CO2 in a saltwater planted tank?
- Thread starter LTCrunch
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3D-Reef
New member
I dabbled a little with C02 but it didn't make a whole lot of difference,at least not that I could tell.With the buffering system being based on carbonates,Your not going to get the lush growth with SW like You would with FW.IMO Because there already is enough carbon in the water that can be used,unlike FW that has only a limited amount of C02 .
I think good gas exchange,strong lighting,and having the substrate full of nutrients is all You really need.I have been injecting iron into the substrate here lately and have been getting good results.But I've only been at it(Fe injection) a couple weeks so far,so it's really too soon to tell on the long term what the results are.
I think good gas exchange,strong lighting,and having the substrate full of nutrients is all You really need.I have been injecting iron into the substrate here lately and have been getting good results.But I've only been at it(Fe injection) a couple weeks so far,so it's really too soon to tell on the long term what the results are.
Samala
New member
My dabbling with CO2 supplementation for seagrass (and only seagrass, not macroalgae) makes me believe that you can get great growth with them using simple CO2 fed through a powerhead for spraying or what is known in FW circles as misting.
It is entirely true that you can get great growth by simply keeping up with gas exchange. In a heavily planted tank the pH will move throughout the day, noting a certain amount of dissolved CO2 loss. If you have enough gas exchange through aeration or a skimmer, and keep your carbonate levels up, you can do well.
If you look through Reefkeeping magazine you'll find the Beyond the Refugium articles and thats where I gave away some thoughts on the CO2. We did also have quite a few threads going on about it.. as well as some notes I posted to http://www.waternotes.org. I'll try to find some links for you.
>Sarah
It is entirely true that you can get great growth by simply keeping up with gas exchange. In a heavily planted tank the pH will move throughout the day, noting a certain amount of dissolved CO2 loss. If you have enough gas exchange through aeration or a skimmer, and keep your carbonate levels up, you can do well.
If you look through Reefkeeping magazine you'll find the Beyond the Refugium articles and thats where I gave away some thoughts on the CO2. We did also have quite a few threads going on about it.. as well as some notes I posted to http://www.waternotes.org. I'll try to find some links for you.
>Sarah
Samala
New member
Ah, wanted to mention this as well, CO2 supplementation in marine planted aquariums is by no means a closed subject and is definitely open for some serious experimentation and probably some huge knowledge gains. I still dabble with it and I like the results I get using it.
>Sarah
>Sarah
Eklikewhoa
New member
You know I have been fiddling with this idea.... injecting into the substrate. I have Seachem root tabs strewn in the substrate right now and it seems to hold up fairly well but I really want to try ADA's multi-bottom and iron-bottom root supplements.
Rzimmerman
New member
3 DReef,
I am in the process of restarting my Thalassia tank and have been going through the old posts. I noticed that no one has posted for several years. If you don't mind sharing, what was the make up of your sand bed for your Tt? Does Samala still post anywhere on seagrasses? Has anyone used LED lighting systems for Seagrasses? Thank you
I am in the process of restarting my Thalassia tank and have been going through the old posts. I noticed that no one has posted for several years. If you don't mind sharing, what was the make up of your sand bed for your Tt? Does Samala still post anywhere on seagrasses? Has anyone used LED lighting systems for Seagrasses? Thank you
The old posts are a gold mine of info.
I have had some success with CO2 in my seagrass tank, for the past 2+ years. My thread has a lot of good discussion in it - Caribbean Biotope Seagrass Tank. If there is anything I can do to help, let me know. It would be great to have another 'seagrasser' here in the macro section!
I have had some success with CO2 in my seagrass tank, for the past 2+ years. My thread has a lot of good discussion in it - Caribbean Biotope Seagrass Tank. If there is anything I can do to help, let me know. It would be great to have another 'seagrasser' here in the macro section!
Rzimmerman
New member
LEDs?
LEDs?
Michael,
Have you tried LED lights for seagrass? They seem to grow my cyanobacteria very well but the Thalassia I planted last year slowly just dwindled. I think that may have to do with my sand bed but I want to be sure that LED will provide enough energy for the seagrass once I have the bed correct.
Thanks.
Rob
LEDs?
Michael,
Have you tried LED lights for seagrass? They seem to grow my cyanobacteria very well but the Thalassia I planted last year slowly just dwindled. I think that may have to do with my sand bed but I want to be sure that LED will provide enough energy for the seagrass once I have the bed correct.
Thanks.
Rob
Rzimmerman, no, I haven't tried LEDs on my seagrasses. Mostly because I'm cheap, and I already had a 400 watt metal halide fixture to use. Other factors include the 30" depth of my tank, and the overwhelming selection of good and bad LED fixtures.
I do think they should work well, if you get an appropriate one.
Sorry to hear you had bad luck with thalassia. I too had a struggle with cyanobacteria. Turtle grass tends to need a more established sand bed. Shoal grass and manatee grass are both pioneering species, and do better in newer sand beds. In my tank, as in nature, the turtle grass gradually overtook the manatee and shoal grasses. I have since removed it, preferring the shoal and manatee grasses.
Seagrasses need lighting every bit as bright as reef tanks, if not brighter. And because they are higher plants, they have actual roots that seek nutrients in the sand. If I were starting a new tank for thalassia, I would put about an inch of dirt out of my yard on the bottom, and cover that with another five or six inches of sugar sized calcium carbonate sand. I also recommend Florida Pets' live mud and Gulf Coast Ecosystems' live sand.
Good luck!
I do think they should work well, if you get an appropriate one.
Sorry to hear you had bad luck with thalassia. I too had a struggle with cyanobacteria. Turtle grass tends to need a more established sand bed. Shoal grass and manatee grass are both pioneering species, and do better in newer sand beds. In my tank, as in nature, the turtle grass gradually overtook the manatee and shoal grasses. I have since removed it, preferring the shoal and manatee grasses.
Seagrasses need lighting every bit as bright as reef tanks, if not brighter. And because they are higher plants, they have actual roots that seek nutrients in the sand. If I were starting a new tank for thalassia, I would put about an inch of dirt out of my yard on the bottom, and cover that with another five or six inches of sugar sized calcium carbonate sand. I also recommend Florida Pets' live mud and Gulf Coast Ecosystems' live sand.
Good luck!
JZinCO
New member
In my 2 years of reefing I have been mentally constructing my 'dream' tank (planted marine tank with a couple coral-heavy bommies), which includes more planted FW tank ideas than traditional reef principles. The only documented case of using dirt on RC, that I can find, is someone with a small marshgrass tank. They harvested the grasses themself as well as the mud. I think they found that the anoxic conditions were detrimental, but that seems to be just those conditions found in sea- and marshgrass soils (and a general characteristic of wetland soils). Michael's idea probably won't get as anoxic so I wouldn't worry about that in either case.
As for lights, I would read these two sources:http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-04/sl/ http://www.reefland.com/rho/0305/main3.php
Based on these, I would probably just set up 6500K LED flood lights (100w should be enough, but one could step up to 300w for $150!). I have a 50w LED flood light in the mail. I am testing sandwiching flood lights between marsaquas. Because flood lights have 120degree optics and marsaquas dim two channels, I would think the two fixture types could blend, providing high PAR while softening the harsh 6500K yellow and sufficient blue spectrum to get some coral pop.
Diana Walsted's book "Ecology of the Planted Aquarium" has a lot of info regarding dirt in (fresh water) planted tanks. Ideally, seagrasses would be collected with their surrounding soil, but they aren't, unfortunately. Anoxic conditions are not a big worry because the seagrasses' roots oxygenate the surrounding soil.
When setting up my own seagrass tank, I added an inch deep layer of well-used EcoComplete (a fresh water plant substrate) from my fresh water planted tank.
An important distinction between seagrasses and macro algae is that seagrasses are higher plants, with separate, functioning parts, especially ROOTS. That is why you need a rich substrate for them. Macros have no such requirements, as they don't have true roots-just holdfasts.
Hope this helps!
When setting up my own seagrass tank, I added an inch deep layer of well-used EcoComplete (a fresh water plant substrate) from my fresh water planted tank.
An important distinction between seagrasses and macro algae is that seagrasses are higher plants, with separate, functioning parts, especially ROOTS. That is why you need a rich substrate for them. Macros have no such requirements, as they don't have true roots-just holdfasts.
Hope this helps!
JZinCO
New member
I'll have to look this book up myself. Dynamic Aquaria has a foundational overview chapter on substrates and a chapter highlighting a Caribbean seagrass lagoon; the technology is certainly outmoded but some information is still handy (e.g. they had a par of 90-200 on the lagoon bottom)
Those two books are my most-read, most important ones. Walsted's book is a bit more focused for practical aquarium use, and Adey's is more 'big picture'.
