[Custom] seabass

[seabass]

can you link me to where i can find this grass you speak of?

Yep, jeremai is right, it is coming from the SeaNursery.

 

 

Looks good, seabass - your sand is just like mine!

Thanks jeremai. I see that Nature’s Ocean has a black aragonite sand that might look good mixed with Refugium Mineral Mud. Maybe I’ll try that next time.

 

 

Temperature:

I put on the thermometer this weekend. With just the Penguin BIO-Wheel 150 HOB filter running, the tank is 72°; add the lights, and the temperature climbs to 74°. I’m guessing the Maxi-Jets will add some more heat, but I’m waiting for the seagrass to arrive (and additional aragonite top layer) before I turn them on.

[seabass]

Seagrass update:

It turned out that a bag burst and, with security the way it is, it was sent back. So it is being reshipped this week. Can’t wait.

[Rene]

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you. Third time's the charm?

[seabass]

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you. Third time's the charm?

To be fair, this will only be the 2nd attempt. So far, Sarah has been very good to work with, so I have no regrets. However, I hope that the 2nd times the charm.

[seabass]

CO2:

My seagrass hasn’t even arrived, but I’m thinking that I’m going to have to at least try to supplement CO2. I know that I could do a DIY system; however, I’m thinking about getting the Red Sea Turbo CO2 Bio-System. Do you think that by shutting off the pump at night, that this stops the flow of CO2 or just the Venturi injection? Any thoughts about this system (besides you could setup something similar with just an ordinary 2 liter bottle)?

[crrichey]

Are we talking Sarah from RC? Such a nice person! Good luck to ya.

[seabass]

Are we talking Sarah from RC? Such a nice person! Good luck to ya.

Yes, it’s Sarah (Samala) from Reef Central. Thanks.

[RayWhisperer]

It's just a fancy DIY CO2 reactor. You'll get the same results hooking a 2 liter bottle to a powerhead.

 

If you could remove it from the powerhead at night, but still keep the powerhead chopping air. This would keep the PH from dropping at night. Kind of a PITA, I know. But I really think all those macros asperating CO2 at night would be detrimental to any livestock.

[travisurfer]

never heard of seanursery.com, awesome site. i am really getting into macros

[seabass]

It's just a fancy DIY CO2 reactor. You'll get the same results hooking a 2 liter bottle to a powerhead.

 

If you could remove it from the powerhead at night, but still keep the powerhead chopping air. This would keep the PH from dropping at night. Kind of a PITA, I know. But I really think all those macros asperating CO2 at night would be detrimental to any livestock.

Thanks RayWhisperer. I’m still considering a DIY CO2 system; however, I’m going to attempt to make it so that I don’t have to fuss with it everyday. I’m thinking that nighttime O2 and CO2 levels will be alright if I can improve the tank’s gas exchange capabilities.

 

 

Tank setup left to do:

• Add a top layer of aragonite sand

• Install powerheads

• Install heater

 

I’m still trying to decide:

• If the Maxi-Jet 600 powerheads will be overkill (and switch to Maxi-Jet 400s)

• If I will use 2 powerheads on the Natural Wave Timer or just one

• If I will try to promote gas exchange with a skimmer, an airstone in the filter, or simply rely on flow

 

 

never heard of seanursery.com, awesome site. i am really getting into macros

Thanks for stopping by travisurfer. Yeah, Sarah has lot of great information on her site. Speaking of the SeaNursery, my seagrass arrived this Friday (the 13th). They lost a good portion of their leaves during the 3 day transport, but I have hope that they will recover.

 

 

Here’s the first look at the just planted seagrass:

 

 

 

 

[travisurfer]

very nice seabass. hopefully it will all come along. i eventually may get some different grasses for my 20H since the caulerpa will have to go eventually. its grown at least 7 inches within 1.5 weeks. my sandbed is only 1/2" so i think i will be slightly limited. i will have to research which species will thrive in my system without being as invasive as caulerpa.

[jeremai]

Good luck with the Halophila - like I said, I could never get it to stay alive, and it was the whole reason I wanted grasses in the first place!

[seabass]

very nice seabass. hopefully it will all come along. i eventually may get some different grasses for my 20H since the caulerpa will have to go eventually. its grown at least 7 inches within 1.5 weeks.

Thanks travisurfer, I think that keeping seagrass will be substantially different from keeping most macros; I sure hope that I can get some Halophila engelmannii established. Maybe this project will provide some ideas for your 20H.

 

 

Good luck with the Halophila - like I said, I could never get it to stay alive, and it was the whole reason I wanted grasses in the first place!

Thanks jeremai. I sure hope they will recover, but I’m afraid that they don’t look very healthy. It looks like everything was packaged with care; but like you said, they are just poor shippers. I know that she is working on overnight shipping options; which, I’m sure, would greatly improve their survival rate.

[seabass]

Seagrass update:

Unfortunately, more of the leaves are gone, with no signs of new growth. However, it looks like one of the starter colonies still has a few leaves, so I have my fingers crossed that it might pull through.

 

Even if one of them survives, I’m thinking that I will have to place another order. I want to be able to see growth versus laying down a mat of seagrass sod; however, I think that I will need a few more healthy plants to test the effects of the consumption of nitrate, phosphate, CO2…

[sandlot13]

a slightly rough start, but then again, thats what we get for shipping these plants and animals all the time! this is gonna be a really cool tank, i can feel it!

 

speaking of macros, is there anything not as invasive as calupera?? I have some in my 20L, and am looking for something that might just grow slowly and create almost a forrested look or jungle look?

[seabass]

a slightly rough start, but then again, thats what we get for shipping these plants and animals all the time! this is gonna be a really cool tank, i can feel it!

 

speaking of macros, is there anything not as invasive as calupera?? I have some in my 20L, and am looking for something that might just grow slowly and create almost a forrested look or jungle look?

Yeah, this wasn’t the start that I hoped for, but even these setbacks can teach us more about the hobby. Hopefully it will turn out well, but I plan on keeping it fairly simple. I’m more interested in experimenting with the tank than with winning the contest, but I still hope that everybody enjoys it.

 

Besides testing the concept of seagrass in a nano tank, I want to try a few things to see if I can apply them to a larger tank someday (with a seagrass bed on one side and a good sized reef on the other). I feel that a refugium can be as interesting as a display reef; and although it’s not an entirely new idea, I think that it would be neat to incorporate the two in a larger tank someday.

 

I’m not too sure about which macro would work best for you. Besides some hitchhiker macro, that I’ve done my best to get rid of, I have only keep Chaetomorpha. I’ve been hesitant to try other varieties for fear that they would go sexual. However, the more I read about them, the more I feel that this risk can be diminished by not allowing their nutrients to become depleted. You might get some ideas from WarEagleNR88’s stock macro project.

[seabass]

I’ve been thinking about a possible CO2 system lately. The Venturi CO2 injection system is proven; however, I’m not excited about putting another pump in the tank. During my research I came across someone who was trapping CO2 to improve diffusion. This was actually causing pH problems as too much CO2 was being introduced at night.

 

I was thinking that the above model could work, if it were to be modified to dilute and clear the trapped CO2 with fresh air. My thought is that I could put an air pump on a timer to accomplish this. In theory, the diffuser could be located anywhere (even inside the HOB filter).

 

 

What does everybody think? Would this work the way that I described?

[Reggae Reefer]

I’ve been thinking about a possible CO2 system lately. The Venturi CO2 injection system is proven; however, I’m not excited about putting another pump in the tank. During my research I came across someone who was trapping CO2 to improve diffusion. This was actually causing pH problems as too much CO2 was being introduced at night.

 

I was thinking that the above model could work, if it were to be modified to dilute and clear the trapped CO2 with fresh air. My thought is that I could put an air pump on a timer to accomplish this. In theory, the diffuser could be located anywhere (even inside the HOB filter).

 

 

What does everybody think? Would this work the way that I described?

 

You can run the CO2 tubing into the bottom of the intake (like drill or melt a hole in the side) of your HOB filter. The way the CO2 bubbles will dissolve as they rise, and they will get chopped up by the impeller. It works well with DIY CO2 and eliminates extra equipment, a lot of people do this in freshwater planted tanks.

 

I saw a thread, I think it was on RC, where someone was using DIY CO2 on a seagrass tank, and came up with a way to basically turn it off at night. It was some medical equipment I think. It basically was an electronic "T" that would take the CO2 line and vent it into the room's air rather than into the tank at night. I don't think it was expensive either, I'll try to find the thread.

 

AquaticPlantCentral.com and PlantedTank.net are good sources for information.

[tinyreef]

sea,

have you thought about iron dosing? i'm not sure if that was posted yet on the thread.

 

do you have anything grazing the epiphytic/film algae? i see shrimp but no snails. ceriths would do well.

[seabass]

You can run the CO2 tubing into the bottom of the intake (like drill or melt a hole in the side) of your HOB filter. The way the CO2 bubbles will dissolve as they rise, and they will get chopped up by the impeller. It works well with DIY CO2 and eliminates extra equipment, a lot of people do this in freshwater planted tanks.

Thanks, that's a very good idea. I just wish there was a way to automatically shut it down at night.

 

I saw a thread, I think it was on RC, where someone was using DIY CO2 on a seagrass tank, and came up with a way to basically turn it off at night. It was some medical equipment I think. It basically was an electronic "T" that would take the CO2 line and vent it into the room's air rather than into the tank at night. I don't think it was expensive either, I'll try to find the thread.

Reggae Reefer, is this it? Sarah is the one that I got the seagrass from. If I read the thread right, the medical equipment was to drip nitrate, and she was using a DIY CO2 system with a Venturi powerhead on a timer.

 

‘CO2 dosing continues, though is religiously turned off at night by shutting off the powerhead used for injection, via a light timer. A very simple and fuss proof system that has ensured no further green water outbreaks. I’ve also rigged a drip line for nitrate dosing, to make my life a bit simpler.’ - the SeaNursery

 

AquaticPlantCentral.com and PlantedTank.net are good sources for information.

Cool, thanks, I will check them out!

 

 

sea,

have you thought about iron dosing? i'm not sure if that was posted yet on the thread.

I posted a link to an older article about on iron in reef tanks on WarEagleNR88’s thread. It sounds like it might have some real benefits (with a decent tolerance for error).

 

For the typical mixed reef, I have been promoting no dosing; however, I feel that this tank will benefit from added CO2, iron, along with alkalinity and pH buffers (including magnesium). While everything would likely survive without them, I think that it will be possible to improve their growth rate. After the contest, I will probably see how they do with just water changes.

 

do you have anything grazing the epiphytic/film algae? i see shrimp but no snails. ceriths would do well.

Thanks tinyreef; you're right, I definitely need to beef up my cleanup crew! So far I’ve just robbed a couple of Stomatella Snails, Hawaiian Reef Brittle MiniStars, and Asterina Starfish from my 40-gallon. However, the algae on the rock is just starting to take off. I'm thinking about additing a few:

• Astraea Snails

• Bumble Bee Snails

• Cerith Snails

• Dwarf Blue Leg Hermit Crabs

• Nassarius Snails

• (and maybe one or two Trochus Snails)

[Reggae Reefer]

Ok, Seabass. I asked my local planted tank club about how to control DIY CO2 with a solenoid, and one member came up with this:

 

 

It's so simple, it's genius. Basically the solenoid is install on a T inline with the CO2 line. When the solenoid is open, the CO2 doesn't make it into the tank due to the lack of pressure, it just vents into the room.

 

Here are some pretty cheap solenoids:

 

There's a used electronics parts supplier in the Bay Area that sells some for $4, you might want to check around your area for something like that.

[seabass]

When the solenoid is open, the CO2 doesn't make it into the tank due to the lack of pressure, it just vents into the room.

That’s cool Reggae Reefer; a solenoid sounds like the way to go. Does that setup completely stop CO2 when the solenoid is open, or just substantially lessen it? I was thinking that it would be set it up like this (which would be a little less efficient when open, but it would completely stop it when closed):

I’d probably hook it up to the Venturi injector of the Maxi-Jet powerhead.

[jeremai]

seabass, have you thought of using Flourish Excel? One mL treats ten gallons, and one dose a day is recommended - in a tank as small as yours, perhaps this would be an easier route to supplying carbon to the seagrass than CO2 injection...

[seabass]

seabass, have you thought of using Flourish Excel? One mL treats ten gallons, and one dose a day is recommended - in a tank as small as yours, perhaps this would be an easier route to supplying carbon to the seagrass than CO2 injection...

I’m afraid to!

 

‘Dosed Flourish Excel (just to see what would happen). A micro star that had hitchhiked on the grass exploded.’

- Foxfire of Reef Central

 

‘DO NOT try this if you have organisms or you're dosing in the main tank (duh).’

- Foxfire of Reef Central

[jeremai]

Hehe, see, I should've done some research first.