Samala
New member
I was wondering what sort of lighting requirements we believe are needed for growing sea grasses - especially manatee grass and eel grass (Zostera marina). I understand these are typically shallow water plants that will need intense lighting, but under what regimes are people keeping them?
Do we think that a 3.5-4wpg range with 6500K output CF bulb type would be sufficient? Or do they specifically need the mixed bulb outputs with the 10000K light included? I guess the question is, what spectrum of daylight is found in the first one to two meters of seawater? That should be a recreation of the environment they typically come from.
Also, aragonite sand is probably a given top layer when planting the sea grasses, but has anyone been using a substrate with some cation exchange complex activity in the lower regions of the substrate bed? In my freshwater aquaria I frequently use laterite or clay based compounds for their high CEC qualities and their iron content. Would the use of, say a 1" layer at the bottom, be beneficial to sea grass growth and health or detrimental to the tank as far as algae outbreaks, etc.?
Thanks for the help
>Sarah
Do we think that a 3.5-4wpg range with 6500K output CF bulb type would be sufficient? Or do they specifically need the mixed bulb outputs with the 10000K light included? I guess the question is, what spectrum of daylight is found in the first one to two meters of seawater? That should be a recreation of the environment they typically come from.
Also, aragonite sand is probably a given top layer when planting the sea grasses, but has anyone been using a substrate with some cation exchange complex activity in the lower regions of the substrate bed? In my freshwater aquaria I frequently use laterite or clay based compounds for their high CEC qualities and their iron content. Would the use of, say a 1" layer at the bottom, be beneficial to sea grass growth and health or detrimental to the tank as far as algae outbreaks, etc.?
Thanks for the help
>Sarah
