method of cleaning plants of algae. I found no consensus on a soaking time. I think the grasses will hold up to this treatment.
Sorry to hear of your troubles with halymenia. The macro that you linked to is actually pretty cool. Ideally, you could separate them and culture both.
Thanks for the coral dip suggestion too!
Sorry to hear of your troubles with halymenia. The macro that you linked to is actually pretty cool. Ideally, you could separate them and culture both.
Thanks for the coral dip suggestion too!
I look forward to hearing how it goes. I'm not sure it will work for Enteromorpha. I may be wrong but I think the bleach solution works for MICRO algae, not macro. I would think that if it works for Enteromorpha, it may also harm your Halymenia. But that species of halymenia is probably tougher than enteromorpha, so maybe there's a soak time that kills enteromorpha but not halymenia. Good luck!
Using a 5% solution of bleach, I bathed Halymenia digitata with Enteromorphy attached for two minutes. The green chlorophyll starting bleaching from Enteromorphy within 15 seconds. Both are considered macro algae. It is my hope that the slippery slime coat on Halymenia will protect against bleach.
When inspecting tumble culture tank, all infestation of Enteromorphy were on old growth of Halymenia. This old growth was more brittle and most importantly, it did not have a slime coat. I am thinking that when I prune Halymenia for propagation, I should remove these old growths.
I will know more about survival rate of bleached Halymenia in 24 hours.
When inspecting tumble culture tank, all infestation of Enteromorphy were on old growth of Halymenia. This old growth was more brittle and most importantly, it did not have a slime coat. I am thinking that when I prune Halymenia for propagation, I should remove these old growths.
I will know more about survival rate of bleached Halymenia in 24 hours.
Last edited:
Two minute soak of 5% bleach solution killed both macros. After one hour, Bortacladia is losing red pigments and turning clear. I doubt that it will make it.
Enteromorphy is tough. In an outside growout system of three 150G Rubbermade tanks, which was shut down for > 4 years, the interconnecting pipes sprouted strings of Enteromorphy after being dry for that whole 4 year time period. It took 4 months of recirculating thru pipes to rejuvenate algae spores.
Enteromorphy is tough. In an outside growout system of three 150G Rubbermade tanks, which was shut down for > 4 years, the interconnecting pipes sprouted strings of Enteromorphy after being dry for that whole 4 year time period. It took 4 months of recirculating thru pipes to rejuvenate algae spores.
I've got some tough macro turfs I want to remove, when I drain the tank. I'll be using a stronger solution at that point. It will be a great chance to get rid of stuff I don't want, and make room for stuff I do. I get excited at the prospect of diving into this project, but there's a lot of other life I have to do too, so I sneak it in here and there. It goes slower than I'd like, but there's no rush.
Right now I'm getting the salinity in the QT and holding tank dialed. The QT will get a half-way-to-hypo level and the HT will get 25ppt. The QT has some mollies in it, to help cycle, eat algae and make babies. I've said it before…mollies have tremendous utility for marine aquariums!
I'm considering lowering the mini strombus snails' population. I love that they can climb the thin grasses but I hate that sometimes they eat new macros. With a good population of cerith snails already, I think I may try it. I doubt I could eradicate them if I wanted to, but lowering their numbers could help.
I'm liking the larger QT tank. I think its a 40 tall, definitely not a breeder. I think this will be key for low-stress, multi-fish acclimation. Lots of pipes on the wall and floor, to hide in. I've ordered some netting to make tops for the QT and display as well.
Remember, the new tank will not be Caribbean-specific. It's been fun opening up my fish-shopping options!
Right now I'm getting the salinity in the QT and holding tank dialed. The QT will get a half-way-to-hypo level and the HT will get 25ppt. The QT has some mollies in it, to help cycle, eat algae and make babies. I've said it before…mollies have tremendous utility for marine aquariums!
I'm considering lowering the mini strombus snails' population. I love that they can climb the thin grasses but I hate that sometimes they eat new macros. With a good population of cerith snails already, I think I may try it. I doubt I could eradicate them if I wanted to, but lowering their numbers could help.
I'm liking the larger QT tank. I think its a 40 tall, definitely not a breeder. I think this will be key for low-stress, multi-fish acclimation. Lots of pipes on the wall and floor, to hide in. I've ordered some netting to make tops for the QT and display as well.
Remember, the new tank will not be Caribbean-specific. It's been fun opening up my fish-shopping options!
Thanks Kevin. The root repair hasn't begun yet. It's just been drying out. I'll need to clean and sand it, repair the crack, give it a new paint job, and clear coat it. Once that's done, I'll need to modify the mounting bracket, so it sits lower in the tank.
Similar threads
