New Display Refugium Questions...

[BfishLpond78]

So I finally plumbed in my 50B as a refugium...

Looking to have a great assortment of macros...the one i'm having the most trouble with is the sandbed cover, I want something that acts as grass...but i keep hearing that calupera is a no no, but it really has the look i want, wide blades and grows a nice height. System is connected to a 30 gallon sump and 80 gallon mixed reef tank.

Also, i've been toying around with the idea of putting some LED's over the tank, does anyone have any experiences using them for marine plants? I was gonna go with a 2 or 4 bulb t5 unit, but wanted to entertain the idea of possible energy savings. Or do I just get two Home Depot Lights and call it a day, lol.

 

[gnu]

I have LEDs on my DT with tons of macro, and they do really well. And you should be just fine with caulerpa as long as you thin it out often enough...every 2-4 weeks should be enough.

 

[BfishLpond78]

What type of LEDs are you using?

 

[Plasmodium]

What about turtle grass or shoal grass?

 

[BfishLpond78]

I am thinking about turtle or shoal grass as well. Just couldn't find a place that had it till you posted. Lol

Are they heavy root feeders or just demand a lot of light?

 

[3D-Reef]

Sea grasses are capable of gaining nutrients,at a lower level than macros, from both the leaves and the roots.

They do need a lot of light.I used a 175MH for years.Then last year I switched to LED.The LFS says its = ~250MH.But I'm only running it at ~75%(pearling nicely for the first time).At 100% the grass would have a consistant release of O2 from the lacunae (air tubes).

How tall is Your 50B?Turtlegrass can grow quite tall.

 

[BfishLpond78]

It's 18 inches high. I was looking for a ground cover nothing crazy high as I would like other macros as well.

 

[3D-Reef]

Shoal grass would be a better choice then.Turtle grass will pretty much fill an 18" space to where you can't see anything else.:thumbsup:

 

[BfishLpond78]

That's what I was thinking, but what about using in in the back as almost a back drop of grass?

Has anyone ever done this with it attached to a reef tank?

 

[tektite]

Actual sea grass is a very tough one to start out with. If you want the grass look, the best and easiest option would be caulerpa prolifera. One of the least invasive of the caulerpas, and looks great.

 

[BfishLpond78]

I really want the calupera but you're always hearing horror stories about it.

 

[tektite]

"Caulerpa" consists of many different species of differing invasive levels. Caulerpa prolifera is one of the slowest growing/safest ones out there. Very rarely goes sexual either. Its the only caulerpa I'll allow anywhere near my macroalgae tank.

 

[Khemul]

+1 on Prolifera. It prefers growing in sand, and detachs pretty easily too.

It has a nice balance on growth too. Fast, but not so fast it strips the system and sends the macro population into survival-mode.


Or you could always do a combination. Like freshwater planted tanks do.

 

[BfishLpond78]

I think I'll have to give it a try as its the look I really want.

 

[gnu]

Sorry it took me a bit to respond...I have cheap Chinese LEDs on one tank, and Cree on another. The plug-n-play DIY kit from Cree is pretty awesome, and not too expensive.

 

[NanoJosh]

Awesome I was wanting to do a display fuge, subscribed, if you're a DIYer I would add a couple more red and orange leds along with white and blue the plants like the red spectrum too.