High Nutrient Macro Algae/Sea Grass Reef

[Michael Hoaster]

That's great. I have to admit I worried. I am thrilled everything worked out so well. Whew! I mean, you added dirt to a tank connected to your reef! Never been done! You took a situation that was far from ideal, and nonchalantly got it done! Unbelievable.

That is a good thing to do with your fuge lighting contra to your reef. It does help smooth out pH swings. It might me good to have some overlap, so that you have time during the day to look at your fuge with the lights on.

Glad to hear Connie and the shrimps are looking normal.

 

[vlangel]

Ha ha, I have to confess that I chuckled when I read your post, "that I took a situation that was far from ideal and nonchalantly got it done". You put it so nicely and make me sound like a pioneer! I am the one who created the less than ideal situation by not having the foresight to put more dirt in my fuge when I had the chance. And then I remedied it by perhaps a reckless action! What can I say, I am a risk taker by nature. Riding a motorcycle is proof of that!

Adding dirt should be like simulating a flood event where rivers, and streams deposit fresh dirt and silt into the ocean. Of course my tank system is far from the stability of the ocean, but that was at least my thought process with adding the dirt.

Today I will check for ammonia in case the new substrate of dirt and sand contributed to die off on the the surface of the sandbed. My gut feel is even if that happened the size of my display with it's bio-filter along with the sump and live rock in it should be more than enough to offset any ammonia from die off. It will be good to know however how the parameters are after my unconventional action.

Yes, I agree about giving thought to when I work on the fuge in regard to the photo phase change. I have chosen to have the lights turned on in the fuge from around midnight to noon. I nearly always work in the fuge in the morning and generally after lunch I do not do anything more with it.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

It did sound a little reckless, but the way you went about it was smoooooth. I was also nervous because I felt some responsibility for what you were doing. I knew it was a shaky situation, and the added uncertainty of the attached reef had me sweating. You are cool as a cucumber…

 

[vlangel]

You were definitely not responsible for what I did. I read the facts in your thread as they unfolded. You were sharing your experience and all us readers appreciated that. What we do with those facts regarding our own aquariums is on each of us and us only. I feel kind of bad that I caused you consternation over it. Sorry about that. At least it turned out well!

Today I very narrowly averted a different tragedy. I was outside on the patio looking for signs of life in the flower garden when I saw a frog caught in the netting I use to keep leaves out of my pond. The poor thing had squeezed himself through a hole and was very constricted at the waist. I was horrified but quickly got garden scissors and proceeded to cut him loose. As far as I could tell he did not appear injured in anyway. Frogs are sluggish this time of year because they are not fully out of hibernation. I laid him in a partly submerged pot of water iris that sits on a shelf in my pond. Hopefully he will find a comfortable spot to burrow down into until it's really time for him to wake up. In the mean time I removed all the netting. I am going to have to rethink how I winterize my pond from now on.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Okay maybe I wasn't responsible but I was invested!

Good to hear you rescued your frog neighbor. It's hard to imagine Springtime here with snow on the ground, but my mother-in-law in Florida is already dealing with pollen!

Maybe a finer mesh on the pond?

 

[vlangel]

Well being 'invested' shows you care about about how the information you share impacts your followers. That is commendable and and all of us should endeavor to do the same!

I think I rescued Mr Frog just in time, it snowed yesterday and this morning so I am sure he would have froze to death if I had not seen him.

This morning I added carbon to the Aquaclear filter. I noticed that my toadstool coral has been closed for the last couple of days. Perhaps it is being affected by something in the dirt? I think the system has tannins built up in the water column also because the water looks yellowish when viewed from the end. The carbon should help crispen the looks of the water too. I did another small water change.

I was very pleased to notice that the nuisance algae at the end of the shoal seagrass blades looked less. I do not have a lot of seagrass that made it but what I have is looking better and better so I am pretty stoked about that! In general everything looks real good except the toadstool (and they act weird from time to time)but it should probably be ok.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Good idea on the charcoal. I definitely had tannins in the water after getting it up and running, with the dirt in there.

That's interesting that you've got less algae on the grasses. I wonder why. Maybe it's because they're getting stronger and able to fend off stuff. More on the way when we do the trade thing. Temps are creeping up! Ideally, we'd be able to ship them without having to add heat packs.

I look forward to pulling the Shoal grass to see what Manatee grass remains. There are a lot of them that need to be moved around, like ones that grow right next to the walls. With the shoal grass gone, I can see where I need to replant manatee grass. Plus I'll need to make room for a rock or three.

 

[vlangel]

I am always surprised just how fast and effective carbon is in making the water look extra clean. Already some of the yellow tint is leaving and the tank looks more crisp already!

I wondered the same thing about the shoal grass getting stronger? It will be fun to watch how it progresses now. The new seagrasses will be starting off with better condition so maybe will establish quicker.

Yes, we may only need to wait a few more weeks to be able to have good mailing weather. That will be fun for both of our tanks!

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Cool beans! It's so nice when the water clears up. Plants use chemical warfare for sure, so that might explain the lessening algae on your grasses. I'm looking forward to tradin' time!

 

[vlangel]

I did not know that plants used chemical warfare. That is interesting and good to know. Is it similar to soft coral chemical warfare or is it a version of warfare specific to plants? Anyway from context I guess carbon is the remedy whether plant warfare or coral. And I am excited and pleased to see the shoal grass winning the war with the algae on the tops of the blades.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

I'm not sure of the differences between coral and plant warfare, but it is chemical, plus the stinging sweeper tentacles.

 

[vlangel]

Yesterday I finally bought myself a small Chromebook laptop. I enjoyed seeing the pics on a real screen and using a real key board was a nice upgrade too. Hopefully I can post pics from the Chromebook. We will see.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

That's great. Laptops are so handy! I think Google has a free photo editing app. Maybe its already on your Chromebook. Have fun with it!

 

[vlangel]

That's great. Laptops are so handy! I think Google has a free photo editing app. Maybe its already on your Chromebook. Have fun with it!

I will need to look for that and tinker around with it. I had a google photo editing capability on one of my phone's a few years ago. Thanks for the heads up on that.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

You're welcome! I use the simple photo editing app on my iMac, even though I have photoshop. I do run my pics through photoshop afterwards, just to size them before I upload them to RC. But I do everything else in the photos app. It's quick and easy.

I bet your new Chromebook has something similar.

 

[vlangel]

I worked in the sump this morning. So far no cyano, diatoms or dinos which is very encouraging. The shoal grass is almost algae free which is terrific. More of it has broken off and turned brown however which is concerning. One theory I have is that the increase in lighting has caused that. The good news is that the green blades of shoal grass look the best they ever have in my tank. I just need to be patient and wait for the root system to continue to grow under the substrate so that it can send up new shoots. Also when Michael sends me some more it may flourish faster with the substrate now supplemented with dirt and better lighting. I am still very excited about the prospects of having my own seagrass flats in the fuge.

The display is doing well. I cleaned the glass which was long overdue. It was so bad that it made the water look cloudy. I am anxious to see how much better everything will look with clear glass.

 

[vlangel]

Oh happy day! Since I am playing on this new chromebook, I decided to peek at liveplants.com and they had Sargassum! They also had dragon's breath, Halimeda 5 pack sampler, and ricordia. So of course I decided to take advantage of the opportunity and placed an order for those items. It should ship tomorrow, which I think means a Wed or Thursday arrival. It was 1or 2 day whether by ground or air and there was a big difference in price, so I chose ground. I hope I am not disappointed with frozen merchandise. This should be cool.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Sounds good! I'm sure your shoal grass will do fine. I look forward to sending you more.

That's amazing GCE had Sargassum in stock. I don't think I've ever seen it available. You put together a nice order. Now I've got to go take a look! My recent order from them had a heat pack in it, so it appeared fine. However, that gorg never showed any signs of life. But your weather won't be near as cold as mine was.

 

[vlangel]

I had no idea that is where your order was from. They did not have a lot of variety when I looked but they had some of the ones I wanted. I almost never see Sargassum either so I thought I better jump on it.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

I had been looking for a Candelabra Gorgonian for awhile, as it is maybe my favorite, in the looks department. I saw that they had them and like you, I decided to jump on it. I think it is one of the more challenging varieties. I gave it a shot…

Best of luck with the Sargassum! I'd pass along advice from my experience, but I don't know what I did!