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Amphiprion1's 25g seagrass cube REDUX


Amphiprion1

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Well done. What eventually do you want the tank to resemble? Like got a picture of a grass area in a lagoon or something that inspired this? Art imitates life kinda thing.

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Amphiprion1
Well done. What eventually do you want the tank to resemble? Like got a picture of a grass area in a lagoon or something that inspired this? Art imitates life kinda thing.

 

I definitel wanted to imitate some of the grass beds I've seen in the Caribbean, but some of the natural look was unintentional-- but I'm not arguing with the result. Unfortunately, I don't have any good photos--I'm working on memory, but I've been a number of times.

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Amphiprion1

Another update:

 

Slightly concerned now, lol. I am beginning to question the wisdom of the inclusion of Halophila decipiens back into this system. What was once a single sprout has now quickly blossomed into over a dozen in the course of a couple of weeks. It is truly a testament to the colonizing power of this species. While that may seem like a good thing, it could very well mean that many of the other species may go into decline as one outcompetes the other. I'm going to have to keep a very careful/watchful eye on the runners and make sure they stay as controlled as possible. Even then, I'm not sure how well I actually can control it over time. It'd probably be wiser to remove it altogether, but I don't have the heart to do that--it is a great looking species, for sure. While all of this stuff happens all the same in nature, I actually want to keep the assortment and not let it eventually become a monospecific stand with a single climax species.

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 5 months later...

And the pics... Just took a couple, since the viewing angles are limited. For those wondering why I left the sides dirty, there's a reason for that ;). I have hundreds of dorvilleid worms that munch on it and I rather like them, so I keep the sides algae-covered for their benefit... and I'm a bit lazy as well.

 

DSC00026.jpg

 

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Notice how the Halophila filled in incredibly fast. It went from almost nothing when I first restarted, then got choked out by the dinoflagellates. What you are seeing is roughly 2.5 months of sprouting only, which is incredible. This species' tendency toward ultra-fast vegetative growth is nothing short of astounding. The shoal grass has filled in quite well. It gradually dwindled like the rest and suddenly sent runners and shoots everywhere. There are about 30 individual shoots, ranging from about 1" to about 8". Last but not least, one of my favorites, the worm activity. I got a sandbed shot to show the amount of burrowing occurring in the bed. You can even see some of the dorvilleids nestled in their burrows next to grass roots. Very cool. There isn't a single square inch of sand that isn't packed with a worm of some sort, be it a cirratulid or run of the mill amphinomid. Exactly what I was going for!

 

In any case, it may not be polished like a TOTM tank or anything, but I wanted to diverge from that look anyway. I was going for as natural a look as possible and I think I may have hit the jackpot. I'm very satisfied with it thus far. Only now I need to start thinning quickly before it gets out of hand. The grasses will start choking themselves out if I don't.

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Amphiprion1
Any new pictures?

No, not much has changed, minus growth patterns and a new Thalassia sprout. I've had a bit of cyanobacteria growing for a good number of weeks now due to a combination of neglect, lack of pruning, etc. It's not pretty, but everything grows in spite of it. I was going to snap a pic a couple of weeks ago, but with the bloom, I still don't want to take one right now ;). I should have it resolved soon enough.

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Amphiprion1

Okay, so I have pics planned for tomorrow. Everything is starting to look pretty good again and the cyanobacteria seems to be getting under control--enough so that I don't mind getting a quick photo. I may even make and upload a small vid, as I've managed to get a nice back and forth rocking motion in the grasses by using my Vortech on long pulse mode.

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Amphiprion1

Quick vid:

 

Pics:

DSC00035.jpg

 

DSC00036.jpg

 

The cyanobacteria is definitely starting to subside, but there is still some left. Getting there. The Montipora frag bleached pretty badly, even when I raised the fixture in anticipation--plus my blenny decided to scrape some of the tissue away to give it a taste :/

 

I also added the same pics, etc. to the first page to give a full progression of the tank from the very beginning to present.

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  • 1 month later...
Amphiprion1

Well, a little update with good news. It seems that despite the fact that I've been neglecting the tank, I officially have a new Thalassia plantlet as of a few days ago. It sprouted right next to the other two, giving me a whopping total of three. Man, these things are slow. The leaf growth for me is pretty fast, with turnover being every week or so, but actual rhizome growth is at a snail's pace. I'm noticing the Halophila slowing as the Thalassia begins to take off more, so it seems like the species succession is proceeding toward natural maturation of the bed.

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Amphiprion1
awesome, don't know how i just came across this now. nice grass ;)

 

Thanks!

 

 

What are your nitrates reading. That algae must be a PITA to clean all the time.

 

Nitrates are kept either undetectable or barely detectable. I typically only intentionally add it when phosphate levels rise or when I have to severely disturb the substrate to uproot rhizomes. I mostly use calcium nitrate, but I sometimes use potassium nitrate if calcium levels are high enough already.

 

The algae comes and goes, honestly. It is at its height when I have to pull up rhizomes and stir everything up. It isn't unusual for that to take a long time to go away, such as right now. The cyanobacteria is in full decline--for the first time in several months--by simply doing nothing and letting it run its course. Even if there is algae growing, I usually don't do much about it. Other than cyanobacteria, I encourage algal growth and don't usually do much with it unless I'm taking a photo. So in that sense, it isn't a PITA at all.

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Amphiprion1
Nice tank. Love the flow in the vid.

 

Thanks. I also like the flow patterns in the tank and the grasses have always done better for me with more water motion.

 

 

 

I just completed a 4.5 day blackout to hopefully beat back the cyanobacteria and give actual algae and the seagrasses a better foothold. I siphoned off as much decayed matter as possible, cleaned my sump (unfortunately, I had to ditch the animals within), and did a 100% water change over the course of the 4 days. As I said before, I'm hoping this will be a kickstart for increased growth of something other than cyanobacteria, which smothers everything.

 

Beyond that, the entire right side decided to senesce and die on me, seeing as how those plants were the oldest. There are a few newer remaining rhizomes, but that's about it. I do expect them to fill back in relatively quickly.

 

Despite the cyano, my Thalassia has done wonderfully. The blades are 2x as long as they were in my last photo--they are taller than the tank, lol. If the system stays a little cleaner, I'll have photos up within a week or so to show the Thalassia's growth.

 

I'm hoping that I can make this tank work well in the long term on this kind of scale. The last iteration of this kind of system I had didn't last terribly long before nutrient issues took hold, most of which was attributable to the seagrasses themselves. It's been an issue that stays in the back of my mind the whole time I've had this tank. If I can't overcome it in the long run, I can only hope someone else finds a better way or, at the very least, some sort of compromise. In the meantime, I'll be trying different things and reporting here from time to time.

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Keep it up! You always get very nice growth. I hope you can determine how to maintain it long term. I'll be following along.

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Amphiprion1
Keep it up! You always get very nice growth. I hope you can determine how to maintain it long term. I'll be following along.

 

I definitely plan to keep going! I'm a dogged person when it comes to this kind of stuff. This tank, like just about any tank, goes through its ups and downs. I really can't complain about it too much, because all things considered, it has actually given me very little grief. Sure, the cyanobacteria isn't visually appealing, but I never had many corals in the tank and those few didn't die from any of it. Nothing else did, either, luckily. The only casualties I can think of were a good chunk of infauna when I got lazy on feeding and a nice Montipora frag I managed to bleach the heck out of. Not too terrible, unlike previous tanks of mine (ironically enough).

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Amphiprion1

Well, had some spare time today and goofed around with the system (read: bored). I have a 250w Radium lamp lying around that I had never used (it came with the fixture, brand new), so I decided to screw it in and try it out... Ewww. It was hideous over my tank. I guess if there were corals in there I may be talking differently, but that's about it. It makes the grasses all look brown, with a couple of faint green spots. Definitely won't consider it any time soon. I'm spoiled by the sunlight-esque at depth color of my XM 10000K and the intensity it provides. If everything keeps looking as good as it does now, I'll snap a new pic, along with the Radium for kicks.

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Amphiprion1

Okay, updated pics. This is after a hefty water change, some trimming of leaves (I didn't remove any rhizomes this time) and a die-off on the right side. Makes it look more sparse, but not bad, IMHO:

 

DSC00043.jpg

 

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The cyanobacteria is pretty much gone. There is a green species surfacing from the sand bed a bit, but it stays pretty isolated. I'll be keeping an eye out. I also fired the protein skimmer back up hoping to remove some of the heavy organics from the grasses. I may or may not remove it later. If I decide to start some light kalkwasser dosing again, I'll leave the skimmer running, since it helps with the pH quite a bit. Sorry if it is still cloudy. I rearranged the water motion a bit to optimize it, so it stirred some gunk for a while. Hopefully I can keep the tank looking reasonably close to this.

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