Thanks, JLynn. I look forward to reporting some good news one of these days!
Caribbean Biotope Seagrass Tank
- Thread starter Michael Hoaster
- Start date
True that! I do have a good variety of snails. No shrimp yet. There is no real consensus that I can find, of a true cyano-eater.
karimwassef
Active member
Blue leg hermit crabs
Nope.
Caribbean Biotope Seagrass Tank Lives!
Caribbean Biotope Seagrass Tank Lives!
This may be the last photo I take of the tank with my ancient iphone. I'm getting a new one soon!
Okay, so I finally gave in and resorted to chemical warfare. Three months of cyanobacteria will do that, I guess. Weekly water changes, blackouts and removing the scum from every seagrass blade gets old after awhile! So I broke out the ChemiClean"¦
It appears to have worked pretty well. Time will tell.
After removing the green blanket, some good and bad was revealed. My red macros are in pretty rough shape. My fighting conch is not dead. More filter feeders have popped up-mostly feather dusters. I found what appears to be a mussel! Of the three seagrasses I have, the thalassia (turtle grass) fared the best. It continued to grow, while the others suffered from being smothered.
I think the tank is ready for a sponge or two now. As I've said before I hope to use them for filtration, as a natural alternative to protein skimming. Steve Tyree's book, "The Environmental Gradient - Cryptic Sponge and Sea Squirt Filtration Models" was an inspiration for this. I also think I'll finally get around to adding a small bit of Caribbean farmed live rock, for biodiversity.
I tried a new technique I read about to stretch my water changes. Since my reservoir is only 15 gallons, I'm limited to 15 gallon water changes - about 10%. Since I had lots more muck to clean up after hitting the 15 gallon mark, I emptied the vessel, then I tied a media bag to the end of my siphon hose. This catches the gunk, and you can return the water to the tank. This allowed me to be much more thorough. Yay! This should be VERY helpful in the future.
My micro bubble problem persists, despite re-plumbing upstream of the pump. Unfortunately the source of the bubbles is on the upstream side of my upstream ball valve. So I can't fix it without draining my tank. Lovely! So I'm trying every alternative I can think of before I resort to that. Any ideas? The offending leak is threaded and has teflon tape. Here's an idea: what if I plugged the bulkhead above it with a capped piece of pipe, temporarily sealed with silicone? Will silicone cure underwater? I'll ask the interwebs.
Well that's about it for now. Hopefully I can return to posting actual progress from now on!
Caribbean Biotope Seagrass Tank Lives!
This may be the last photo I take of the tank with my ancient iphone. I'm getting a new one soon!
Okay, so I finally gave in and resorted to chemical warfare. Three months of cyanobacteria will do that, I guess. Weekly water changes, blackouts and removing the scum from every seagrass blade gets old after awhile! So I broke out the ChemiClean"¦
It appears to have worked pretty well. Time will tell.
After removing the green blanket, some good and bad was revealed. My red macros are in pretty rough shape. My fighting conch is not dead. More filter feeders have popped up-mostly feather dusters. I found what appears to be a mussel! Of the three seagrasses I have, the thalassia (turtle grass) fared the best. It continued to grow, while the others suffered from being smothered.
I think the tank is ready for a sponge or two now. As I've said before I hope to use them for filtration, as a natural alternative to protein skimming. Steve Tyree's book, "The Environmental Gradient - Cryptic Sponge and Sea Squirt Filtration Models" was an inspiration for this. I also think I'll finally get around to adding a small bit of Caribbean farmed live rock, for biodiversity.
I tried a new technique I read about to stretch my water changes. Since my reservoir is only 15 gallons, I'm limited to 15 gallon water changes - about 10%. Since I had lots more muck to clean up after hitting the 15 gallon mark, I emptied the vessel, then I tied a media bag to the end of my siphon hose. This catches the gunk, and you can return the water to the tank. This allowed me to be much more thorough. Yay! This should be VERY helpful in the future.
My micro bubble problem persists, despite re-plumbing upstream of the pump. Unfortunately the source of the bubbles is on the upstream side of my upstream ball valve. So I can't fix it without draining my tank. Lovely! So I'm trying every alternative I can think of before I resort to that. Any ideas? The offending leak is threaded and has teflon tape. Here's an idea: what if I plugged the bulkhead above it with a capped piece of pipe, temporarily sealed with silicone? Will silicone cure underwater? I'll ask the interwebs.
Well that's about it for now. Hopefully I can return to posting actual progress from now on!
karimwassef
Active member
Where is the air getting sucked in? It can't be underwater, it must be an air surface.
braden
New member
Sorry to see you've had such difficulties with cyanobacteria, Michael.
I had a surge in brown cyanobacteria that lasted a while; but its mostly tapered off.
Hair algae continues to plague me. I also get these mats of scum forming on top of my sand that I think are a combination of hair algae and cyanobacteria. I think I need to add some organisms to the tank that would help turn over the top layer of sand. Is your conch much help with that?
I added a couple of Molly Miller blennies, too. Sadly, one of mine jumped out at the beginning of January.
I was assured they weren't jumpers.
The other one remains the lone fish in the tank. He (or she) seems healthy; but is apparently virtually useless for algae control. What's your experience been with your blennies?
I had a surge in brown cyanobacteria that lasted a while; but its mostly tapered off.
Hair algae continues to plague me. I also get these mats of scum forming on top of my sand that I think are a combination of hair algae and cyanobacteria. I think I need to add some organisms to the tank that would help turn over the top layer of sand. Is your conch much help with that?
I added a couple of Molly Miller blennies, too. Sadly, one of mine jumped out at the beginning of January.
I was assured they weren't jumpers.The other one remains the lone fish in the tank. He (or she) seems healthy; but is apparently virtually useless for algae control. What's your experience been with your blennies?
The conch does do her share of algae clean-up. I also have nassarius snails for fish food clean-up, and cerith snails also eat algae, and reproduce in the tank. I have a few other small snails that eat algae. I have added two more black mollies to the algae crew, bringing it to five. I don't even feed them - they just eat algae.
Be careful about getting something that turns over the sand, like the sand-sifting sea star, or one of the sand-sifting gobies. These guys will gobble up the bottom of your food chain, until your sand has no life in it. I think your best bet is a variety of snails and a herbivore fish or two. Some blennies are herbivores, some carnivores. My barnacle blennies are the latter. The lawnmower blennie is an excellent algae eater. They are several other blennies that look similar, and eat algae as well.
A lot of folks like hermits. The blue-legged and the scarlet hermit crabs are the least agro to snails-I think.
Be careful about getting something that turns over the sand, like the sand-sifting sea star, or one of the sand-sifting gobies. These guys will gobble up the bottom of your food chain, until your sand has no life in it. I think your best bet is a variety of snails and a herbivore fish or two. Some blennies are herbivores, some carnivores. My barnacle blennies are the latter. The lawnmower blennie is an excellent algae eater. They are several other blennies that look similar, and eat algae as well.
A lot of folks like hermits. The blue-legged and the scarlet hermit crabs are the least agro to snails-I think.
braden
New member
I have Astrea and cerith snails, as well. And, yes, the cerith snails lay eggs frequently. I've gotten a handful of baby snails.
They are decent at cleaning the glass. (No substitute for a razor blade, though.)
Good point.
I have a couple of red brittle stars; but they don't do much sand sifting; just surface cleanup.
Alas, mine, too.
Years ago I had a solid algae-eating blenny. I think it was probably a red-lipped blenny (even though it didn't have red lips). I've avoided those in this tank after reading that they are potential jumpers.
Do you know what species your lawnmower blenny is? I understand a few different species get sold under that name.
I have quite a few blue legged hermits. They make a dent in the algae; but not a very big one.
I'm considering some scarlet or orange-legged hermits.
Salarias fasciatus is the species name of the Lawnmower Blenny. Red Lipped (or Horse-faced) Blenny, and Starry Blenny are similar species that eat algae as well.
If you are concerned about jumpers, throw a piece of egg crate (light diffuser) on your tank. It actually improves your lighting!
If you are concerned about jumpers, throw a piece of egg crate (light diffuser) on your tank. It actually improves your lighting!
karimwassef
Active member
??? How is that?
You can argue that it doesn't degrade it by much, but improves it??
Karim, there was an article years ago in FAMA (a fish keeping magazine) on egg crate. It is actually made to improve light quality and distribution, which makes sense. If you look at it, you can see a thick side and thin side. Put the thick side up towards the light, and, voila! Better lighting and fish stay in the tank.
karimwassef
Active member
For fluorescent lights with poor reflectors, maybe it makes the light appear to be better. But in terms of photons landing on life, anything that gets in the way, just reduces the light or at least scatters it back or at unusable angles.
It's basic electromagnetics - with the right reflector (MH, fluorescent), or lens (LED), the energy is captured and directed at the target. Anything else (especially opaque structures) would deteriorate the energy content.
Let's see some PAR readings with and without. Then I'll bite that there's more to it.
It's basic electromagnetics - with the right reflector (MH, fluorescent), or lens (LED), the energy is captured and directed at the target. Anything else (especially opaque structures) would deteriorate the energy content.
Let's see some PAR readings with and without. Then I'll bite that there's more to it.
karimwassef
Active member
See tables 3 and 4 and the reference to Calfo in test 6
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-10/bp/index.php
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-10/bp/index.php
I couldn't find the old article, but if I remember correctly, the diffuser enlarged the 'sweet spot'. All the reflective surfaces of it compensate for the shading effect, so it's not brighter, but the brightest area is enlarged.
braden
New member
Apparently the red lipped blenny is known to jump from one tide pool to the next as it forages.
As I have three metal halide lights arranged in a triangle over the tank, I have pretty even light coverage.
But egg crate is not an option.
Partly for aesthetic reasons; partly because there will be mangroves growing out of the top of this aquarium (though I haven't added them yet).
What I have considered doing is adding a removable acrylic "lip" to the top of the aquarium 2"-3" wide. I figure most jumpers that escape are going to jump near the edge; and this would curtail those attempts.
Your solution should work. My acrylic tank has a lip around it, and I've had maybe one jumper in a decade. I don't cover my tank either. I totally understand the aesthetic choice.
I didn't know the red-lipped blenny was a tide pool hopper!
I didn't know the red-lipped blenny was a tide pool hopper!
karimwassef
Active member
Michael! Where are your mangroves?
Just realized that your biotope is ideal for growing real mangroves?
Just realized that your biotope is ideal for growing real mangroves?
I have thought of it, Karim!
One non-ideal characteristic of my tank is the closed top. But after seeing Sam bonsai his, I have considered it further. My DSB should work, but I don't want it to compete with the grasses. I'd also be concerned with aesthetics. Would a real mangrove make my fake mangrove look faker?
So, it's something I'm keeping in mind, but I'm in no hurry. My main focus presently is optimizing conditions to get the grasses established and flourishing.
How's your tank recovery going? Isn't it nice that we're going through tank calamities together?
One non-ideal characteristic of my tank is the closed top. But after seeing Sam bonsai his, I have considered it further. My DSB should work, but I don't want it to compete with the grasses. I'd also be concerned with aesthetics. Would a real mangrove make my fake mangrove look faker?
So, it's something I'm keeping in mind, but I'm in no hurry. My main focus presently is optimizing conditions to get the grasses established and flourishing.
How's your tank recovery going? Isn't it nice that we're going through tank calamities together?
