Marine planted tank photo's, FINALLY:)

Isn't potassium nitrate also known as saltpeter? Thats the stuff the army puts in their food to lower the libidos of their soldiers.
 
www.litemanu.com sells
K2SO4
Traces(for iron) dirt cheap
KNO3
KH2PO4

CaCl2?
MgSO4(Epsom salt)

Seems reef folks have been paying an awful lot for things.

You can buy these in 50lb bags at local turf grass suppliers often or ag places for aboput 20-25$ a sack.

Need less? Litemanu has it.

Yes, if your other half is getting too frisky, or perhaps you are, I hear it works.
They fed it to dogs in the WWII to make them meaner.


Regards,
Tom barr
 
Great thread, guys! I would be surprised if these tanks don't catch on soon.

GDW: That pic of the blue Dictyola looks amazing!
 
Greetings ludwigia,

THe offshoregraphics books look great ... thanks for the info !
Damn ... more Christmas toys ...

GDW
 
They also have a south Pacificmacro algae version for about 50$

That should cover most things you might ever see.

But they do have any good culture marine plant books ........yet:)

I'll put one out in about 1-2 years from now but it';ll be for all aquatic plants, not just marine but it'll be more about culture in aquariums, not ID etc.


Regards,
Tom Barr
 
Plantbrain, Your tank is looking great! You probably put a lot of work into it...
I am experimenting with macroalgae myself a little. I like planted FW tanks and I was always missing green colour in marine tanks :) I was amazed with the stuff grown out from my life rock but then I purchased blue tang and ... this was the end for macro algae in my tank :))
Last summer I took a trip to South Carolina beaches and collected about 3-4 kinds of unindentified algae (one of them was Dyctyota Rossa but I do not know the others) and attempted to grow them out in a 10 gallon tank with about 3 " of sand bed and lots of snails, no skimmer.
I did not have to much of an idea how to play the game so today almost all algae are not looking good and are covered with filamentous microalgae.
I would like to try again, maybe I could try with other kinds of algae like shaving brush or beautiful Udotea Flabellatum.

Next week or so I am going for a trip to Florida and I was hoping you could recommend some sites I could collect some species of Udotea Flabellatum near the shore. Not going too far with a boat like you are planing for June but rather something I can find on the south florida beaches in shallow waters??

Thanks.
 
Any soft sandy bottom should have Udotea, plenty.
You'll find plenty right off the road and interspersed with SeaGrass.

Take small plants, leave the larger ones.
They will adapt better to your tank.

Regards,
Tom Barr
 
Tom,
This is an incredible tank. Again, you have taken plant tanks to an art form. I hope you do not mind, I posted your link on another reef forum, bragging about your expertise.


jim
 
Hey All,

I think it's time ya'll post updated pics of how your algae are doing :) Tom, are you still growing Cymopolia? How does that do for you?

Thanks!
Kevin
 
The damn Damsel is a digging fish and has ruined some of the tank's species. But he's been removed.
Cymopolia is an excellent marine plant. The damsel kept disturbing it and a few others. I might have a few pieces left.

It's getting hot here now and that's when the marine tank goes to crap unless I spend 80$ a month for AC or buy a chiller.

It does great till you crest 79-80F. Then all hell breaks lose.

Lighting is 110W 8800K and a 5000K 55w PC light suspended about 4 inches avbove the water.
Filters are a skilter and a HOT magnum with a micron cartiage.
45lbs of sugar size arag, KNO3, iron, Ca, HCO3, Mg, fish food added. 1-2x a month 70% water change.

Seagrass has started growing well, too well.

I'll post some pics later in May. I've been neglecting things lately on this and have barely gotten my FW planted tanks up and running good. There's several competitions coming up by Apr 30th for the FW so I'll also enter the Marine planted tank as well and see what they do with it:)
It's a biotope, they are have chloroplast and no assocaited organisms.

In a few months I'll be getting a good job and will be able to afford a nice reef system and a marine plant system finally with a chiller. It's been a very good learning experience and I'm able to duplicate this now. I tried a few things with high growth and PO4 but it was failure even though the system was PO4 limited.
Organic PO4 seems to be easily utilized in marine systems wereas only algae can use organic PO4 in FW systems. Adding inorganic PO4 to FW systems with huigh plant growth amplifies growth wereas it does not nearly as much in marine systems and of the 6 times I tried to do controlled independent dosing of PO4, resulted in a lot of diatoms. I have not thrown the towel in yet on PO4. Making certain the PO4 is the only inpendent variable requires me to know and set a good range for everything else.
NO3, K, Mg, Ca, Fe, traces I'm fine with. I tried CO2 but it did not really do much for growth of health.
Aeration seems to do the same thing.
When I removed heavry aeration, I got poorer growth in all cases. Plants and algae both prefer CO2 vs HCO3.
Aeration alone seems to be able to supply most of the CO2 needed interestingly. I am not done with this but for now it does not seem as necessary as in FW planted tanks.

But the jury is still out on this and I will certainly approach it again with CO2 and inorganic PO4 dosing at lower residual level and see what happens.

Sorry, I've been sparse lately.


Regards,
Tom Barr
 
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