Weeds

[Michael Hoaster]

Thanks Vinny! I was a little concerned that all the disturbance might throw things out of wack, or I might unearth some hydrogen sulfide, but so far, all is well.

I'd love to return the favor of commenting on your tank thread but I couldn't find one. Got a link?

 

[vlangel]

O wow Michael, it looks outstanding. It looked really good with the blue lights but with the daylight lights it is a notch above and really amazing. It is so cool!

 

[Michael Hoaster]

I really appreciate the kind words, Dawn! It feels good to hear, after working so hard to get there.

I remember when you first waded in with comments, awhile back. You were a little tentative, but it was clear to me you were very knowledgeable. Now look at you! A visionary!

 

[ThePurple12]

Good stuff. I love the caulerpa-covered walls, and that sargassum will add a great touch to the tank once it's grown out.

Just finished reading the Caribbean Biotope thread, now I need to catch up on the first several pages of Weeds!

 

[vlangel]

I really appreciate the kind words, Dawn! It feels good to hear, after working so hard to get there.

I remember when you first waded in with comments, awhile back. You were a little tentative, but it was clear to me you were very knowledgeable. Now look at you! A visionary!

I don't know, I feel like a bumbling visionary at best, ha ha! The more I learn the more I realize how very little I really know!!!

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Thanks The Purple12! I'm really hoping that sargassum grows long, even up to the surface. That would be cool!

Thanks for reading my old thread! I had a very diverse group of commenters on it, making for some lively discussion. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.

 

[ThePurple12]

Yes, it's sad that there's less traffic here on RC lately. Most of those guys from the Caribbean thread are gone. JohnL mentioned a site update hopefully coming soon.

My thoughts? I thought the mangrove root was awesome, it provided a good contrast against the seagrass bed and looked very natural. The tank's color was amazing, I especially liked the Caulerpa racemosa and the blue Hypnea. The pic below is one of my favs.

Also loved the fish population, with the royal grammas and co. The short time with the lookdowns was just stunning. I would venture to say that was the tank's highest point. Very sad that those lookdowns caused a wipeout, needless to say. Do you still have Big Daddy 2?

Really appreciated the shoal grass growth near the end. It had finally filled in... just not the species you wanted!

To sum it all up... it was an epic tank!

I wonder what old Zippy's up to these days...

 

[ThePurple12]

Oh yeah, did that condy nem come back from the dead?

Are you going to try Halophila sometime? Maybe it doesn't quite fit in your tank among the tall manatee grass.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Thanks The Purple12, for sharing your thoughts. It is a shame we get fewer people around here. I see some signs people are coming back, but I don't know. I'll believe a site update when I see it.

The fake mangrove was pretty cool. It set my tank apart, for sure. I chose the caulerpa racemosa because I thought it would contrast well with the seagrasses. It had a tendency to go sexual, but that's no big deal in this kind of tank. On a practical level, it was easy to remove, when it needed pruning. This feather caulerpa I have now is much more difficult to remove. It breaks too easily. I remember seeing the first, tiny frond on the live rock, thinking "will this little plant take over my tank?" It nearly has!

It's funny that you chose that pic. It captured the best day of my aquarium keeping life. The plants were going off, and the lookdowns were so cool! You may be right that it was the peak of that tank. It was a very good day. But it was the beginning of a long, expensive journey, trying to keep them alive, and then watching my other fish get ICH. I guess I learned a lot from that one!

I liked the shoal grass. It's the turtle grass I decided I didn't like. It was spreading and overtaking the manatee grass. I did have some cool macros. I loved the grasilaria hayi that popped up on the mangrove root. The blue hypnea added a nice color to the mix.

Mr Zippy was great. Gorgeous juvenile coloring and, like a lot of tangs, a true character.

I guess it was pretty epic. Thanks for reminding me. Eventually, the aiptasias, the dinos and some out-of-control macros, lead me to breaking down the tank to start over.

I wasn't able to bring the condylactis back. I tried to feed it and coax it back into the tank, but no luck. It disappeared.

I'd like to try a Halophila some time. Right now I don't know where I'd put it. The manatee and shoal grass are pretty thick.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Grabbed a few pics this evening…

I finally got my two sargassum weeds in good light. I'm seeing growth already.

String of Pearls, Grasilaria.

The red macros seem happy with the new reef setup. So far, the mangroves seem unaffected.

I found a small Widgeon Grass (I think), and moved it to the front. It died back but now looks to be bouncing back.

 

[ThePurple12]

Nice, lots of pearling!

Speaking of widgeon grass, I found that it does grow on rocks, or at least attach to them. Although I'd rather have it in the sand. Rocks are reserved for macros!

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Pearling is good! And does that look like widgeon grass to you?

One of the challenges of the reds on the patch reef is getting each plant, with it's own light requirements, in the right spot. It's especially tricky when two different plants are on the same rock. Then you have to rotate the rock just right! The only plant that is loose is the large grasilaria, so it can be moved around easily. Ironically, I haven't moved it since I finished the rock project. It has reshaped itself into a pleasing arrangement without my fiddling. Most of the reds are coloring up well, except the unknown, flattened one. It seems to prefer dimmer lighting, but it's attached to the same rock as one of the sargassums. Since I have another sargassum, maybe I should prioritize the flat one and get it into dimmer light. That could be the ticket!

 

[ThePurple12]

I would say it's widgeon because of the multiple leaves splitting off of the base leaf. I don't think there are any other seagrasses (at least, any other Caribbean/Floridian seagrasses) with that feature.

I've definitely seen brighter red coloration+growth in low-medium lighting, and faster Sargassum growth in high lighting!

 

[vlangel]

Grabbed a few pics this evening"¦

I finally got my two sargassum weeds in good light. I'm seeing growth already.

String of Pearls, Grasilaria.

The red macros seem happy with the new reef setup. So far, the mangroves seem unaffected.

I found a small Widgeon Grass (I think), and moved it to the front. It died back but now looks to be bouncing back.

I enjoyed the more detailed close up pics. Seems like everything is settling in nicely!

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Thanks Dawn. Yeah, I wanted to focus in on a few things. Thankfully, there appear to be no casualties from the project. Now let's see if I can get the macros to flourish.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Ok, so I had to putz with the rocks and macros today. Now that I've spent a little time living with them, I had some ideas to optimize the placement of several of the reds. The biggest challenge was getting the flat red macro into lower light, while giving the sargassum on the same rock higher light, while arranging the rocks to work well together.

From the front of the tank. The red macros are better distributed, and there's room for more.

From the end, semi-close.

A good look at the unknown flattened red. Hopefully, in this position it will color up.

The biggest of several String of Pearl plants, middle foreground. One of my absolute favorites!

Allen's Damsels assessing the changes.

Kind of an overall view from the end.

 

[vlangel]

I like it. I can see why you like string of Pearl's, it's a cool looking macro. Tweaking and tinkering is part of what makes reef keeping so much fun.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

I think I like it too. It's challenging to get things 'just so' when you have an artist's head and scientist's head competing for attention. But it is part of the fun!

String of Pearls plants have such a bizarre shape, they look like something from an alien landscape. I love that!

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Looking at the widgeon grass, what I thought was new growth is instead a manatee grass growing very close to it. So I may have killed it when I moved it. We'll see I guess.

A lot of grass blades are getting coated in calcium again. Yay. I may have to do another simulated grazing event and prune a bunch down. Not crazy about doing it, but now might be a good time, with the reds cut back a bit.

The feather caulerpa is just barely held back from completely engulfing the tank. I may need to do a jumbo export soon.

Glancing at my signature, I see I recently passed the two year mark on this tank. Doing the redo gave me the chance to apply what I learned in v1. The best example is the heavy use of dirt, dug up from my yard. With all that in my sand bed, the seagrasses are much easier to keep happy. When your pivotal species is a higher plant, dirt is your friend!

 

[ThePurple12]

I think I'll have to do a simulated grazing event too, with all that unknown red algae growing on the blades. What do you do, just cut all the blades from the bottom? They'll have no problem recovering, right?