Here are some pics of the manatee grass. Lot's of new blades!
And one of the anemone and shrimp.
And one of the anemone and shrimp.
Caribbean Biotope Seagrass Tank
- Thread starter Michael Hoaster
- Start date
karimwassef
Active member
What's the red bundle in the second pic?
saltwater sam
New member
Wow, it looks great Michael, the manatee grass is awesome! Watching grass grow is the name of the game at this point, nothing wrong with that!
rick12
New member
I agree, that skimmers are not necessary for your set up. I have multiple tanks and do not use skimmers on anything 50 g or less. Waterchange works well.
Love the macros and grasses. These are just not obtainable here in Canada. It's a chance to even get mangrove pods over the border. Lol.
Thanks, Sam. Getting these plants to multiply is very gratifying! I know visually it's not that obvious, but once all these new blades grow tall, it'll have more impact. Can't wait!
Right on, rick12! I've been in a simplifying mode with this tank. I am surprised how much I like it.
That's weird, you can't get plants. I assume you can get fish and corals?
That's weird, you can't get plants. I assume you can get fish and corals?
rick12
New member
Yeah we get it all, but sea grass hardly likely, and macros are rare. Suppliers have a big expense to bring these over the border. Sea grasses especially wouldn't show profits. I spend yearly vacations in Florida and well, can't bring any of this home. So many restrictions. I laugh at the mangrove pods lying on the beach every morning.
Mangrove pods are about $16 per pod at the LFS here.
I did get 80 pods shipped from Hawaii at a reasonable cost once but it was actually a long story with border agents. (Seeds are allowed but plants need complicated and expensive paperwork.) agents don't know if mangrove pods are seeds or plants. Take your chance
Some agents allow them, while others toss them in the bin.
Mangrove pods are about $16 per pod at the LFS here.
I did get 80 pods shipped from Hawaii at a reasonable cost once but it was actually a long story with border agents. (Seeds are allowed but plants need complicated and expensive paperwork.) agents don't know if mangrove pods are seeds or plants. Take your chance
Some agents allow them, while others toss them in the bin.
More manatee grass blades sprouting up! Everyday I check, there's more! Not much to show, pic-wise, but when they get taller, it should look pretty cool.
As for the current dosing scheme, I have suspended nitrate and iron. I'm continuing with CO2, and sodium silicate. There are several small fragments of plant tabs and glutamic acid pills pushed into the substrate. I'll probably re-dose them after a month. These appear to be the catalyst for the manatee grass' current burst of reproduction. As an added bonus, it's much less stressful to the other tank inhabitants. I think the anemone was getting tired of being my canary-in-a-coalmine.
I'm dosing the silicate for sponges and snails. If all goes well, I'll be getting some new sponges from my future Colorado neighborino, Griffin Marsh! I'm super stoked!
Last but not least is the canister filter. I'm currently running some aragonite for calcium. Remember I'm running the CO2 through it. I've got a bit of coralline algae here and there-even on the grasses. I'm also running some bio-ball-type stuff in there as a half a$$ed nitrate factory.
Peace!
As for the current dosing scheme, I have suspended nitrate and iron. I'm continuing with CO2, and sodium silicate. There are several small fragments of plant tabs and glutamic acid pills pushed into the substrate. I'll probably re-dose them after a month. These appear to be the catalyst for the manatee grass' current burst of reproduction. As an added bonus, it's much less stressful to the other tank inhabitants. I think the anemone was getting tired of being my canary-in-a-coalmine.
I'm dosing the silicate for sponges and snails. If all goes well, I'll be getting some new sponges from my future Colorado neighborino, Griffin Marsh! I'm super stoked!
Last but not least is the canister filter. I'm currently running some aragonite for calcium. Remember I'm running the CO2 through it. I've got a bit of coralline algae here and there-even on the grasses. I'm also running some bio-ball-type stuff in there as a half a$$ed nitrate factory.
Peace!
Thanks, Sam. Exciting times for this weirdo! Yes, I do feel isolated occasionally. I may be getting weirder.
The tang still is a possibility. I just want to make sure that it's the right fish for my situation. The owner of my LFS said he doubted it would eat much caulerpa. If that's true, I may want a different fish or invert. Anyway, they can get me one, if I want it. I've managed to slow the caulerpa's growth, so it's a bit less urgent now. When I was dosing nitrate, it was getting out of hand!
The tang still is a possibility. I just want to make sure that it's the right fish for my situation. The owner of my LFS said he doubted it would eat much caulerpa. If that's true, I may want a different fish or invert. Anyway, they can get me one, if I want it. I've managed to slow the caulerpa's growth, so it's a bit less urgent now. When I was dosing nitrate, it was getting out of hand!
McPuff
New member
This seems odd to me. In my experience, tangs, angels, foxfaces, and rabbits eat the *** out of caulerpa. Even my watchman goby loves it. I highly doubt that a Caribbean blue tang is going to turn its nose up at that stuff.
Thanks, McPuff. That's what I thought!
My only doubt is from knowing that some tangs' mouths are better for 'kissing' up micro algae, rather than snipping bites of caulerpa. It's not a very popular fish, and I haven't kept this particular tang before, so I don't have much to go on. I do hope to get one, if I can get a yellow phase juvenile.
There are a few other Caribbean herbivores I'm looking at as well, like the Doctorfish and the Greenblotch Parrot. Since I only plan to have one herbivore in the tank, it's got to be the right one. Ideally, it would keep caulerpa cropped back, so I don't have to, and leave the seagrasses alone.
My only doubt is from knowing that some tangs' mouths are better for 'kissing' up micro algae, rather than snipping bites of caulerpa. It's not a very popular fish, and I haven't kept this particular tang before, so I don't have much to go on. I do hope to get one, if I can get a yellow phase juvenile.
There are a few other Caribbean herbivores I'm looking at as well, like the Doctorfish and the Greenblotch Parrot. Since I only plan to have one herbivore in the tank, it's got to be the right one. Ideally, it would keep caulerpa cropped back, so I don't have to, and leave the seagrasses alone.
karimwassef
Active member
This is a good one for lining up algae types to algae eaters
http://www.tfhmagazine.com/details/...shes-for-the-marine-aquarium-full-article.htm
http://www.tfhmagazine.com/details/...shes-for-the-marine-aquarium-full-article.htm
karimwassef
Active member
Got some sponges from GriffinMarsh. They are white and soft. I'm not sure if they are alive or not. Hope so. I've got them placed on the right end of the tank, at the base of the fake roots, and a little on the back wall. I really hope they survive! Could be beautiful.
I did some more substrate fertilization today. It's been over a month since I did the last one.
I also reinserted bio pellets into my canister filter. Since sponges like really tiny food, I'm giving them bacteria-sized food. I'm also going to culture nannochloropsis, the tiniest of the phytoplankton. This will be the third attempt at carbon dosing. I wouldn't try it again without the increased sponge biomass. I'm hoping that combining these two feeding methods, will keep the sponges fat and happy. I'm also dosing silicates for them.
The grasses continue to spread. New blades are growing. Can't wait till they get tall! Without the nitrate dosing, the caulerpa has settled down a bit. I still have hundreds of red macro algae fragments littering almost everywhere. The blue stuff is spread about as well. Looks pretty natural!
I did some more substrate fertilization today. It's been over a month since I did the last one.
I also reinserted bio pellets into my canister filter. Since sponges like really tiny food, I'm giving them bacteria-sized food. I'm also going to culture nannochloropsis, the tiniest of the phytoplankton. This will be the third attempt at carbon dosing. I wouldn't try it again without the increased sponge biomass. I'm hoping that combining these two feeding methods, will keep the sponges fat and happy. I'm also dosing silicates for them.
The grasses continue to spread. New blades are growing. Can't wait till they get tall! Without the nitrate dosing, the caulerpa has settled down a bit. I still have hundreds of red macro algae fragments littering almost everywhere. The blue stuff is spread about as well. Looks pretty natural!
nawilson89
New member
Pics!!!!!
End view with the new sponges.
Maybe not that obvious, but there's a lot of new grass here.
The purple condylactis.
nawilson89
New member
I can see the new grass! Looks great!
GriffinMarsh
Member
We moved some of the sponge to my friends nano. Over a few days they got covered in diatoms. The second batch we added has stayed white for the past week. I hope they work out for you!
