Caribbean Biotope Seagrass Tank

It was great until this business trip. My skimmer went nuts and dumped out 200gals. In a 600gal system, that's probably a wipeout since my salinity crashed and my tank hating wife had a fit when I asked a buddy to go help...

The one thing I don't control blows up- LOL.

I fly home today. I'll be able to document the effects of incredible salinity drops, pH gone nuts, pump running dry, and huge temperature fluctuations into the 60s.... Stay tuned!

Downside of a 12ft skimmer running open to a sink drain...
 
Oh... And severe alkalinity burns caused by my Kalk reactor dumping mats of white calcium hydroxide on the corals asI tried different mechanisms of increasing my water volume remotely based on the few controls I had at my disposal.
 
Karim, That really sucks. Makes me think the wife may have had something to do with it... JK

Hope you're wrong and everything is okay and not a total loss.
 
Michael Hoaster said:
Well, well, well! Look who decided to join us! Speaking french, no less! Welcome, JLynn!

So, if I have my french straight, you're asking why I think filamentous algae (FA) is better than cyanobacteria (CB), right?

First off, FA is less ugly, and IMO, CB just looks amateurish. Secondly (and most importantly), I don't see FA as another 'scourge', as much as a new phase in the maturation process of my tank. I fully expect it to recede, as a result of the actions taken (and will be taken). The resulting conditions will provide a low-nutrient environment, where the seagrasses outcompete algae.

So, I see it as a positive change, however so slight, on the road from hell to heaven.
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Thanks! It has been a while; school has been very time-consuming, lately.

Your french was correct (bravo:thumbsup:), though I meant it as a rhetorical question. Anyways, I totally agree that FA is better than CA. Your urchin might be more inclined to eat FA, too.

Michael Hoaster said:
"The resulting conditions will provide a low-nutrient environment, where the seagrasses outcompete algae." - OK, so now I'm quoting myself. I thought it would be helpful to clarify.

Seagrasses flourish only in pristine water conditions, where they outcompete algae, by being able to survive on lower (water column) nutrient levels than required by algae, and by using their true roots to access substrate-bound nutrients.

I just wanted to point out that this little tidbit was unbeknownst to me when I started this seagrass tank project. Whoops!

I happily assumed that seagrasses were fast-growing, high nutrient sponges. I thought they'd be 'easy', like the very similar looking Vallisneria plants I had ridiculously good results with, in my fresh water planted tank. Wrong!

The more I researched, the more I realized what a challenge seagrass keeping would be. So, here I am, in a real battle. What I thought would be easier than reef keeping, turned out to be about the same level of difficulty, or more, given the disparity of available information.

I'm not complaining, as much as just explaining just how little I knew going into this. I realize I may come off as a bit of a know-it-all sometimes, but I want you all to know how utterly humbled I've been by this experience. And I'm very thankful for the education I've received.
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No worries. I know I come off as a know-it-all sometimes, too. I just like to debate and nitpick so I can refine my ideas and be more certain about my conclusions; I get the impression that you are very similar, in that respect.

Reef-keeping (and saltwater aquaria keeping in general) is definitely a learning process. Making mistakes and overestimating yourself is part of that, especially in an untraditional saltwater aquarium like yours. Keeping NPS corals or coldwater aquariums or planted tanks is often a guessing game, unlike reef aquariums where most processes (at least as they apply to our tanks) are well documented and understood. I imagine that the first saltwater aquarists who tried to keep corals had a very similar experience. And on the bright side, your mistakes might help some other person trying to keep seagrasses.
 
JLynn, yes it was weird to realize I needed to remove the urchin, so a less undesirable algae could compete with the cyano.

And yes, we are a couple of know-it-alls, and that's what makes this fun! Intelligent conversation is the key to breakthroughs.

I've definitely made some mistakes. Introducing the barnacle blennies prematurely comes to mind. Without them, I don't have to feed the tank, and I have much more control over what nutrients are added. If I'd given myself more time just to focus on the seagrasses, I certainly wouldn't be in the mess I'm in now. It would be an interesting problem to try to remove the blennies. Hmm…

Cyano's lingering but lessening. Filamentous Algae is growing. I think it's getting better.
 
Yesterday I noticed some micro bubbles coming from my main pump, and it seemed to be getting worse as the day wore on. So I examined the plumbing upstream from the pump. The most likely place was a threaded junction I'd used teflon tape on. It had salt creep. So I cleaned off the salt and applied silicone sealant. I didn't want to break down my plumbing, so I thought this might solve the problem, while still allowing for it to be unscrewed if necessary. I also applied additional pipe dope to the threaded junction at the pump. I left the pump off overnight. It's now up and running, and so far today I'm micro bubble free.

It's nice to have a little victory now and then…
 
Manual removal/water change today, yay! I'll be very interested to see how bad it comes back tomorrow. As I've been saying, I think I'm turning the corner. We'll see…

A variety of algae are coming back on the back wall, without the urchin. It reminds me a lot of an algae turf scrubber. It is another part of my living filtration plan, harnessing the power of Mother Nature.
 
If you haven't seen it, you should really check out the "Coral Nutrition, Part 2" article on Advanced Aquarist! It has some really fascinating info. For example, did you know that micro- and macro algae "leak" some of the nutrients they produce back into the water? Not nutrients of the PO4/NO4/NO3 variety, but nutrients like Glucose and other organic sugars! Those sugars can then be digested by the corals! Isn't that fascinating? I will definitely be including refugiums in all of my builds, now that I know about that.

I didn't see your post earlier, Kareem, so it's rather belated, but I am so sorry to hear that - it really sucks! I hope something manages to survive!
 
Strange thing. When I got back, some of the SPS looked like they could have survived. But after I got conditions back to normal (salinity, Mg, Ca, Alk), they melted...

The softies all survived, as did the fish. But any coralline bleached making the tank look like a desert.

Fish - ok
Softies - ok
LPS - dead except for a torch coral that is retracted but without tissue loss
SPS - dead except for one seriatapora looks great??
Urchins, starfish, snails, hermit crabs, cucumbers - all made it
Chaeto - ok
Glass shrimp and pods - ok
 
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Still fighting the cyano. So, not much to report.

I've added some new snails. I forget what they're called, but they're like tiny conchs and they reproduce in the tank. And they're able to climb the seagrasses and eat algae. I also ordered new parts for my canister filter. I look forward to getting it back online. Besides having three media baskets, I have it set up to inject CO2. So getting that back gives me more options.

I may do another blackout soon.
 
I have and I may. It would certainly be helpful at this time. But once I have sponges growing, a protein skimmer would be detrimental. So I may try introducing sponges first, and see how they do. Seeing as how several feather dusters and a sponge have popped up, it may be time.
 
Still in hell. It is getting better, but cyano's still hanging around. I may try Chemi-clean.

My micro-bubble issue came back. With a vengeance… I may have to redo my plumbing. We'll see.
 
Do you think that your wall or mangrove root are to blame for the cyano?? Could be leaching stuff causing you hell..

If I remember correctly, you used fiberglass resin on the wall for sand adhesion? - only difference from my wall I think.
Don't remember what the root is covered in though.

I would think that all the plant life would soak all of the nutrients up.. odd.
 
You know, I have racked my brain! And I've done a bit of reading…

I don't think the fiberglass resin is the cause-people have used the stuff in tanks for years. I had hoped the plants would soak up the nutrients as well, but seagrasses take up very little.

I think it was a combination of things. Overzealous feeding, a conch death and carbon dosing are likely contributors. Also, my young tank, which was cycled on a very low bio-load, wasn't mature enough to compensate for a nutrient spike. And with very bright lighting, the opportunity for cyanobacteria to get established was 'great'.

Anyway, I'm hanging in there, and working to improve the situation. I'm re-plumbing the main pump, since the micro bubble problem came back. Jacking up the flow rate should help. Lots of other measures have been ongoing. I have other plans of attack, but I have to figure out what order to do them all in. So, it's coming along. Just not a lot of fun stuff to report lately…
 
The fun stuff will come when the not-so-fun stuff goes away. Good luck with your "measures" and "other plans of attack"!
 
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