Let's see pics of your planted tanks

Paul-sn

New member
I'm interested in seeing any pics you may have of your planted tanks.
I'm especially curious about mangrove tanks, or tanks mostly decorated with macroalgae.
 
Most folk's tanks are works in progress but maybe in a month or two I'll be ready for a photo shoot. It's not a refugium, it's a 100% macro/plant marine tank. You can see the species list in the other thread.
No digital for the time being but the algae need to grow out more before things are ready for a photo.

The tank's design is species based and not aquascaped in a particularly artful manner but once things get well established, moving them around is not too traumatic and weeding out the less desirable one takes some time.
I'll be looking for a branchy piece of rock. Haven't found the right one yet.

I have many species some of which I have not had before and want to see if they will do well in the long term.

A photo of a neat macro that is very hard to keep for a long time will not help folks:(
I've seen a few tanks with macro's etc, an few german and dotch folks had some nice looking tanks.

My tank is mainly reds and greens.
A mangrove tank would have a deeper DBS, say 5-6inches and be fairly shallow, maybe 16" of water to the top. Most (red mangroves)seedlings are roughly 8-12" tall. New leaf every month or two if things are doing well.

Regards,
Tom Barr
 
I've got a marine planted tank for my seahorses. I keep seeing these threads about showing off pictures, but I'm too lazy to get a camera and start shootin'. Yikes! I'll get some pictures sooner or later though (I gotta find the power cord for my camera; the battery is dead :(). The tank, though, is a 20 extra-high (20"x10"x24"). It's fully planted with Thalassia testudinem from Bill's Reef. It's also got some Penicillus that's been successfully reproducing. The Thalassia is growing wildly. I've also got three mangroves growing submerged. Oh, btw, the tank is a Caribbean biotope equipped with all Caribbean species including the corals that I've managed to fit in (a few gorgonians, Manicina, Porites, Siderastrea, Colangia, and a few others). My secret for setting up a planted tank right off the bat (ie, without letting the substrate mature, etc.) was using locally-collected marsh mud as half of the substrate. There's about 3" mud, 1" live sand, and 2" southdown, respectively from the bottom up, layered in the bed. It's worked out really well. I need to get that camera goin'!!!
-Will
 
Not much to look at just yet, but it's getting there.

planted_right_side.jpg


The feather calerpa is being culled out and will be replaced with a 'mushroom' calerpa (when/if I can find some). The slower growing 'zig-zag' calerpa will probably stay... the left side of the tank will be populated with Halimeda (and another pod-pile).
 
Nice tank DensityMan, looks like it's really coming along.

Fourhand2, you need to take a picture of your tank! It sounds so cool...
 
Although many consider Batophora to be a pest species it would look nice as a ground cover between the Penicillus.
Looks like you have the larger P dumetosus.
These make very nice attractive tree like scenes.

Be nice once it fills in and the other plants/coral etc are attached to the rocks.

I'm not using any rock at the moment. I will add some perhaps later with a new/different tank design.

Regards,
Tom Barr
 
Thanks all... actually removed the feather calerpa yesterday (it was an impulse pull, kinda... it was forever growing the the direction opposite where I wanted it). ;)

The two sprouts off the P. dumetosus (shaving brush) are still going well (to my eyes) and start my search this weekend for Halmeda this weekend. Hoping to find it locally.

Also looking for a sprig of a "mushroom" calerpa (each branch/bulb appears as a tiny capped mushroom) to replace the feather as my crawling plant. The zig-zag calerpa has earned its keep and will remain... just transferred all of it to the top of the pod-pile.

Once I get the plants established I will start working more towards the polyps and other soft corals to mix it up some...

(My current theory for the tank is that the plants will look good AND serve as a nice export mechanism for the Nitrates from the DSB and ultimately help the tank remain more stable. Worked pretty well for the last tank...) :D
 
Awesome tank NR... I just wish I had had any luck with hitchhiking plants... but I got none...
so now I have to look and beg for clippings... ;)
 
Couldn't agree more AB, but the way we receive rock from anywhere kills a great deal.

On a lighter note I was inspired by a recent trade to re-aquascape the tank so here is my 'new' planted tank with room to grow...

Full tank shot:

full_tank_v2.jpg


Left side (Halimeda Heaven)

full_tank_v2_left.jpg


Right side (the 'pod' plant and Gramma-home)

full_tank_v2_right.jpg



Enjoy,
 
Very nice!
I can see that with time to grow in, your tank should be pretty stunning... all the more because it's unique!
 
Very nice photos, and a very nice tank as well. DensityMan.

Just keep in mind that your Halimeda will require *lots* of calcium, so you should think about dripping Kalk, or even setting up a small calcium reactor.

I wish we(in the US) could get rock from the coast of Africa. Many times we get rock from Fiji that is dead and washed.
I don't think that LR from Africa will necessarily be any better than the Fiji rock - the problem lies not with the source, but with the way the rock is treated after collection. As with net caught vs cyanide caught fish, the collectors, exporters, wholesalers and retailers in the supply chain must be educated in the correct handling of LR.

The "old way" of curing LR (which was deemed to be correct when people still used UGF's as their only filters...) is unfortunately still the norm today :rolleye1: All along the supply line the rock is left "to stew" in highly polluted water, and kept in the dark, to maximize die-off of so-called unwanted life :mad2: because people don't know any better (how many LFS's and even hobbyists, still consider Bristleworms to be bad, and try to eradicate them ???). So, after six to eight weeks of "curing", you get the rock with virtually no life on it.

Sure, you do get unwanted critters on "fresh" rock (mostly crabs and nudibranchs, IME), but it's relatively easy to selectively catch or kill them, and IMHO the advantages of fresh LR far outweigh the disadvantages of a few "baddies", if proper precautions are taken. So, instead of aiming to kill off everything, why can't the LFS's (and others in the supply chain...) keep the rock with the aim of maximizing the retention of life and then selectively catch/kill the unwanted critters?

OK, enough venting for now...

Hennie
 
Been dosing a light kalk-dose on my top-off dripper trying to inspire the coralline algaes to take off (hasn't happened yet). I will definately keep an eye on the calcium levels though and perhaps bump the tanks dose of Kalk up some.

Wish there was a way to get really nice, fresh rock for starting or supplementing tanks. I know TBS (? - the live-rock place in FL) ships in water and the shipping weight reflects that. Shipping from outside the states in water would probably be a bit prohibitive... but I would pay it for a few display pieces.

Back to plant-talk, how tall should I expect the Halimeda to grow? I left plenty of room, but if it is going to stay fairly short in the long-term then I will build that side up a bit for more LR.
 
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DensityMan your tank looks really good with all the different macros.

I read that shaving brushes can be really hard to keep. Have you had any problems with yours?

Hennie I'm from, well used to be from Mosselbay in SA and I've only known one other saltwater keeper in SA. This was when I still lived there in mid 90's and they had a helluva hard time buying decent live stock and when they found something it was really exspensive. Has the hobby in SA become more widespread and do you have problems buying hardware and livestock?
 
You know Scott, the more I look at your pics, the more I like your tank.
It didn't even occur to me initially that you had little coralline growht.
I see now that if it filled out more, your tank would truly be stunning.
Keep us updated!
 
Thanks for all the Kudos! :D

The shaving brush has not been a problem, but it hasn't done as well as it wanted to originally. It took to the tank and lighting rather well and had a month of great growth. During that growth period it has sent off 5 shoots; only one of those shoots is still alive and that may be only because I inadvertantly cut its runner back to the parent plant. While the parent plant is still alive, some of its 'branches' are turning red (while others are still showing new growth tips). I have heard that this plant goes through periods of growth then die-off and that as long as the root-bulb is strong it will return. I hope it does (and will report here if when it does die off and come back).

In the mean time I am looking for what I should do to help it along. Should I cut it back like many do in the Fall for there perenial plants outdoors? Should I just let it die off and siphon off the waste?

Over all I am excited about the tank. I have one large piece of LR that I want to remove and replace, but have yet to come across any 'good' LR in the area. The piece I want to remove has a purple-brown hair algae that nothing in the tank will touch and is otherwise naked of anything I want. It is also the only rock in the tank that green slime has grown on. I am only missing two macros that I have my heart set on: Mermaids Wine-glass and a mushroom-head calaerpa (so any leads there would be appreciated). ;)


The "bad" rock (close-ups)
badrock.jpg


Something new (I'm gonna post in a seperate thread for an ID... the LFS was treating it as a nuisance algae and I needed to grab a frag of it to save to at least ID properly and determine if it is indeed a nuisance (to me) or not)
feather_duster_algae.jpg
 
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