Yep, good ol' dirt. It really highlights the differences between seagrass tanks and reef tanks. Also, I guess it shows my confidence in this methodology. By the way, I didn't come up with this. I am following some folks much smarter than me.
When I started up v1, I thought it would be a good idea to incorporate dirt, to more closely replicate Nature. But I was persuaded otherwise, that the reality of aquarium upkeep necessitated compromise, so I used a much reduced amount of dirt, and waited. And waited. It took roughly a year for my substrate to dirty up well enough to support seagrass growth. I grew bolder and added black, stinky mud. My tank didn't crash or turn into pea soup. It flourished.
This time around, I have no fear. Seagrasses prefer to uptake nutrients through their roots, just like other higher plants. They prefer soft, muddy sand, and low nutrient water. I plan to give it to them. I expect the seagrasses will flourish much quicker. Keep in mind though, if I wasn't keeping seagrass, just macro algae, I probably wouldn't bother with dirt, since macros don't have roots, and take up nutrients from the water exclusively.
I'm convinced that, although our glass boxes are artificial constructs, Nature doesn't care, and is ready and willing to do most of the heavy lifting for us. We just need to provide the necessary ingredients and get out of the way!
Woo! You just never know when I'll whip out the soapbox and pontificate!
OK Kevin, where was I? Oh yeah, fish. I have six mollies, five barnacle blennies, one springer's damsel and one royal gramma left. Also I have a fighting conch, a cucumber and hundreds of mini strombus snails and spaghetti worms. I have a few red macro fragments and two shoal grass shoots, which I'm guessing are connected. Last but not least, I have one peppermint shrimp, that managed to wipe out hundreds of aiptasias in my holding tank.
Yeah, it sucks to run low on cash, just when I need it. But it will force me to be patient, and particular, and cheap.
Dark Side of the Moon was a brilliant album, and I enjoyed many a headphone session, but like you, my tastes went elsewhere. These days, I like to listen to music and stare at my tank!
Although I like Pink Floyd, was from my era, my younger Brother was a huge fan. I'm more of a metal head...kinda weird, at my old age!
