monicaswizzle
Premium Member
Well, since I got so much useful info off of this forum I thought I should give you an update on my attempt to create a 75 gallon seagrass display tank. Here is the "skinny", feel free to ask questions if anything stirs your interest.
I received my shipment of seagrass from Florida Pets in the first week of January. I was very happy with the product and reasonably happy with the service. (They are a wealth of info and anxious to please, but a little odd about shipping to Wisconsin in winter. Shipment was delayed because they had trouble getting in heat packs. The products were great, but not as clearly labeled as I would have hoped.)
So, on Jan 10 I planted the 75 gallon to Shoal grass with three specimens of Manatee grass added for some variation. I decided to upgrade my lighting, so about a week later I replaced the NO lights on half of the tank with a 250Watt metal halide 6500K bulb. The other half has a combination of 10,000K and actinic PC lights for a total of 130Watts.
About one month later I believe the planting was a success. Lots of the original blades have come off the rhizomes and floated to the top of the tank, but the remaining blades are showing lots of little bubbles (especially on the high light side of the tank) and root growth is evident on the rhizomes that I planted near the tank edge.
My crabs (emerald, hermit and porcelain) don't seem to bother the grass much and the pods simply love it. Many of the blades of grass have five or more pods clinging to them at any one time.
I don't plan to add any of my fish back into the display tank for another couple of weeks (let the grass get over the transplant shock), so I don't know yet how the grass will mix with the coral beauty and the purple tang.
Thanks for all the help and advice. Someday when the tank is looking really good I will borrow a camera and post a pic or two.
I received my shipment of seagrass from Florida Pets in the first week of January. I was very happy with the product and reasonably happy with the service. (They are a wealth of info and anxious to please, but a little odd about shipping to Wisconsin in winter. Shipment was delayed because they had trouble getting in heat packs. The products were great, but not as clearly labeled as I would have hoped.)
So, on Jan 10 I planted the 75 gallon to Shoal grass with three specimens of Manatee grass added for some variation. I decided to upgrade my lighting, so about a week later I replaced the NO lights on half of the tank with a 250Watt metal halide 6500K bulb. The other half has a combination of 10,000K and actinic PC lights for a total of 130Watts.
About one month later I believe the planting was a success. Lots of the original blades have come off the rhizomes and floated to the top of the tank, but the remaining blades are showing lots of little bubbles (especially on the high light side of the tank) and root growth is evident on the rhizomes that I planted near the tank edge.
My crabs (emerald, hermit and porcelain) don't seem to bother the grass much and the pods simply love it. Many of the blades of grass have five or more pods clinging to them at any one time.
I don't plan to add any of my fish back into the display tank for another couple of weeks (let the grass get over the transplant shock), so I don't know yet how the grass will mix with the coral beauty and the purple tang.
Thanks for all the help and advice. Someday when the tank is looking really good I will borrow a camera and post a pic or two.
