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Billy's Deep Sandbed Experiment


billygoat

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On 8/11/2021 at 9:35 AM, Tired said:

There was an earlier suggestion of a rhino blenny. You should absolutely get a rhino blenny. Perfect for this tank. Kinda like a tiny, nonvenomous scorpionfish in personality. Or a waspfish, which is a tiny, venomous scorpionfish-like, though not dangerous. 

I mean sure, rhino blennies are super cool and would probably be appropriate for this sort of environment, but if I got one I feel like it would only be a matter of time before it jumped. The lack of a lid on this tank makes me extremely hesitant to add fish of any kind, with the possible exception of a pipefish (which I don't think could jump even if it wanted to).

 

20 hours ago, gena said:

Chad LOL...love his name.  Chad is a cool dude.

Chad is indeed Radical. If he were a pop icon from the 1990s he would be depicted skateboarding with a backwards baseball cap and Ray-Bans. He's just that cool.

 

Anyway... here's that Caulerpa I was talking about! I ordered (as usual) from Gulf Coast Ecosystems and (as usual) got a lot more algae than I could actually use... this is what I ended up throwing away:

 

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That's mostly Caulerpa mexicana, which is considered an invasive pest in California. That's the one species I got that didn't really feel was appropriate for my tank, so I composted it.

 

Of course most of my sampler pack was good though! I ended up getting three different desirable species. There was of course the essential Caulerpa, C. prolifera:

 

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Then there's what I think is C. sertularoides. It's a pretty species with delicate pinnate blades:

 

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And last but definitely not least is C. racemosa. This alga is very distinctive and downright beautiful.

 

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I am unsure how all this macroalgae will go over in the long term, but I will do my best to make sure the tank remains full and beautiful. 

 

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Ah, right, lidless. I think you'd be fine with a pipefish, if that slightly low water level is normal for the tank. I have seen them try to jump, when I've caught wild ones and put them in temporary containers, but I don't think they can get much height. If any. 

 

Looks really nice. If it all works out well, I'll have to do something similar in the eventual future. Though with a lid, so I can get cool sneaky fish. 

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Just a quick update here today! All the new macroalgae seems to be going strong; in fact if growth keeps up I will probably have more of it than I know what to do with in just a few weeks or so.

 

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Epiphytes on my seagrasses are my most persistent problem, but I think they are starting to slow down a bit as seagrass growth picks up.

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The white tips on these blades of Caulerpa indicate rapid growth.

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My philosophy with this system is to treat the entire tank as a single organism. I feed it twice a day with a variety of fish foods, dose a few drops of ChaetoGro (which is probably not as good as the actual plant fertilizer @seabass recommended, but I figure I may as well try it since I have it on hand), and add bicarbonate supplements to balance alkalinity. Interestingly, this small tank (probably 10g of water or so) consumes nearly as much daily NaHCO3 solution as my 40g reef! That goes to show how important maintaining KH is, even for tanks that have few or no corals.

 

I will likely need to monitor calcium and magnesium as the tank matures, as I am unsure if the fertilizer supplements I'm using contain enough of these elements for the whole tank. I haven't done a water change for a few weeks as I see no reason to do so, but changing out some water once every month or two will probably be my long-term plan.

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6 minutes ago, billygoat said:

The white tips on these blades of Caulerpa indicate rapid growth.

It will be interesting to see if the macroalgae out competes the seagrass.  I might be inclined to strictly keep the macro trimmed back so that the bulk of the nutrients don't go toward their growth versus the true plants.

 

10 minutes ago, billygoat said:

Epiphytes on my seagrasses are my most persistent problem, but I think they are starting to slow down a bit as seagrass growth picks up.

This might further reduce as the tank matures.  Plus, you might benefit from some small snails capable of climbing the grass.

On 5/27/2011 at 4:37 PM, seabass said:

Strombus snail (Strombus maculatus) keeping the grass clean:

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22 hours ago, seabass said:

It will be interesting to see if the macroalgae out competes the seagrass.  I might be inclined to strictly keep the macro trimmed back so that the bulk of the nutrients don't go toward their growth versus the true plants.

I agree - I'm definitely concerned about macroalgae permanently gaining an upper hand and outcompeting the seagrass. I really like the way they fill in the "understory" layer beneath the taller seagrass blades, but I will have to keep an eye on their growth. 

 

22 hours ago, A.m.P said:

Finding those strombus these days has become quite the task.

I have a few other species of snails that can climb the seagrass blades, but none of them seem to be up to the task of eating the gunky brown filamentous algae that grows on the plants. Herbivorous fish like the mollies @xellos88 suggested would probably be a great control, but I am concerned that they would jump as the tank has no lid. I'm hoping that as the tank comes further into balance the amount of pest algae will naturally decline, and the epiphytes will disappear on their own. The tank's less than a month and a half old, so I think there is still a lot of settling down to be done.

 

20 hours ago, growsomething said:

Visited the Florida Aquarium today, reminded of this thread when I saw this tank

 

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A beautiful display! It looks like they are certainly having more success with the Cassiopea jellies than I did. 😂 And is that real turtle grass in there? It sure looks like it... some of the blades are halfway melted. But it seems like that wouldn't be enough light to grow turtle grass in the long term. I wonder if they just replace it every so often, and toss out the old clumps as they begin to die. 

 

This photo shows an encrusting fire coral extending its fine hairlike tentacles during the sunny morning hours. I will have to remember to be careful with my hands if I am working around this thing. 😅

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growsomething
2 hours ago, billygoat said:

A beautiful display! It looks like they are certainly having more success with the Cassiopea jellies than I did. 😂 And is that real turtle grass in there? It sure looks like it... some of the blades are halfway melted. But it seems like that wouldn't be enough light to grow turtle grass in the long term. I wonder if they just replace it every so often, and toss out the old clumps as they begin to die. 

 

Yes, they set up the tank pretty much exatly the way you described, a biotome just for the jellies.  No visible flow when looking at the jelly tentacles,  real grass, but the light did seem to be medium intensity.  To be honest,  after admiring the initial beauty it is a boring tank.  Nothing moves, not even the grass with the low flow.  Consider yourself lucky 😁

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This tank has been great so far. I feel like I have barely done anything to it other than feed it and top it up, but it is extremely enjoyable to observe even at this early stage. My experience with this system has really influenced my thinking about what it means to keep a successful aquarium. I think I will be taking a similar approach with any tanks I set up in the future, regardless of their size.

 

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Moving forward, I decided I want to add a corkscrew anemone and some commensal shrimps to this tank. Corkscrew nems (Bartholomea annulata) are common inhabitants of seagrass beds in the Caribbean. They associate with various cleaner shrimps from the region (the little clear-and-purple Periclimenes ones) and also with pistol shrimp. I'm hoping that I can get a nem to live inside of the large shell that I've re-added to the right side of the tank so its shrimp friends will be easily visible.

 

Not sure on the time-frame for those additions, but KPA stocks all the animals that I need so I will likely just wait until they have everything available. Could be a month or two, but I'm not in a hurry.

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21 hours ago, Firefish15 said:

What a good reefer you are. 😆

I mean, if they stuff I wanted was in stock I'd definitely buy it right now... 😅 But KPA is on vacation until the end of the month, so it will likely take them a minute to get more livestock listed for sale. Thank you though! I like to imagine that the hobby has taught me a bit of patience.

 

16 hours ago, gena said:

Looking amazing!!!!!  

Thanks! A cool thing about this tank is that I can also just take the light off very easily and look at it from the top. Not a view that I get to enjoy with my other aquarium!

 

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M. Tournesol
On 8/19/2021 at 5:47 PM, billygoat said:

If you're gonna add sand, I say do it right! 

 

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I'm just kidding, 1-2" of mixed-grade sand is perfect for a reef. 😅

I put back my copy paste error so that the following post makes sense : "Do chalk bass lived in seagrass?"

Edited by M. Tournesol
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filefishfinatic

yes they do, i watched them drink my blood and eat my skin after i got attacked by a tiger mantis shrimp in florida and i was gushing blood. worst invert collecting trip ever, not much survived the drive home and im permanently scarred and deformed twice on my left foot now. 1st from ramen 2nd from mantis shrimp

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filefishfinatic

i might get a 3rd clamp on light put growlights in all 3 and use my leds for my 10 gal and just make father fish style seagrass and macro tank with a couple softies. i honestly like your tank better because its under non actinic lights. and also the biodiversity. im gonna get salty bottom live rock when my grandma comes for thanksgiving because i want some cheap very low light softies like gorgs and shrooms that are resistsant to algae and mabye a het aroura or some kind of sand nem

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filefishfinatic

this reminds me of my friends 10g and something from tannin aquatics. id consider adding oysters/ oyster shells and possibly some leaf litter and seed pods and things for your pods and inverts to make it naturalistic like a seagrass meadow. mabye like a bottle too

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8 hours ago, billygoat said:

I mean, if they stuff I wanted was in stock I'd definitely buy it right now... 😅 But KPA is on vacation until the end of the month, so it will likely take them a minute to get more livestock listed for sale. Thank you though! I like to imagine that the hobby has taught me a bit of patience.

 

Thanks! A cool thing about this tank is that I can also just take the light off very easily and look at it from the top. Not a view that I get to enjoy with my other aquarium!

 

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I can tell your anthelia is growing 😍.  Mine is too...LOVE that coral!!!!

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20 hours ago, filefishfinatic said:

i want my 10 gal like this, how much sand do i need 

This 17g tank has 80 pounds of sand in it, for a sandbed depth of about 4.5 inches. If you are trying to grow seagrass or rooting macroalgae in your 10g I would recommend trying to get at least 3" of sand in there. You can use BRS's sandbed calculator to determine how much sand is necessary for your tank. Be careful not to overfill the tank with sand though, otherwise you won't have much space left for water. 😅

 

20 hours ago, M. Tournesol said:

I put back my copy paste error so that the following post makes sense : "Do chalk bass lived in seagrass?"

Chalk bass can sometimes be found in seagrass beds, but I think they mostly prefer to live in deeper water. FishBase lists their depth range as "usually 18-90m," which would generally be too deep for seagrasses. 

 

14 hours ago, gena said:

I can tell your anthelia is growing 😍.  Mine is too...LOVE that coral!!!!

My Anthelia is definitely spreading out, that's for sure. Although I am pretty sure that particular coral would grow pretty well in a fetid mud puddle, so I am not sure how much credit I can take there... 😂 I agree that it looks great though!

 

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55 minutes ago, billygoat said:

 

 

My Anthelia is definitely spreading out, that's for sure. Although I am pretty sure that particular coral would grow pretty well in a fetid mud puddle, so I am not sure how much credit I can take there... 😂 I agree that it looks great though!

 

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hahahaha definitely!  My noob self, 20 years ago, with an unexpected frag of free anthelia, was able to grow it successfully.  It's bullet proof LOL.

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So, remember how I said I wasn't going to put any fish in this tank? 😅

 

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This terrified little guy is one of the three blue chromis that have been living in my 40g tank for the past year or so. This poor fish has had some consistent problems, including a recurring popeye (related, I think, to the fact that his shipping bag was deflated when he first arrived) and a bad case of being lowest on the three-chromis totem pole. For the first four months or so all my chromis got on well, but recently things changed and this one has been getting absolutely manhandled by the alpha chromis on the reef. This aggression was bad to the point that the runty fish's chances of survival in my other tank were starting to get pretty slim. When I found him cowering in a corner after receiving a fresh beating today, I decided I'd had enough: I approached on his blind side and netted him right out of the top of the tank, then plonked him down here amongst the seagrasses. He's going to have to take his chances in this lidless aquarium, but I figure a risk of death by jumping is better than a guaranteed death at the hands of his "friends." We'll see what happens I guess. 🤷‍♂️

 

In other news: Cerith snails are amazing. A few days ago I had one crawl out of this tank in the middle of the night (dumb snail) and fall into the space behind the stand. I heard it hit the floor and came over to look for it but could not find it, so I gave up and went back to bed. 30 hours later I discovered the snail jammed into a corner of the room. I assumed it would be super dead after spending more than a day out of the water, but I tossed it back into the tank anyway, just to be sure. Ten minutes later it began to move. How an aquatic animal can survive total desiccation for that amount of time is completely beyond me, but kudos to you, snail. Well done. 🙏

 

Nothing much else to report here, but more to come as things continue to develop and change! 😁

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