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Cultivated Reef

Seagrass question


PicoSavvy

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So I have taken an interest in seagrass lately and I have a 2-gallon cold water micro-reef pico dimension are 6 by 5 by 9 inches that I plan to use for this new interest, I also plan to use Mini Aqualight T5 for lighting. Do you guys see any problem with the setup or recommend anything else? The seagrass I am looking at is between manatee grass or shoal

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6 inches deep? I'm pretty sure seagrass needs at least 2-3" of sandbed to grow in, and then that leaves basically no room for the grass to grow up above it. I also wonder about nutrient levels in such a tiny tank, and I'm not sure you'd get the best aesthetic. You should probably use a larger tank, maybe 10gal or more. 

 

Macroalgae is probably more doable, though. 

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I guess you didn't google the tank its 9 inches tall so inside size is 8.5. The tank will be used just to house seagrass nothing else other then maybe some snail. so it would have a couple of inches of depth right now I can really setup a large tank until 2021 that is why i was looking at using the pico i already have.

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"2-gallon cold water pico reef" doesn't tell me what to google to find the dimensions. I'd need a brand. 

 

What are you planning to use to add nutrients for the seagrass? 

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Actually i said "2-gallon cold water micro-reef pico" Brand is right there "micro-reef". I dont know some may think the idea of a pico seagrass tank being stupid i think it is kinda cool plus the strange size of the tank make it a bit difficult to use as a reef tank. I was reading this article and it suggested dosing nutrient into the tank Link I do have small doing much that have a ma flow rate of 2ml/minute and an always be slow down for the tank as it is a pico. Once I have a  proper reef tank running i figure i could tie it into the system.

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Mr. Awesome

Manatee grass grows too tall for your tank. If the tank is 9 inches tall and you have a 3 inch sand bed, you’ll have 6 inches available. Manatee grass can grow to at least 2 feet. Even shoal is stretching it. I would go with a Halophila species such as star grass. 

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Cant they just be trimmed down? From the other sea grass thank i seen on other forum that is what they do. Never seen star grass

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"micro-reef" is a description. If you mean to indicate that it's a brand name, it should be capitalized like a name. 

 

A pico seagrass tank plumbed into a big reef for nutrients could work great. It's not going to look very good if you constantly have to trim it, though- it'll look like it's been mowed. And it may not like that. Pick a smaller seagrass, or consider C. prolifera instead- it grows a bit like seagrass. It'll need a lot of pruning, though, grows like heck. 

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If "micro-reef" was intended as a description then it would have been redundant as the word "pico" is already referring to the size of the system so I don't think capitalization was needed much. Plus once again a simple google search would have clear any confusion anyone may have. You have my attention with " it may not like that" does trimming them to a certain size adversely affect them?  I may have to look into C. prolifera heck even had to google what it was didn't recognize it by that name. I have seen some tanks with it but admittedly never looked much into them. My idea for the pico was for it to be a display fuge when I am able to set up a larger system. It was either between a Xenia Refugium or seagrass and since I haven't done seagrass that seems more interesting 

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Mr. Awesome

About trimming, I read somewhere that trimmed leaves usually die and fall off. You could probably get away with shoal grass, just not manatee. Here's a picture of star grass with shoal grass mixed in: Beyond the Refugium: Seagrass Aquaria by Sarah Lardizabal ...

I got the picture from this helpful seagrass article: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=http%3A%2F%2Freefkeeping.com%2Fissues%2F2006-04%2Fsl%2Findex.php&psig=AOvVaw0xF2C-OrO_qfKVwby9FgVf&ust=1591048090004000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CA0QjhxqFwoTCNCep5SK3-kCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD

 

Check it out.

 

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13 hours ago, Mr. Awesome said:

About trimming, I read somewhere that trimmed leaves usually die and fall off. You could probably get away with shoal grass, just not manatee. Here's a picture of star grass with shoal grass mixed in: Beyond the Refugium: Seagrass Aquaria by Sarah Lardizabal ...

I got the picture from this helpful seagrass article: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=http%3A%2F%2Freefkeeping.com%2Fissues%2F2006-04%2Fsl%2Findex.php&psig=AOvVaw0xF2C-OrO_qfKVwby9FgVf&ust=1591048090004000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CA0QjhxqFwoTCNCep5SK3-kCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD

 

Check it out.

 

Funny i saw the same article but completely skipped the star grass stuff as i thought their spread would heavily limit me just 2 or 3 but they do look short

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