Caribbean Biotope Seagrass Tank

[McPuff]

Ok, I'm more intrigued now! How big would this system be? Lookdowns get quite large and do need huge tanks. Queen angel would definitely be awesome as would the school of butterflies. Would you do the same species? Or maybe a couple of groups? Sounds like a very cool idea brewing.

[Michael Hoaster]

It's really just the "dream phase" right now. I'd like to apply some of the things I've learned with this tank, to something big enough to comfortably house these "dream fish". It would incorporate a gyre flow, like this one, but with larger, identical pumps at each end, on closed loops. I'd also incorporate more rocky structure at both ends and another fake wall with the bottle caves, for housing. Seagrass would dominate the wide open sand bed. There would be less focus on sessile invertebrates, since the fish would consume them, so it would be more like a FOWLR tank, but with plants. I'd probably go sump-less again. I'm also thinking of a coast to coast overflow, with a trickle tower built in to generate nitrate, so I wouldn't have to dose it.

As for size, I'm thinking maybe eight feet long, three feet front to back, and twenty eight inches tall or so.

I'm kind of partial to the Banded Butterfly, but I may try others as well.

There's a really cool Lookdown/Gyre tank in Atlanta that I find very inspiring. Here's a link: http://youtu.be/jPxeMALyfn4

It bears no resemblance to any ecosystem and it has way too many fish in it, but the concept is cool and would be the foundation for what I'm thinking.

Anyway, it's fun to think about!

[McPuff]

Funny cuz I'm thinking of a tank with essentially the same dimensions... I'd have to build it though as I would not be able to get it into my basement intact. So that would be both fun and nerve-racking. Your idea sounds very cool. And what's life without some dreams??

[Michael Hoaster]

Interesting…would you care to share more details of your similarly-sized dream tank?

[Michael Hoaster]

Oops, nevermind. I just read your thread on the subject. A large FOWLR/Rambo fish tank would be awesome! Your idea of building a smaller practice tank is a good one. Maybe you could build your sump, though acrylic is maybe a better option, if you plan to drill for external pumps, skimmers, etc. Of course you could pay a pro to drill it, or do that yourself too.

One thing I've thought of regarding larger fish, is larger fish poo. I should head over to the fish only forum and see how those guys deal with it.

[McPuff]

Originally Posted by Michael Hoaster

Oops, nevermind. I just read your thread on the subject. A large FOWLR/Rambo fish tank would be awesome! Your idea of building a smaller practice tank is a good one. Maybe you could build your sump, though acrylic is maybe a better option, if you plan to drill for external pumps, skimmers, etc. Of course you could pay a pro to drill it, or do that yourself too.

One thing I've thought of regarding larger fish, is larger fish poo. I should head over to the fish only forum and see how those guys deal with it.

You got it. I would almost certainly have a bunch of softies, maybe a brain or two if it didn't get picked on. But I would love tangs, angels, triggers, and a puffer. Lots of smaller fish too. Not sure if I'll be able to get something that big but we'll see. I'd really have to butter up my wife before she'd agree to that. My current tank is in-wall so I'd need to change that whole arrangement. Not sure if I'd bother building a sump or just use what I currently have. I don't mind drilling glass. I would consider building a sand filter actually. I read through a thread on that recently and it looks quite easy and highly effective for a larger tank, especially with larger fishes. Check it out if you haven't already. It might be something to consider.

[Michael Hoaster]

I checked out the sand filter thread. Looks good. However, knowing how lazy I am, a once a week backflush won't get done. I'm really looking for Mother Nature's solution. I started a thread in the fish only forum, and I read several threads around the web. Not a lot of consensus, which a bit surprising.

[Michael Hoaster]

Boy, did I get lucky!

I finally got up the gumption to try and catch Mr Zippy, the atlantic blue tang. My DIY fish trap has too small an opening, so I thought I'd go after him with a net or two. As soon as I had the net in my hand, I could see him getting nervous, and I had the feeling I was about to get into an hours-long battle. We sized each other up, like a couple of boxers entering the ring. Then, he disappeared. But where to? I found him hiding in the bottom of the 'trunk' of the fake mangrove! So I positioned my net under it, and he swam right into it! Unbe-freakin-lievable!

I also caught Phyllis the filefish, who was in the QT.

So, today is a little sad, taking two very cool fish down to the LFS. Both did their jobs well, but once done with them, they became too destructive to the overall ecosystem. So they had to go.

Now I look forward to watching some of my macros come back…

[Michael Hoaster]

Mr Zippy and Phyllis are gone. They were great fish and I'll miss them.

In their place, I brought home another two barnacle blennies! That makes six. Judging by the coloring and behavior I believe the two new ones are female. If I'm right, I now have three of each sex. Maybe I'll get some spawning activity! One of the new ones went to the back wall, the other one ended up in one of the barnacle shells, right on the bottom. Almost got herself eaten by Big Daddy Gramma. She really took her time casing the joint, before settling in the barnacle. May have to name her Dora. The other new one had a bit of a turf war with the established female, concerning holes in the wall. After a while things calmed down, and I think they're going to be just fine. Such sturdy little fish! Maybe the toughest I've seen. They were eating before lights out.

It will be interesting to see what macros come back. I've already seen a hint of blue hypnea! My grasilaria hayi is completely pruned down, but their bases are still intact. The caulerpa racemosa is drastically reduced. I'm very curious to see how it bounces back. It's so bizarre to recall when my tank was completely overgrown with it.

I think the seagrasses have benefitted, from reduced competition for nutrients. They seem to grow faster now. The manatee grass continues to spread, as does the shoal grass, which has a runner spilling over the retaining wall and onto the shallow sand bed in front.

Also, sponges continue to proliferate. So things are good! Tank looks a bit sparse at the moment. I expect that will change pretty quickly!

[Michael Hoaster]

The manatee grass is getting really tall! The caulerpa and the rest of the macros are in tatters.




Spongetown! I fragged a red tree sponge.




Typical fragment of the caulerpa remaining from Zippy's doin's. Also note the pink sponge in the bottom right corner.




Shoal grass wandering over the edge of the DSB planter.




Couchview.




Hopefully this shows off the grass height. Several of those blades are 48"+. Also, you can see the caulerpa in the "shallows" refugium.




Three blennies here. Dora is bottom right.




Another view of the new sponges.

[Michael Hoaster]

Kinda quiet around this old thread these days.

Three days after Zippy is gone, I'm seeing new round 'leaves' on the caulerpa racemosa fragments remaining.

I'm super stoked with the sponge growth I'm getting lately. I'm going to need to move the pink one attached to the barnacle shells. I'm having a hard time figuring out how to attach/anchor sponge material. Super glue didn't work very well, so now I'm wedging the tree sponge frags between fake roots and live rock. Hopefully that holds until they attach/encrust. I unfortunately dislodged the tiny bright yellow sponge. I think I found it, so I mashed it into an irregular area of live rock. Hopefully it'll come back. I can see a little of it remains where it was originally. If things go as I hope, I should have a colorful "sponge gallery" in the not too distant future. Besides the cool looks, they are Mother Nature's living filters.

[jraker]

Originally Posted by Michael Hoaster

Kinda quiet around this old thread these days.

Yeah... Not too many people visit the Marine Plants forum.

Also, I heard you were dosing sodium silicate for your sponges. How much of it are you dosing?

[Darth_Tater]

I didn't realize how much of your macros disappeared until these most recent pictures. That little Tang had quite an appetite!

[sam.basye]

Originally Posted by jraker

Yeah... Not too many people visit the Marine Plants forum.

Also, I heard you were dosing sodium silicate for your sponges. How much of it are you dosing?

Lol. That's how I know I'm in the wrong thread: If I see Michael has commented on something I'm probably looking in the plant forums. Haha

[Michael Hoaster]

I think it's also Spring Fever. I myself have gotten around five camping trips in already!

Sodium silicate dosing is easy and hugely important for sponge growth. I dose 5 ml (1 teaspoon) dissolved in fresh water every week or two. Growth rates have exploded. Sure you'll get diatoms, but that's easier to clean off the glass than green micro algae. And when you do clean them off, the sponges are happy to gobble them up. They also are a good indicator of silicate levels; no diatoms-time to add silicates.

I also feed phytoplankton every other day. Zooplankton is too big for sponges but I add it to my tank food brew for the gorgonia.

[Michael Hoaster]

True that, Darth Tater!

At one point, three quarters of the back wall and sand bed were covered in macros. Macro coverage is now about one percent! So I got what I wanted, and now that I have it, I'd like to find a happy medium. Despite the rather bare look right now, I do think the seagrasses have benefitted, with less competition for nutrients. But I'd like to have a little more variety of color and texture, so, I'm anxious to see what will come back from scattered fragments. It's tricky, balancing the needs of seagrass, macros, and now sponges. But I think the end result will be spectacular!

[Michael Hoaster]

Dora is still exploring. Tiniest fish in the tank and she has no fear. She's checking out possible digs all over the tank.

The tank's fish community is a bit different now. 6 blennies, 7 grammas. No singles. Sex is an option for everyone. Yay! Adding the two additional blennies was a nice bonus! It's cool to have multiple specimens of fish. I plan to continue this trend going forward.

I have two sponges I want to frag and redistribute to the live rocks and fake root and wall: the purple one on the planter, behind the barnacle shells and the pink one on the front of the barnacle shells. If I can succeed in spreading them around, that will be sweet!

I scraped off some red cotton candy algae (I think) from the main pump inlet. That was the only place Zippy couldn't get to it. I'm hoping it will redistribute as well. It's funny, it popped up months ago and I tried for months to eradicate it. But when some started growing on the fake root, in strong current, its beauty was revealed. And then it all got eaten! Now I'm hoping it will make a comeback, along with rest of the macros. As I mentioned before, the blue hypnea is already popping up-literally. It's growing up through the coarse substrate in the shallow sand bed up front. I'll get a pic once it's more visible.

I doubt I will have to buy any replacements of the macros I had. I'm sure there is enough left of them scattered about to start them back up again. They look so much cooler when they come back naturally, plus they're attached better. I'll just wait until conditions are right. There's no rush.

[Michael Hoaster]

I've recently noticed that not all seven grammas are out and about-only six, even at feeding time. Turns out, it's Big Daddy who's been hiding out. Why would the biggest fish in the tank hide out? I think he's egg-tending! I just went and reread some stuff, and that appears to be the case-yay!

While I have no intention of raising the fry, it would be cool to see them. And you never know! Rotifers and cyclops are part of my tank feeding brew, and maybe some could make it up to the "shallows refugium". I know it's a long shot. I'm just happy the fish find the conditions right for spawning!

[Genera]

Oh no! Not the macros! Get some more ASAP!

[Michael Hoaster]

Hang in there, Genera!

I miss them as well. They're coming back. Now that the tang is gone, I see a little more everyday. With remnants of them all over the tank, I expect them all to come back. I don't think I'll need to buy any new ones, except for a few I haven't tried yet.

[C.Eymann]

Love this thread, such an awesome, unique tank/biotope

[Michael Hoaster]

Thank you, C.Eymann!

So nice to hear. I often forget this tank is a bit different! I'm basically combining what I learned keeping a reef tank, with keeping a planted tank.

[McPuff]

Originally Posted by Michael Hoaster

Hang in there, Genera!

I miss them as well. They're coming back. Now that the tang is gone, I see a little more everyday. With remnants of them all over the tank, I expect them all to come back. I don't think I'll need to buy any new ones, except for a few I haven't tried yet.

I don't think you'll need to buy anything. The remnants are still on the rocks, just give it time. I have small pieces of rock in my sump/refugium and they just started to grow dragon's breath after a couple of months... after never appearing in my display. So it'll happen if you give it time.

[Michael Hoaster]

Agreed, McPuff.

My caulerpa racemosa peltata was added when I first set up the tank. It withered away and disappeared for months, then came back and completely overgrew just about everything.

Zippy's leftovers are all growing back already. Now that I've run the gamut, from overgrown to wiped out, I hope to find a happy medium! The challenge for (lazy) me, will be keeping up with pruning. But for now, I can sit back and watch everything come back naturally.

Reducing the macros' biomass achieved the objective of getting more nutrients to the seagrasses, which I'm happy about. This time around, rather than having a jungle, I hope to have more of a garden.

[collegereefs]

Your tank is incredible! Are you thinking of any other species of fish to add, or are you enjoying the more natural look?