Weeds

Thanks lapin! Well put! Light speed…

I'm happy with the seagrass for sure. Now if I can just get the water clear enough for them to photosynthesize. I don't mind the tannins so much either, but not if they hinder the grasses. Kind of a double whammy, with the phyto bloom.

I have some experience with ulva. It's quite the nutrient sponge. I'm hoping it will compete with less desirable algae. I like it.

Happy Holidaze to you too!
 
Well, the tank is still cloudy/green, but it's clearing slowly. Maybe I'll keep the light off tomorrow, to speed up the process. I hate to not light the seagrass, but it may be worth it. One day shouldn't hurt.

It's ironic that the last good look at the seagrass I got was right before I planted them. Ha! It's always something! I hope they're OK. From what I can see, it looks like they are coated in diatoms or something. I should get some more snails in there! I've got plenty more in the holding tank, along with the spaghetti worms.

I've got family stuff tomorrow, so it'll have to wait (or I'll have to be sneaky).

Cheers!
 
I snuck a little aquarium time in this morning. A water change and another round of erythromycin for the QT. More snails got acclimated and added to the display. And I kept the metal halide off for the day. I wanted to give the UV a little help, clearing up the phytoplankton bloom. I adjusted the canister filter output towards the surface, to facilitate oxygenation.

Merry!
 
My aquarium is clearing. Not there yet, but it shouldn't be too much longer. The day without the light helped. I'm not crazy about using the UV to kill phytoplankton, but it is the best option I can think of, for this situation. I'd much rather use biological means, like filter feeders, such as sponges. But the tank is way too young and unstable at this juncture.

The silver lining of the bloom is that I'm finding a lot of tiny pods and stuff on the front glass, even though I haven't yet specifically added them. So I'm getting additional biodiversity in the formative months of the ecosystem.

As soon as I have time, I'd like to transfer the worms in my holding tank to the display. This will necessitate breaking down the tank, which will trigger the need to re-set up my in-cabinet QTs. So it's a multitask task.

The next steps will be aimed at adding biodiversity. Worms, pods, live sand and live rock are next on the list. I'll also add some more reproducing snails of different species. I'd like to get all this done before the next round of fish go into the display, so they can get established without predation.

Despite the pea soup I'm in right now, I am enjoying this phase. Laying the foundation of a functional ecosystem is fascinating! While it's not particularly pretty, it's looking good for the future.
 
Happy Holidays everyone!

The UV is clearing up the water. It's nice to be able to see! I need some quality time, just observing. That'll inform my decisions going forward.

Mostly, it just needs time. Lot's going on in a tank that's what, two weeks old? Chemical reactions, bacterial colonization, algae, detritus, micro and macroscopic creatures. New life and a new ecosystem starting up. Lot's to learn! Fun stuff!
 
Wow, a lot has happened the past 4 days. Since I work on a PC all day, when I have a break from work, it's the last thing that I want to be on when I want to unwind. It seems that things are progressing, slowly but surely. Light speed on some things, but the clearing of the tank isn't going that fast. You have been patient though, and that is key. Nature isn't always fast either.
 
Thanks Kevin! Despite the phyto bloom, I've tried to keep things moving along. It's much clearer this morning, so I'm relieved. There's still lots to do, but not a big rush. Up next: worms.
 
Just about cleared up. Here's a couple pics:

picture.php

Full tank width. The two hoses at top left are temporary. There will be no visible plumbing. Most of the manatee grass is coated in algae. I'm tempted to prune it to get rid of the thickest stuff towards the top, but I noticed the snails were working on them. For the last three days or so, I've seen they've progressively gotten cleaner. So I will try to hold off on the pruning for now. Is there anything more satisfying than having a good crew to clean up for you? Yay!


picture.php

From the right end. Still some cloudiness, so you can barely make out the far end. This end will change radically, once the main pump is turned on.

I hope everyone is having a great holiday!
 
Looking really good Michael!!!! Are you seeing any new growth with the grasses yet, or too soon to tell?
 
Thanks Kevin!

Hard to tell if there's any new growth. Maybe a little. I'm hoping that the algae coating will stimulate them to put up new leaves, as it does in nature. I'm already finding discarded leaves around the tank. When leaves become too coated to photosynthesize, they drop them and grow new ones. The complicating factor is their being uprooted, shipped and replanted, so I expect some recovery time. I'm hoping my dirty substrate will speed up the process.

I am thrilled to get so many manatee grass plants to start with. When I started v1, there weren't very many available, so I started with much less. Thanks to SaltySully, I got a perfect amount for the space I wanted to plant.

So for now, my aquarium's not much to look at. But I think it's doing well otherwise. The foundation of the ecosystem is still forming.
 
Thanks Dawn!

It's not so pretty now, but I'm hopeful. I'm adding a third round of snails, to help with clean up. It's cool to see the grasses getting greener everyday.

In QT, one of the grammas was getting very beat up, so I'm moving her to her own QT. I think the problem is the springer's damsel. He's gotten more and more aggressive lately, nipping fins right and left. I moved him out of QT and into the holding tank, which will be converted into a QT shortly.

Both the big QT and the one set up today are getting another round of erythromycin.
 
This has been an unusual startup. To finally get the plants I wanted in my tank, then have them disappear into a green cloud for days. Now I'm getting this slow-motion 'reveal', which is really making me appreciate everything anew. It's kind of magical!

Another thing different about this startup is the low number of different plants. I really want to give full focus to the manatee grass. So I'm not in my usual hurry to get more. I've got just a few, small red macro frags and some ulva sprouting from the new fake wall. I of course am keeping an eye open for plants I like.

The grass has a pretty heavy coating of dark brown algae. My army of tiny snails is making progress, revealing the green blades. The diatoms on the sand are getting cleaned up too, with the help of a fighting conch, and a beautiful, beige sea cucumber. And also the mollies get credit for their services as well. I'm amazed at how effective this crew has been already, in a very young aquarium!
 
ONE MONTH.

I went back in the thread to figure out how far along I am with this tank. I was surprised to learn it's been a month! In past experiences, hitting one month has felt like two. This time, it feels like three weeks. I think this points to a lack of intrusions on my part. This has been the laziest first month I can recall! In previous aquariums, I've tended to make constant adjustments in the first month. This time, with more experience and a better idea what I want, I'm mostly letting Nature take it's course.

The first couple months of a tank's life are a mystery, full of chemical reactions and new life forming. It now makes sense to me to just let it happen. Rather than trying to dictate what happens in my little world, I'm enjoying letting natural processes do their thing.

I've never been so patient! Maybe the biggest difference is that I have a pretty complete vision for this tank. In the previous version, I had no experience with any of the plants or fish I was keeping. I had no idea what to expect, so I tried a lot of different things, to see what would work. Now I have a much better idea what's going on, and what to expect.
 
Looks nice. High five to the clean up crew.
I noticed your..... As many naturalists and.......
So you are taking Walters advice.
 
Thanks lapin!

I do have a great crew - with more on the way! It makes life so much easier.

Yep, I like a lot of Walter Adey's ideas, and his influence on my aquarium keeping is pretty big. I'm lazy and I want my aquarium to be easy. Using plants and other ecologically important players as both filtration and display is my adaptation of some of his ideas.
 
The water's really clearing up now. The lighting is bright! It looks so much better. My 400 watt, 6500K metal halide light delivers a very natural looking sunlight simulation. The glitter lines on the sand are lovely too!

I'm getting impatient with the algae on the grasses. I've been waiting for the snails to clean them up, and they are, but I'm very tempted to trim and export. Ideally though, I'd like to let nature take its course. I go back and forth. It's hard to know what would be the most beneficial. Maybe I'll prune one and see what happens.

As I mentioned, I got a few hitchhiker snails with the manatee grass. I thought they were cerith snails but now I'm not sure. They may be conch-related. I noticed one this morning that moved a little too quickly across the sand. It was a tiny hermit crab! It's funny because I've been such a staunch anti-hermit crab-guy. But it's so tiny and cute! And it kills snails. Next time I spot it I'll demote it to QT.

Another thing I found in the grasses were some dead mysis shrimp. I wonder if any of their babies could have survived the trip. When I look at the tiny pods on the front glass through a magnifier, I see some shrimp-shaped critters, that I don't recall ever seeing before. That would be so cool if they were to grow and prosper!

Thanks to all that read this stuff!
 
Michael Hoaster said:
Just about cleared up. Here's a couple pics:

picture.php

Full tank width. The two hoses at top left are temporary. There will be no visible plumbing. Most of the manatee grass is coated in algae. I'm tempted to prune it to get rid of the thickest stuff towards the top, but I noticed the snails were working on them. For the last three days or so, I've seen they've progressively gotten cleaner. So I will try to hold off on the pruning for now. Is there anything more satisfying than having a good crew to clean up for you? Yay!


picture.php

From the right end. Still some cloudiness, so you can barely make out the far end. This end will change radically, once the main pump is turned on.

I hope everyone is having a great holiday!
Click to expand...
Great looking tank Michael! Sorry I haven't checked in for a while, we have had our hands full lol. I love the back wall and sand scape you have going on. It's stunning.

I am still inspired by your natural approach and am slowly learning the art of long term patience. The stark difference between our first tank and then the nano that had the infusion of micro critters really hammered it home: variety works, and nature finds a way.

Post is some new pics once that tank clears up! Can't wait to see it.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 
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