Thinning Turtle Grass?

[mogurnda]

Hi All,
I have unintentionally ended up with a tank packed with Thalassia. I had been buying Penicillus and Halimeda for my sea slugs, and the turtle grass rode in with it from time to time. The macroalgae were eaten, but the seagrasses have taken over. It serves as a nice framework for the Bryopsis the slugs are eating now, but is getting too dense.

My question is, can I pull out about half without tearing the sandbed up and making a mess of things? How do people thin their seagrass beds?

 

[Speaker73]

You could pull it out but it would make a mess of your bed. Send it to me if you want. Lol

Sent from my SM-G950U1 using Tapatalk

 

[mogurnda]

You could pull it out but it would make a mess of your bed. Send it to me if you want. Lol

Will keep you in mind.

Anybody got advice?

 

[Michael Hoaster]

I used a method you might be interested in. The turtle grass in my previous tank was taking over, and I didn't want to tear up the sand bed. I took some scissors and cut them off at the base. This makes it impossible for them to photosynthesize. They'll shoot up more leaves, so you may have to do two or three rounds, but it worked surprisingly quickly for me.

If you want to give them away, you could pull one or two plants at a time, than give things time to resettle before pulling out more. Maybe once a week?

 

[mogurnda]

If you want to give them away, you could pull one or two plants at a time, than give things time to resettle before pulling out more. Maybe once a week?

The gradual approach may be the ticket. I was thinking about doing it all at once, which might be a mess.

Is here any truth to the idea that they will not grow from cut ends?

 

[Michael Hoaster]

That'll work. Small disturbances will be less distressful to your tank's ecosystem. And keeping them alive is great!

Cutting them at the base eliminates energy input. Stored energy will put up another blade, but maybe not another.

 

[mogurnda]

Thanks!