An experiment with seagrass

[Lypto]

So far so good, the palm caluerpa is growing very rapidly and the seagrass remains mostly the same, with a leaf dying off as I think it was damaged. It's weird that all I'm running is a tiny fountain pump and it's working for both temp and water movement. 

[Lypto]

 

 

[Lypto]

The seagrass bowl is doing really well, the Caulerpa Paspaloides is super happy and theres an odd red fernlike macro appearing near the base of the seagrass. The little bit of sargassum started to die so I pulled it, the photos of the caulerpa frond are only a day apart to give an idea of the growth.

I only got a 1in segment of C. Paspaloides with one frond that died as a frag, since then it's grown two "fronds"and sent out maybe 4" in of runner after two days. Some seagrass leaf die off in the areas where it was originally damaged, but I think its doing well and the leaves are getting longer and I'm sure the roots are digging in. a healthy amount of muck on the glass is growing, I assume from the phosphates found in the river mud but it's not hard to clean at all.  This has been a very enjoyable experiment thus far and I'm getting interesting results from semi temperate species in a near tropical temperature. 

[Tired]

Oh, that red stuff looks like cotton candy algae. Look up what cotton candy algae looks like and compare- it's an invasive pest. 

 

It all looks really happy. You should probably keep the nutrients up and just continue wiping the glass, I'm sure the macros love all the nutrients.

[Lypto]

I think I'm going to keep the reddish stuff. This is an experimental tank so it's full of random unusual macro species and I'm mostly curious to see what hangs around. If it becomes a problem I'll pull it. I've  got 5 or 6 new leaves starting on the seagrass and I think it's going well. River mud for the win I suppose. microalgae growth has slowed after the burst and the water has become much more clear, the macros are fine and growing well, even the branching coralline . I think that was essentially the tanks cycle, a majority of the stuff in there came with it's own bacteria. It's fun when your entire system is essentially hitchhikers. I've got an unknown small snail and a worm of some sort, as well as a few temperate amphipods that seem happy. I think there may even be copepods starting to form a colony. There's new macro species forming from little spots on the grass, a type of gracilaria I think. 

The goal of this little system was pretty much just to play with the idea of a wild natural system and to see how some temperate alages would react to warm water. I think now I'd like to see it expanded and improved so I'll be working out the plans there for a marine planted tank. I'm hoping the little bit of ulva grows up some more as I like the green macros. 

 

I'm thinking about getting a freshwater Asta 20 for a light, as my little desk lamp seems fine but I think it would help. I'm also curious to see what would happen If I ran Co2.

[Tired]

If that is cotton candy algae, it'll smother other macros out, and is difficult to remove once established. It is pretty, though. If it's not cotton candy algae, I don't know what it is.

[Lypto]

The pink algae is shrinking down now, and the caulerpa is starting to go white on the old growth that came in the mail so it's a bit concerning. I really hope it doesn't die/ go sexual as I've been wanting this species for a while. Seagrass is growing quickly.