Let's see pics of your planted tanks

[Paul-sn]

I'm interested in seeing any pics you may have of your planted tanks.
I'm especially curious about mangrove tanks, or tanks mostly decorated with macroalgae.

[mrjmg]

i have a few pics at my site my fuge just started a month ago

www.jmgmusic.com/reeftank.htm

[Paul-sn]

Cool.
I wonder if anyone has a display planted tank to share...

[Plantbrain]

Most folk's tanks are works in progress but maybe in a month or two I'll be ready for a photo shoot. It's not a refugium, it's a 100% macro/plant marine tank. You can see the species list in the other thread.
No digital for the time being but the algae need to grow out more before things are ready for a photo.

The tank's design is species based and not aquascaped in a particularly artful manner but once things get well established, moving them around is not too traumatic and weeding out the less desirable one takes some time.
I'll be looking for a branchy piece of rock. Haven't found the right one yet.

I have many species some of which I have not had before and want to see if they will do well in the long term.

A photo of a neat macro that is very hard to keep for a long time will not help folks:(
I've seen a few tanks with macro's etc, an few german and dotch folks had some nice looking tanks.

My tank is mainly reds and greens.
A mangrove tank would have a deeper DBS, say 5-6inches and be fairly shallow, maybe 16" of water to the top. Most (red mangroves)seedlings are roughly 8-12" tall. New leaf every month or two if things are doing well.

Regards,
Tom Barr

[Will]

I've got a marine planted tank for my seahorses. I keep seeing these threads about showing off pictures, but I'm too lazy to get a camera and start shootin'. Yikes! I'll get some pictures sooner or later though (I gotta find the power cord for my camera; the battery is dead :(). The tank, though, is a 20 extra-high (20"x10"x24"). It's fully planted with Thalassia testudinem from Bill's Reef. It's also got some Penicillus that's been successfully reproducing. The Thalassia is growing wildly. I've also got three mangroves growing submerged. Oh, btw, the tank is a Caribbean biotope equipped with all Caribbean species including the corals that I've managed to fit in (a few gorgonians, Manicina, Porites, Siderastrea, Colangia, and a few others). My secret for setting up a planted tank right off the bat (ie, without letting the substrate mature, etc.) was using locally-collected marsh mud as half of the substrate. There's about 3" mud, 1" live sand, and 2" southdown, respectively from the bottom up, layered in the bed. It's worked out really well. I need to get that camera goin'!!!
-Will

[DensityMan]

Not much to look at just yet, but it's getting there.

http://www.densityman.com/images/reef_tank_new/planted_right_side.jpg

The feather calerpa is being culled out and will be replaced with a 'mushroom' calerpa (when/if I can find some). The slower growing 'zig-zag' calerpa will probably stay... the left side of the tank will be populated with Halimeda (and another pod-pile).

[Paul-sn]

Nice tank DensityMan, looks like it's really coming along.

Fourhand2, you need to take a picture of your tank! It sounds so cool...

[Plantbrain]

Although many consider Batophora to be a pest species it would look nice as a ground cover between the Penicillus.
Looks like you have the larger P dumetosus.
These make very nice attractive tree like scenes.

Be nice once it fills in and the other plants/coral etc are attached to the rocks.

I'm not using any rock at the moment. I will add some perhaps later with a new/different tank design.

Regards,
Tom Barr

[serial reefer]

Lot's of cool looking plants :rollface: Keep up the good work!

[DensityMan]

Thanks all... actually removed the feather calerpa yesterday (it was an impulse pull, kinda... it was forever growing the the direction opposite where I wanted it). ;)

The two sprouts off the P. dumetosus (shaving brush) are still going well (to my eyes) and start my search this weekend for Halmeda this weekend. Hoping to find it locally.

Also looking for a sprig of a "mushroom" calerpa (each branch/bulb appears as a tiny capped mushroom) to replace the feather as my crawling plant. The zig-zag calerpa has earned its keep and will remain... just transferred all of it to the top of the pod-pile.

Once I get the plants established I will start working more towards the polyps and other soft corals to mix it up some...

(My current theory for the tank is that the plants will look good AND serve as a nice export mechanism for the Nitrates from the DSB and ultimately help the tank remain more stable. Worked pretty well for the last tank...) :D

[New Reefer]

Well, I've posted this before, but perhaps it's appropriate in this thread - apologies for those who've seen it before :)

More photos in this thread. (http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=215048&goto=newpost)

Hennie

[DensityMan]

Awesome tank NR... I just wish I had had any luck with hitchhiking plants... but I got none...
so now I have to look and beg for clippings... ;)

[Algae Blenny]

I wish we(in the US) could get rock from the coast of Africa. Many times we get rock from Fiji that is dead and washed.

[DensityMan]

Couldn't agree more AB, but the way we receive rock from anywhere kills a great deal.

On a lighter note I was inspired by a recent trade to re-aquascape the tank so here is my 'new' planted tank with room to grow...

Full tank shot:

http://www.densityman.com/images/reef_tank_new/full_tank_v2.jpg

Left side (Halimeda Heaven)

http://www.densityman.com/images/reef_tank_new/full_tank_v2_left.jpg

Right side (the 'pod' plant and Gramma-home)

http://www.densityman.com/images/reef_tank_new/full_tank_v2_right.jpg


Enjoy,

[Paul-sn]

Very nice!
I can see that with time to grow in, your tank should be pretty stunning... all the more because it's unique!

[New Reefer]

Very nice photos, and a very nice tank as well. DensityMan.

Just keep in mind that your Halimeda will require *lots* of calcium, so you should think about dripping Kalk, or even setting up a small calcium reactor.

I wish we(in the US) could get rock from the coast of Africa. Many times we get rock from Fiji that is dead and washed. I don't think that LR from Africa will necessarily be any better than the Fiji rock - the problem lies not with the source, but with the way the rock is treated after collection. As with net caught vs cyanide caught fish, the collectors, exporters, wholesalers and retailers in the supply chain must be educated in the correct handling of LR.

The "old way" of curing LR (which was deemed to be correct when people still used UGF's as their only filters...) is unfortunately still the norm today :rolleye1: All along the supply line the rock is left "to stew" in highly polluted water, and kept in the dark, to maximize die-off of so-called unwanted life :mad2: because people don't know any better (how many LFS's and even hobbyists, still consider Bristleworms to be bad, and try to eradicate them ???). So, after six to eight weeks of "curing", you get the rock with virtually no life on it.

Sure, you do get unwanted critters on "fresh" rock (mostly crabs and nudibranchs, IME), but it's relatively easy to selectively catch or kill them, and IMHO the advantages of fresh LR far outweigh the disadvantages of a few "baddies", if proper precautions are taken. So, instead of aiming to kill off everything, why can't the LFS's (and others in the supply chain...) keep the rock with the aim of maximizing the retention of life and then selectively catch/kill the unwanted critters?

OK, enough venting for now...

Hennie

[DensityMan]

Been dosing a light kalk-dose on my top-off dripper trying to inspire the coralline algaes to take off (hasn't happened yet). I will definately keep an eye on the calcium levels though and perhaps bump the tanks dose of Kalk up some.

Wish there was a way to get really nice, fresh rock for starting or supplementing tanks. I know TBS (? - the live-rock place in FL) ships in water and the shipping weight reflects that. Shipping from outside the states in water would probably be a bit prohibitive... but I would pay it for a few display pieces.

Back to plant-talk, how tall should I expect the Halimeda to grow? I left plenty of room, but if it is going to stay fairly short in the long-term then I will build that side up a bit for more LR.

[::PixelFish::]

DensityMan your tank looks really good with all the different macros.

I read that shaving brushes can be really hard to keep. Have you had any problems with yours?

Hennie I'm from, well used to be from Mosselbay in SA and I've only known one other saltwater keeper in SA. This was when I still lived there in mid 90's and they had a helluva hard time buying decent live stock and when they found something it was really exspensive. Has the hobby in SA become more widespread and do you have problems buying hardware and livestock?

[Paul-sn]

You know Scott, the more I look at your pics, the more I like your tank.
It didn't even occur to me initially that you had little coralline growht.
I see now that if it filled out more, your tank would truly be stunning.
Keep us updated!

[DensityMan]

Thanks for all the Kudos! :D

The shaving brush has not been a problem, but it hasn't done as well as it wanted to originally. It took to the tank and lighting rather well and had a month of great growth. During that growth period it has sent off 5 shoots; only one of those shoots is still alive and that may be only because I inadvertantly cut its runner back to the parent plant. While the parent plant is still alive, some of its 'branches' are turning red (while others are still showing new growth tips). I have heard that this plant goes through periods of growth then die-off and that as long as the root-bulb is strong it will return. I hope it does (and will report here if when it does die off and come back).

In the mean time I am looking for what I should do to help it along. Should I cut it back like many do in the Fall for there perenial plants outdoors? Should I just let it die off and siphon off the waste?

Over all I am excited about the tank. I have one large piece of LR that I want to remove and replace, but have yet to come across any 'good' LR in the area. The piece I want to remove has a purple-brown hair algae that nothing in the tank will touch and is otherwise naked of anything I want. It is also the only rock in the tank that green slime has grown on. I am only missing two macros that I have my heart set on: Mermaids Wine-glass and a mushroom-head calaerpa (so any leads there would be appreciated). ;)


The "bad" rock (close-ups)
http://www.densityman.com/images/reef_tank_new/badrock.jpg

Something new (I'm gonna post in a seperate thread for an ID... the LFS was treating it as a nuisance algae and I needed to grab a frag of it to save to at least ID properly and determine if it is indeed a nuisance (to me) or not)
http://www.densityman.com/images/reef_tank_new/feather_duster_algae.jpg

[Plantbrain]

I like the new design.

Regards,
Tom Barr

[New Reefer]

Hennie I'm from, well used to be from Mosselbay in SA and I've only known one other saltwater keeper in SA. This was when I still lived there in mid 90's and they had a helluva hard time buying decent live stock and when they found something it was really exspensive. Has the hobby in SA become more widespread and do you have problems buying hardware and livestock? ::PixelFish::, I used to stay in Riversdale, quite near Mosselbay, but moved to Bloemfontein during December...

I would guess that there are about 100 or so marine aquarists in South Africa - it's a hobby with great growth potential, but everything is *very* expensive - especially with the value of the SA Rand vs the US Dollar :mad2:

Livestock such as fish (and rock) can be collected by divers off Natal and the Wildcoast, but even so it is rather expensive if you do not dive yourself. As for hardware, and foods such as Selcon, Golden Pearls, etc - well, it's just not available, unless one is prepared to import it from the USA, and willing to take on the Customs bureaucracy :rolleye1:

Hennie

[SubmarinR]

Excellent looking tank Hennie

that red algae in the front left.. have an identification for it?

Tom, that is the red macro i was trying to id earlier this year.. mine all succumbed to an overly hungry wrasse who found his way back to the LFS... d@mn thing never really ate any of it.. just pulled it all off and it got washed around the tank never to be seen again...

;-(

Joe in hot hot hot OKC...

[SubmarinR]

DM
i've got lots of those in my tnak too.. don't "seem" to be a problem, but they don't look that sightly...
did u ever get an id on them?

Joe

[DensityMan]

Dr. Ron has also informed me that these are hydroids of some kind. (see post (http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=226994))

I had thought that my wrasse had consumed them... while he may have eaten the heads off of them once, the 'stems' have regrown those lost heads already... (I don't mind having to fight a neat hitchhiker... its the ugly, destructive type I can't stand) ;)

Tank update: I have lost the last of the live-runners to the cyano-carpet... while it seems to be in decline (finally) it has taken a toll on the parent shaving-brush and cost me the sea-fan completely. Once the cyano has cleared (go, go snail-power - 2 fighting conchs and 2 cerith tearing it up) I will try again with a fresh parent (or two) and a better place in the tank.

[Plantbrain]

Well when cyano's appear, generally the larger macro's decline. The cyano's live on next to nothing while the larger macro's need far more nutrients to grow well.

I've never had any cyano's in my tank since I dose nutrients, I'll likely get cyano's after about 3 weeks or more without a dsoe, I have not tried this notion, but I'd bet it'd occur.

Mermaid's wine glasses are weeds in the Florida Keys, covering every rock near where I do research.

They don't like the current I have in my tank but a foreground of them would look very nice.

Since I have access to many species here, I try out different species all the time. Some do well. Many are seasonal.
So the coming and going is a common routine.

Many algae seem to last a few weeks then die off in our tanks. Some stick around and do okay and a few thrive.

I want to see about coming up with a good routine to have better success. I think a chiller would help since I know that temp greatly effect these macro's distribution seasonally.

I have no corals or many critters to influence things and have good test kits and various nutrients to dose. So I should be able to come up with a good routine for most species I see in nature.

I guess I'll have to get the thermo electric chiller since I'll get one soon anyway. Temp plays a big role on my tank's issues with some species. My temps go way up in the summer but the water temps are never over 80F often at the sites. Some species occur only where/when it's cooler.

This variable is underated concerning macro's.
FWIW, most of the calcareous species seem to do better in most folk's tanks.

Regards,
Tom Barr

[SubmarinR]

well good luck w/the cleanup...
too bad about the fan algae too.. very nice
i had a different form of udotea growing from my LR when i first set up but it dwindled quickly and hasn't shown any signs of recovery..
crossing m y fingers that sometime next year it may!

joe

[DensityMan]

Cyano is still declining (and in fact I have noted that certain especially hard to remove 'cyano' patches are intead coralline) and the halimeda forest is sproating it's second spurt of new growth already (on all plants simultaneously... it's weird).

I have thre new growth halimedaand the shaving brush has even made another growth surge to 'break-out' of its cyano cocoon.

I am pretty happy.

Noticed the first 100% positive patches of coralline on the tank-glass just yesterday and it gave me a warm, happy glow.

While the red bubble-bush still hasn't rooted itslf to the rock it is growing upwards and outwards from the near bare branch that it started from. Did lose the last brush-sprout (uprooted by a nassarius; though it wasn't doing great anyway). There may just not be enough food/soil/waste in the DSB to support the runners yet and the cyano covering some of the parent couldn't have helped either. Putting alot of elbow grease into the tank currently to stay ahead of the cyano (and hopefully defeat it utterly soon), but I am enjoying it a great deal and love noticing the little improvements daily.

This weekend I need to push one part of the aqua-scaping back a little to increase space on the sand up front. Currently more of my plants would have to be placed behind the rockwork than I anticipated and I want the space to place a few select LR frags in for eventual polyp/zoo colonies.

Only looking for what I call the 'mushroom' caleurpa, some bright zoos and shrooms (being VERY selective), some fire-dusters (a nice colony-rock would be perfect; still holding a shaded space for it) and the mermaids wine-glass plants (which I have yet to find locally still).

Hopefully this weekend will be the deciding victory over cyano and the tank'll be clean enough to post some more pics of all the wonderful growth (right now I feel like the king on prom-night, with a big zit on my nose). :D


SubmarinR: I have heard of the root-bulbs regrowing after time; showing seasonal growth. In fact instead of just removing the mermaids-fan altogether, I simply clipped the greenery off and re-planted the bulb in a dirtier/more favorable area in hopes it would return.

Plantbrain: I should be so lucky to have as many weeds as you have available... ;) I'll keep ya'll updated in this threadon the cyano -vs- halimeda-zilla wars... :lol:

PixelFish: Thanks. I have had prbolems with getting it's runners to survive, but the parent plant is doing really well. I can't even take any credit for it doing so well, save that I put it in moderate current w/ good light and then left the root alone (I do turkey-baster the 'leaves' to clear detritus every few days). It looks ugly at the moment, but is regrowing strong breaking free of the cyano-skin.

Cheers all,

Scott


p.s. - think I can crash on the couch should I ever be in South Africa or Florida? Would love to be able to walk out to the beach, snorkel around for a bit and find something to add to the tank... :D /envy on

[Paul-sn]

It's good that your plans are winning out over the cyano.

I'm eager to see your new pics.

[greenighs]

my planted tank (http://www.geocities.com/greenighs/aquarium/tankpics.html) with it's new syngnathid occupants :)

[SubmarinR]

Excellent pics! and fantastic design on the site too...

join my club and help us fix up our webpage!!!


and on another note .. i found a seahorse forum on yahoo the other day.. not too active.. but im hoping to learn more info on them so taht i can keep them one day myself.

joe

[greenighs]

I just threw that page together in Notepad, I didn't have the patience to pretty it up! Maybe when I install Dreamweaver I can do a better job. Ive fotgotten all my html tags since I haven't had a site in years!

[Plantbrain]

Seahorsey advice: train them on live mysis shrimps(catch yourself around 4-5am in ponds/lakes) then after 3-4 weeks start adding in frozen. Afterwards, they do well on this diet.

Nice C prolifera. It'll be a very nice tank as it fills out/gets well established in the other areas.

Regards,
Tom Barr

[greenighs]

Thanks, Tom! They are captive bred H. erectus, and started snicking frozen mysis only hours after they acclimated. They do like to hunt amphipods and whatnot on the live rock and amid the caulerpa, though!

[Will]

Hey Clare, it's Will (fishnurd) from the .org! :) WOW! Your tank is beautiful! I've never seen it until now, but I'm impressed! :D It really looks awesome. You put everything together so well. Keep it up Clare!
-Will

[DensityMan]

Very cool tank indeed!

Aside from the horses it looks like we have pretty similar tastes: softies and plants. :D


Is the very tall-leafed plant in the back a well-shaded prolifera or something else (I like that one lots)?

Are the ginormous barnacles, front-left, still alive?

Final question, the shrooms that look blue in the top pic; those ready to frag yet? :D


Excellent work!

[greenighs]

Thanks, Will! I finally posted pics on Seahorse.org, too!

As you know, with seahorses, there are only so many corals and other critters you can choose from that won't sting, impale, starve, eat or torment them. I'd like to get a hard coral or two, or maybe a clam, but I'm just going to see how the tank goes for the first year or so. I have two 175-watt MH 10,000Ks and two PC actinics on it, so the corals and gorgonians (so far only the photosynthetic kind) should do well.

Scott, that's Thallasia sp. turtle grass back there, from Florida Pets (http://www.floridapets.com/). And the shrooms, the ones on the far left are really blue/violet, but there's only four of them, so I don't want to frag. The ones that are more or less front and center are blue-green striped, and I wouldn't know how to frag if I wanted to! I'm just working on keeping stuff alive and healthy, propagating is the next insane, all-consuming obsession!

Thanks, I appreciate the feedback!


Oh, and the barnacles are just the shells, hidey-holes for my shy neon blue goby!

[Uncle-Edgar]

<img src="http://www.98532.net/ReefPics/mushroom.jpg" border="0" alt="">

<img src="http://www.98532.net/ReefPics/planted_1.JPG" border="1" alt="">

<img src="http://www.98532.net/ReefPics/planted_2.JPG" border="1" alt="">

[SubmarinR]

Great Pics, Unc

is that large mass of green in the second pic, codium?

joe

[Uncle-Edgar]

According to the LFS it's only lowly caulerpa begging to be harvested. I'll have to research about codium as I'm not familiar with it.

[SubmarinR]

i ssee,.. it must just be the angle of the pic then.. if its the same as the others, then its the sawblade (serrata?)

codium is often referred to as "dead man's fingers" i think.. think branchy dark green tubular growths.. they can form a good mat over time..

i have the hardest trouble finding it here, and when i have it was loose and didn't attach before being picked to death by crabs ..and lost to some dark spot of the tank where im sure it died ..??

[ludwigia]

Some nice looking tanks here. here is mine:

http://members.aol.com/timchiro/salt.jpg

[DensityMan]

Awesome looking tank, ludwigia. Now of course we'll need close-ups and a definative listing of all the plants in there... ;)

Otherwise we'll just spam the thread with questions like these:
- Are the shorter, spaced-out blades in the front turtle grass (bulb plants with runners) or something else?
- How long has the tank been running?
- etc... :D

Gonna be bringing home a few new species tonight that I have yet been able to ID, so expect some new macro-shots late tonight or tomorrow morning in the forum for IDs as well.

[Uncle-Edgar]

I'll jump on the wagon for some closeups.

[ludwigia]

Here are some close-ups. Yes that is turtlegrass on the bottom right, and the tank has been running for 2 years now.

http://members.aol.com/timchiro/saltleft.jpg http://members.aol.com/timchiro/saltmiddle.jpg http://members.aol.com/timchiro/saltright.jpg

[DensityMan]

Alright, now what is that purple-red, fleshy plant in the rocks (top/center)?

[ludwigia]

That would be Galaxaura marginata. I was told it is a Caribbean species, but someone pointed out to me it is also found in the Pacific. Very slow grower, and tends to get algae covered.

[Will]

Wow, very nice! :thumbsup:
-Will

[Uncle-Edgar]

Thanks for sharing, ludwigia. Great combination of colors.

[Algae Blenny]

Very Very Nice...

Bob

[::PixelFish::]

Wow that's an awesome looking planted tank Ludwigia. Great colors and combination of corals you've got going there.

[DensityMan]

Just another update (this time with pictures)

Tank is balancing out quite nicely (aside from a very crazy Royal Gramma) and have finished this round of battles with the cyano, with the shaving brush plant the only casualty.

http://www.densityman.com/images/reef_tank_new/full_tank_v3.jpg

Closer view of the LEFT SIDE (http://www.densityman.com/images/reef_tank_new/full_tank_v3_left.jpg) --- Closer view of the RIGHT SIDE (http://www.densityman.com/images/reef_tank_new/full_tank_v3_right.jpg)

On the left there are two different disk-shaped Caluerpa sp., a very prolific Halimeda sp., one tiny Halimeda sp. and a shorter, slower-growing C.prolifera sub-species.

On the right side are a thick-stranded Chaet., a thin-strand Chaet., a mat of unidentified "sea moss ball" which grows short and straight (seemingly without discernable roots), a very round-leafed Halimeda sp., zig-zag or saw-blade Caluerpa sp., a feather Caluerpa sp., 1 shaving brush sprout (next to dead parent plant), a red 'Valonia-type bush, one weird green algae and an unidentified 'red kelp' (looks like a thickened feather caluerpa, except it is bright red and grows from a central hub not one running root).

[capture]

some pretty impressive stuff.

[GACDIVER]

DensityMan:

With the thalahassia, what did you use for a substrate. Did you use a layered approach that many have used or do you find that the DSB alone provides enough nutrients for this demanding sp?

Tank looks great though. Cant wait to post pics of mine.

Thanks,

Sean

[DensityMan]

While I have heard many accounts of great growth through use of a 'plant' substrate, I have always just used the DSB for root-based nutrients. :D

[GACDIVER]

Thats great to hear!! I have my fuge started with 2 species of Caluerpa above a DSB. I am going to wait for the sand bed to aquire some nutrients before I add the higher plants.

Thanks.

Sean

[Chavo]

Those tanks look great! I wish my Yellow Tang wasn't a hervibore :D
I had a lot of strange algae and plant growth on my rocks but when I added this guy it all disappeared :(