my fuge/planted tank

[jrhupp]

Thought I would share a pic of my fuge and my grow list of what it contains. Not everything is visible, as the Halymenia is taking over.

Acetabularia sp. (two species, one small one and one larger one)
Codium sp.
Caulerpa mexicana
C. paspaloides
C. prolifera
C. serrulata
C. taxifolia (Florida native, not the aquarium strain)
Halimedia sp. (at least three different species)
Halodule wrightii
Halymenia sp.?
Penicillus sp.
Udotea sp.

Thanks for looking,
Jay

 

[graveyardworm]

Very nice, can you provide some tank specs?

 

[jrhupp]

It is a 15 gallon tank (well 15 gallons of a 20 long). The other 5 gallons is sectioned off and houses the return pump for the fuge and display tank. There is a small powerhead that runs for 1 minute every 3 minutes, to provide some alternating flow. Lighting is provided by two 55 watt 10,000K power compacts. The sand bed is of moderate depth, around 2.5 to 3 inches and comprised of 60# of ultra fine oolitic sand.

Jay

 

[Samala]

Leave it to a plant physiologist to produce such wonderful aquatic work. Very nicely done, Jay. I hope you're around in the forum more often, we could really use the insight of other macro-crazed folks.

Does your Acetabularia bloom/produce the gametangia consistently? I'm just curious to see if this is a normal phenomenon I'm experiencing with a cyclic bloom, dieoff, spike and bloom pattern requiring a few weeks to transpire.

I like the layout a lot. A little more Caulerpa prolifera to the left in front of the rockwork would be divine.. then you could stage Udotea and Penciillus in front and let those three carpet the area.. leaving a little white sand bed towards the front right. Its really a beautiful little tank as is. I havent seen anyone else get such great growth out of C. paspaloides before.

This definitely gets my vote for the most attractive fuge around.

Thank you so much for sharing!

>Sarah

 

[jrhupp]

Thanks for the compliments Sarah. I read here a fair amount but don't post much.

My Acetabularia does "bloom" on a cycle. Right now both species are non-reproductive, just little stalks. I am hoping the larger of the two species starts to spread soon. The smaller one has been around for over a year now and is established throughout my system, but the larger one is a recent addition.

I wish I knew what made the Caulerpa paspaloides grow like it does in my tank, so I could share with you all. But I don't. It is about the strangest Caulerpa I have experince with though. Leaf turnover is rapid. Individual leaves last only around a week. They emerge as a whorl at the top of a single unbrached stalk. About a week later the orginal leaves start to die off as a new branch and whorl of leaves appears just below. There are individual stalks that have been going like this for several months now.

As for the aquascaping suggestion, that is idealy where I am headed. But I find the algaes do what they want irrespective to where I plant them.

Thanks,
Jay