Caribbean Biotope Seagrass Tank

[Michael Hoaster]

Four days after I introduced 10lbs of live rock, I've done a small waterchange - 10 gallons. This should help clean up some die-off, etc. And you know what's missing? Cyanobacteria.

There's definitely some sponges that survived on the new rocks. Hopefully, they'll thrive and encrust my fake root.

Sponges are going to be a very important part of my tank's filtration. And as sponge filtration capacity grows, I'll be able to add more biomass-like fish.

It is my hope, to create a very simple aquarium that harnesses a number of natural processes, rather than a 'symphony' of gadgets, to approximate the biotope that I am modeling.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

As I said before, my red macros took a beating. They've broken into ever smaller pieces. There are a few babies popping up here and there. In the near term, they're requirements differ too much from the seagrass's. Later on in the tank's life I think they'd work better. In the meantime, I'll hold on to what's left and see what happens.

I'm pretty happy with the algae growing on the fake wall. It's another facet of natural filtration, as well as a food source for a variety of herbivores. The Mollies and the snails seem to be reaching an equilibrium with it. You can see the reach of the conch along the base of the DSB planter. She gets about 3 inches up.

My last molly purchase included a male. This brings me to 4 females, 1 male. So I expect babies are inevitable. Mollies are live bearers, so no eggs, just little half inch babies. Hmm…I remember talking about the possibility of using them as feeders. I wonder if royal grammas would eat them.

 

[sam.basye]

My orange swordtail mollies bred regularly and it was pretty easy to identify when she was going to blow. Taking care of the fry was easy since they are born swimming.

They will look like food to everyone else. They are about 1/4" on day one. Little black eyes with tails.

 

[ichthyogeek]

Maybe if they(the molly fry) are small enough, the little barnacle blennies will start eating them, which will reduce the amount of food you have to add to the system?

 

[Michael Hoaster]

That's a good point! We'll see. I've seen them grab some pretty big stuff.

This brings to mind the self-sustaining aquarium idea. A certain amount of algae supports a certain amount of herbivorous fish, that support a certain number of carnivores. If an equilibrium can be reached, all the aquarist has to do is supply the energy. I'd only considered a herbivore/algae model. But with prolific reproduction, some carnivores (or maybe just one) could be supported as well.

I don't plan to make this the whole 'point' of my tank, but it is sort of an ideal I like to keep in mind. I think it would be pretty cool to have maybe a few different rapidly reproducing species in my tank's community. Maybe some shrimp. It would be very interesting to watch!

 

[ichthyogeek]

Well, while we're on this point, do you have peppermint shrimp in the stocking list? They'll act as cleaners, and they're supposedly ridiculously easy to breed, as well as detritivores/omnivores. They're larva may be small enough for anything too small to snack on molly fry.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

I haven't added any shrimp yet. Peppermint shrimp are a good option, and Caribbean. I'm also looking into Palaemonetes vulgaris, a small shrimp they sell at livebrineshrimp.com. They're smaller, and look ideal, but they don't say on their website whether they reproduce in aquariums. Mysis may be an option as well.

 

[ichthyogeek]

Palaemonetes= ghost shrimp (or something similar). I'd expect their larva to be valuable food, but once they reach a certain size, they spend a lot of their time under the sand...according to what the 'net said.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Weird. I've never heard of shrimp burrowing in the sand. Where did you read that?

They are a marine shrimp. They called them common shore shrimp on aquaculturestore.com.

 

[ichthyogeek]

Well derp...I was thinking of a different shrimp! I still can't find the link I was reading it from, but I'm about 75% positive that Penaeus vannamei (from liveaquaria) bury themselves in the sand.

Either way, sounds good!

 

[braden]

There are probably a few different shrimp species called "ghost shrimp": I think of this one.

I grew up going to the beach regularly in South Carolina; but it wasn't until years later that I discovered what was responsible for all those burrows. (And they are numerous.) I even encountered a ghost shrimp out of its burrow once or twice; but the creature's connection to the burrow was not apparent.

Amazing critters; but not really aquarium-appropriate. (Their burrows can extend to 5m deep!)

I have a few of the peppermint shrimp in my seagrass tank. I started with six last fall; three are still in there.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Good to know, thanks.

Can anyone else recommend a prolific, model citizen shrimp?

 

[karimwassef]

I added ghost feeder shrimp and they've been breeding. Many live in my sump now.
I got mine from reefs2go dot com.
Last night, there was a big spawning event with lots of tiny fully formed shrimp that were 1/16th to 1/8th of an inch!!

Not brine shrimp, mysis or pods.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Six Months Old

Six Months Old

Well, my tank has hit the six month mark. Almost three of them in cyano-hell. Man, that was rough! But there were some great lessons learned along the way. Among them is to hold off on carbon dosing until the tank is more mature.

The seagrasses suffered, but they survived. Hopefully, they'll rebound and start growing again. I wish I could find the right combination to get them growing faster. Right now, the only thing I'm doing is adding CO2. I'm tempted to bury some more glutamic acid pills, for an ammonia source, but after rereading my notes, I saw that they prefer to take up ammonia from the water, through their leaves. There's no way I'm dosing ammonia straight into the tank water! I'm sure the rock die-off is supplying plenty right now. My best course of action is to do nothing. Be patient, observe and think!

The tank appears more stable now. It's nice to look at it, and have my stress levels go down, rather than up. It seems to be taking the elevated nutrients, caused by the uncured live rock, in stride. And the new rock looks great. Lots of sponge material, which is just what I wanted. Now, if I could just get sponges growing on the fake root! Once the sponges get well established, I expect to see more pristine conditions the seagrasses prefer.

 

[karimwassef]

http://youtu.be/1eEaGwfjXqY

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Nice , Karim!

 

[Michael Hoaster]

I've gotten an increase of diatoms and green algae on the front glass. No doubt from the new rock die off. So I have to clean it everyday now, which seems to be benefitting the gorgonian. The sponges probably like it too.

I've noticed some tiny white blobs on some of the root and the back wall. They sort of looked like eggs, but when I got my magnifier on them, they look more like baby sponges! I'm also seeing a lot of (living) single polyp hard corals on the rocks too. Tooth corals? I'm not sure, but I love the added biodiversity.

It's wild to sit and watch the tank. The mollies and snails are constantly cropping back the algae. They can actually make a dent in it now. I'm seeing more baby red macros uncovered by their handiwork. I may be seeing an uptick in benthic plankton as well.

I need to leave well enough alone right now, and let the tank adjust to the new rock. With thorough, everyday observation, I'm able to watch this mini ecosystem seek equilibrium. Yay!

 

[karimwassef]

I added a UV sterilizer at low flow and it obliterated all algae in my tank.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Really? Wow, I've run a UV sterilizer in the past, and it eliminated 'green water' algae, but not the benthic stuff. I had it plumbed for this tank, but I removed it when I re-plumbed, to simplify, and reduce possible micro bubble sources.

No matter-I don't want to get rid of all algae. It's an important part of my filtration. I just want to keep it at a level that keeps the herbivores happy, without it taking over the tank.

 

[braden]

I'm surprised at the number of people that seem to be running UV sterilizers on reef (and similar) aquariums these days. Back when I started with this hobby in the early '90s, the conventional wisdom was that they shouldn't be run on reef tanks as they'd kill valuable microplankton. Are folks finding that they don't have much impact on the plankton population? Or are the folks using them just not concerned with the plankton population?

I think my response to planktonic algae would be to add copepods.