Caribbean Biotope Seagrass Tank

[Michael Hoaster]

Lushness is coming!

The turtle grass's blades are flat and about half an inch wide. The manatee grass is round (tubular?) about a sixteenth inch thick. I have two shoal grass shoots left. They're flat and about a sixteenth as well. I don't expect them to get much wider, but I'd love for them all to get taller!

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Sorry to those who have messaged me, and waited too long for a reply!

I wanted to point out a feature of RC that maybe not all of us know about. I've had some questions about my fake wall and fake root. I have build threads for both. So, how do you find them? Click on my name, on any post I've made. Click on 'view public profile'. Click the 'statistics' tab. Click on 'find all threads started by Michael Hoaster'. And there they are.

I hope this is helpful!

 

[Michael Hoaster]

What would I do differently?

What would I do differently?

My wife and I have talked of moving recently, and that got me to thinking. What if I had to start all over? How would I set my tank up differently?

Here are a few things that come to mind:

First off, I would have placed my coast to coast overflow about two inches lower. I'm not sure what led to this mistake, but it's a humdinger! I have to fill my tank almost to the top, which causes the top two inches of water to be hidden by my hood.

I would have better integrated the three separate pieces of the fake wall. The lower pieces are great, but the upper piece covering the overflow could be better. It would have been nice to put more foam at the top to get more overhang. Also, it would have been cool to put more ledges in it over the gramma caves.

The fake root functions fantastically, which was a huge relief. I wish I had made it a bit smaller, so that it took up only about a third of tank space, rather than almost half. Also, I wish I'd painted it darker-almost black.

The DSB Planter also turned out great. I do wish I'd put more sand, etc. in it. Filling it to the overflow point would be good.

For the deep sand bed itself, I think the grasses would have appreciated more dirt and/or live mud in it. With such a low fish load, I don't think that much 'gunk' is making it into the DSB, so the grasses are forced to take up more nutrients through their leaves. I have backed off water column dosing recently, to test substrate fertilization. I've noted the macros have slowed their growth, and the manatee grass has finally put out some daughter plants. Cause and effect? Hard to say. Since the manatee grasses grow slowly, they could be reacting to something I did two weeks ago!

Knowing what I know now about manatee grass, I think ideally, I would have started the tank, planting manatee grass only. No macros, no fish. Then I could try different things without worrying about harming the anemone or whatever. Then, once I figured out the magic formula, I could diversify the flora and fauna.

Well, that's about all I can think right now. Just writing this stuff down is helpful, I think.

 

[karimwassef]

Maybe a sump this time?

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Ha! Great Question, Karim.

Nope, I don't miss having a sump. The simplicity of this system is liberating! I had originally planned to have a sump and separate refugium, but the more I thought about it, the less I needed them. With no skimmer and a built-in refugium, why bother?

A year later and I'm still loving the K.I.S.S. method!

 

[saltwater sam]

I totally agree Michael. Not having to worry about the complexities of a sump is very liberating! Simplicity makes things easier.

 

[karimwassef]

A sump isn't complexity. It's zoning.

I have many zones in my system. Nature has zones, and so I do the same.

 

[saltwater sam]

Really? So you're saying that setting up and maintaining a sump is not more complex than not doing so? There aren't potential issues that can arise from having a sump that aren't an issue without one?

 

[karimwassef]

Avoiding a sump creates its own issues - yes. It's not more or less, just different.

 

[saltwater sam]

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on that one.

 

[karimwassef]

ok

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Avoiding a sump creates its own issues - NO. I speak from experience.

Saying that adding a vessel and its plumbing is not more complex is ludicrous. Sumps are great! Most folks should have them. But for some of us, they aren't needed. To each his own!

 

[karimwassef]

In your application, ok. In mine, avoiding a sump would be incredibly more complex if not disastrous.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Agreed. I would never suggest you go sump-less.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Hopefully this pic will give you a good idea what's happening here. This manatee grass split, then split again and again. The downturned stems (vertical arrows) are forming rhizomes, with the one on the left putting up a daughter plant (curved arrow). Pretty cool!

Today the anemone moved to the front side of the barnacles, which was much too close to the barnacle blennies. I saw one contact it, when returning to its home. He seemed unaffected but yikes! So I tried a relocation all the way at the left end of the tank. It seemed to settle in, but we'll see if it's still there in the morning. I got it moved minutes before lights out. I'd been thinking about getting into brighter light.

Spot ended up sheltering by this red macro.

The strange, brown macro.

Who dat!

 

[sam.basye]

Hey YOU!


Conch humor. lol

The plant reproduction pictogram is a good touch for us non plant experts.

Your strange brown macro looks to me like you dropped some chow mein in there...

 

[nawilson89]

Looking great! Are the Barnacle Blennies the only fish you have in there?

I really like them!

 

[karimwassef]

Where's the tang?

 

[Michael Hoaster]

I couldn't resist, after seeing your pic! It was good to convey the progress of the manatee grass, for which I've waited so long! The brown macro looks to me like it would prefer dimmer light, the way it is bleaching out. I'll try moving a fragment of it. It's a weird plant.

Yes, right now, I have only 4 barnacle blennies in my tank. Earlier in the tank's life, I employed up to 4 (saltwater acclimated) black mollies for algae control. I didn't feed them at all. They even helped a little with cyanobacteria. I highly recommend them, along with an army of Cerith snails, which reproduce in your tank. The young ones are small enough to keep your grasses and macros free of micro algae.

The tang should come in this week. My LFS has been waiting for one in really good shape for me.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Oh, I forgot to mention, the anemone stayed put. The downside to this placement, is that there isn't much current there. It was a situation where I needed to act quickly, so it's not a perfect solution.

I'll probably move it, but I want to see if it reacts favorably to the higher light level first. I'll give it a few days there, while I consider better locations. Also, I may be able to direct a little flow its way.

Considering all the horror stories I've read regarding these anemones' tendency to cruise around and sting stuff, I've been lucky with this one.