Caribbean Biotope Seagrass Tank

[Chasmodes]

Originally Posted by Michael Hoaster

So there's another big difference between planted tanks and reefs. A high fish load in a reef tank, puts a strain on the system. In a planted tank, a high fish load actually benefits the system.

I think that is going to be my strategy in my tank too. I want a high fish bioload, and also the plants (macros and grasses) make the tank so much more realistic, especially my biotope that is very similar to what you're doing.

Regarding my tank, I've decided on all of my equipment and will be ordering very soon, should have everything by mid May. That means that I better get the FW tank done fast, so I'll be working on that this weekend.

For my lighting, I'm going LED. The AquaIllumination Hydra 52 HD. My tank is only 18" deep, so I think that this will work fine. At first I was going to go cheap, but hey, this is one piece of equipment that I can always move to a reef later if I build one, so I'm going for something nice. Also, it supposedly can cover a 36"x36" area. That might be the biggest difference, you with MH and me with the LED. My tank will be temperate, so keeping heat out of it as much as possible is a must (since I'm not doing a chiller).

If it wasn't the aiptasias that killed your fish, it's possible that just the stress of collecting/shipping etc. could have been a problem, or something like that. Stuff happens. Are you going to get more of them?

[Michael Hoaster]

Page 100! Triple digits, Baby! Ok I'm done.

I doubt my plants will really take off until I get more fish in there. That's how it happened when the tank was new. I love that about planted tanks.

How's the FW tank progressing? Post a link to the thread? Your rock wall puts us all to shame!

I'm so glad to hear you've decided on your equipment. LEDs sound like the right choice. And it totally makes sense to invest in high quality stuff. It often SAVES you money! I'm not anti-LED. I just already had the MH setup, that I knew was adequate for my tank's 30" depth.

I doubt shipping stress, since I've had the blennies for a month. I really don't know what killed them. I have one, tiny guy left. I would like to get more, but I'm feeling a bit gun-shy right now.

[Chasmodes]

Originally Posted by Michael Hoaster

Page 100! Triple digits, Baby! Ok I'm done.

Noooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well hang in there... I think that your plans are solid, but just had a run of bad luck for sure.

I'll try and post an update on my FW tank soon. I'm working on the roots now, and the latest update is kinda ugly, LOL. But, here's a picture of the rock work, still needs to be painted and installed into the tank:

[Michael Hoaster]

There certainly were some complicating factors associated with treating my display with hypo salinity. So yeah, I had some bad, as well as good luck with it. I think it'll all work out.

The ecosystem is bouncing back. I've got lots of busy pods now. I'm hoping I got some spaghetti worms in the last live sand shipment, and as soon as they become available, I'll add some tiny brittle stars. I'd probably have more fish if KP aquatics had them in stock, but it's a waiting game. The same goes for plants - there just isn't a great selection right now. From my point of view, those collectors don't go out collecting nearly enough! It seems to me, they'd all make a lot more money if they kept their inventories up.

Chasmodes, your wall is awesome. The roots giving you trouble? You're using PVC pipe, right? I have seen attempts with PVC. To me they didn't work because pipe is straight, nature is not. I know that most have doubts about the technique I used, but 2+ years later, my roots are still working perfectly. Also, consider using real wood. I gathered driftwood from Boulder Creek. It took quite awhile to get it water logged enough to sink, but they worked well in my FW planted tank.

[Michael Hoaster]

Today I broke down, cleaned up, and got the QT running again.

As I was netting up the muck on the bottom I discovered a spaghetti worm, then another and another! Soon, I was in full obsession mode and carefully went through ALL the muck. I spent hours painstakingly extricating gooey worms! I didn't count but I'd guess I moved around forty worms to the display. I also found a few sponge fragments, which were mostly red tree sponge and a little of the white, encrusting sponge I had before. However, I also found a couple of purple beauties! Too small to call right now, but they look really good. I'm super stoked to score these finds, right in my QT!

I added the remaining barnacle blenny to the display. I think he's in or under the barnacles. He's insanely tiny!

Big ecosystem addition with those worms today! Woo! Hoo! I'm a weirdo…

[sam.basye]

Originally Posted by Michael Hoaster

Woo! Hoo! I'm a weirdo…

[sam.basye]

I have numerous little spaghetti worms in the sand bed, and a giant one living in a conch shell. They're pretty neat watching them grab stuff and pull it in!

My wife thinks it's disgusting and says I need to get it out. Haha

[Moort82]

Originally Posted by Michael Hoaster

Big ecosystem addition with those worms today! Woo! Hoo! I'm a weirdo…

Then this must be the place us weirdo's of the world unite

[Michael Hoaster]

Yeah, Sam, I found some big ones too. I had no idea they got so big. Fantastic detrivores too. I was amazed how much detritus piled up during hypo, when mine died back. I'm so psyched to have them again. With them, the pods, the snails and the molly fry, I'm getting a good crew going, at the lower end of the food chain, which makes me oh, so happy.

Right on, Moort82! Weirdos welcome here! It's kind of amazing the things we'll do to get our tanks 'just so' isn't it? When I found that first worm, I saw a great opportunity. If I wasn't good and weird enough, I might have just tossed them. But I like to sift through the minutiae for jewels! In my weird, little world, spaghetti worms qualify. The irony of finding them right in my own QT isn't lost on me, after ordering live sand from two different vendors.

The bottom line is I've added biodiversity right where I needed it, so I'm happy.

[Michael Hoaster]

Hey Chasmodes, I took a look at the light you're planning to get. It's very nice, with great tech, but seems awfully blue for a shallow water planted tank. Obviously, it's quite adjustable, so it may be fine, but it almost looks like you are looking beyond this tank and on to a reef tank.

Just my two cents!

[Michael Hoaster]

I've seen the barnacle blenny. He's holding up under the barnacle shells. He darts out at feeding time, which is how I spotted him. I'm going to name him Tim. He's so tiny! I've seen bigger mysis. TIMMAH! Hopefully, I can find him some friends. Their social interaction is very entertaining. I also may have some sailfin blennies in my future. I'm really excited about getting more little fish. Filling out the fish community with a diverse variety of little personalities is going to be fun!

[BonesCJ]

I'm finding little fish to be quite fun, even though I don't have my proper lighting yet I've been moving forward with fish stocking. Got 2 red firefish, one perc, one royal gramma and one lone molly(f) and everyone is settling in fine. Gonna add some clown gobies, 3 pj cardinals, a pearly jawfish and once its WELL setup a mandarin

[Chasmodes]

Originally Posted by Michael Hoaster

Hey Chasmodes, I took a look at the light you're planning to get. It's very nice, with great tech, but seems awfully blue for a shallow water planted tank. Obviously, it's quite adjustable, so it may be fine, but it almost looks like you are looking beyond this tank and on to a reef tank.

Just my two cents!

You're right Michael, I'm thinking this light will work for now and to get it while I can afford it (in case I do a reef build later on). My first concern is the ecosystem, but also I want any fish colors to look great too.

As far as my roots go, I used a heat gun to bend the pvc. I also went to HD and bought some rope in different sizes, and had some ideas on how to make the frame in a more realistic shape. I think that when I add the spray foam and grout that it will come to life, but the rope will also add a nice look to it. I just need to break down each root into make for a more manageable construction for realism, then put it all together into a root system...a piece at a time. I tried to get the whole look at one time and rushed through it.

Anyway, I like what you did with yours, and my concept isn't that much different except I'm using grout instead of clay, and Drylok instead of epoxy. Internally, I'm using wire instead of foil, and I haven't ruled out using foil either, and it will all be sealed inside. I was thinking that the foil would be nice for making root junctions not so "square". Thanks for those ideas! I knew that they'd come in handy for me some day.

[Michael Hoaster]

Very interesting BonesCJ. Getting fish established first could be a great strategy. Seeing as I couldn't get my plants to take off until I had more fish, you could be on to something!

It would be great to follow along. We're getting little peeks, but it's hard to flesh out all that you're doing. Build thread?

[Michael Hoaster]

It looks like a great light and fish do look good in blue light. It may just look a little odd for the biotope you're modeling. Or maybe it's me!

It sounds like you've got the roots figured out. I can't wait to see how it all comes together!

[Chasmodes]

Originally Posted by Michael Hoaster

It looks like a great light and fish do look good in blue light. It may just look a little odd for the biotope you're modeling. Or maybe it's me!

Naw, it's not just you. I thought about that too. But, I can dim the blue down and adjust colors to get what I want. Looking at the videos, the water has between a greenish to almost amber hue. I'm not sure if I need that look. But I guess I'll play with the lights to get it to look as cool as I can while still trying to optimize plant growth.

I bet it's difficult to get a pic of TIMMAH!!!

[Michael Hoaster]

Chasmodes, that particular light has so many blue LED variations, it would seem difficult to get less blue without getting less total light, even with their power-diverting ability. For that kind of money, I would think you could find something that can give you full power in ANY flavor you want. I'll shut up now and wish you good luck!

Yes, Tim is invisible until he darts out. Maybe, as he settles in, he'll feel comfortable enough to set up shop in a place I can see. That's another reason to get him some buddies, as they help each other feel comfortable. TIMMAH!

[Michael Hoaster]

I perused around with the magnifier today. I was checking the live rocks for sponge growth and spotted some tiny sea squirts, as well more encrusting sponges. This is only days after dosing sodium silicate. I'm getting the impression that silicates are getting used quickly by the sponges and snails. I dosed some more tonight, along with some phytoplankton. This makes me think I may not have been dosing enough before. I'm going to increase the frequency to see if that stimulates more sponge growth.

I was also studying the tiny, new purple sponges I found in the QT muck. I'm afraid to say it, because I don't want to jinx it but, their shape almost suggests they are… tube sponges! If they are, I may explode. Some time ago, I tried twice to get some tube sponges, but on both attempts they were DOA. I added them anyway, and hoped they might release some spores or whatever. I never found any evidence that they had, until now, dare I hope!

Two days after transferring spaghetti worms, I see no sign of them. I hope they're okay. I imagine they need time to settle in. Weird People Problems…

[Chasmodes]

Originally Posted by Michael Hoaster

Chasmodes, that particular light has so many blue LED variations, it would seem difficult to get less blue without getting less total light, even with their power-diverting ability. For that kind of money, I would think you could find something that can give you full power in ANY flavor you want. I'll shut up now and wish you good luck!

I think that the difficulty in obtaining a quality light is that nothing is really designed for what I'm trying to do. Many of the fixtures that I've been looking at that don't have much blue in them have relatively poor reviews and durability issues. I haven't ordered yet, so I still have some time to keep searching. Maybe another one of the AI products as it seems that the brand has a good reputation.

Anyone have recommendations?

Originally Posted by Michael Hoaster

Weird People Problems…

Well that's cool that the tube sponges might be there, and having a bunch of tunicates too. If they thrive, then your ecosystem is just that much more complete. Hope the spaghetti worms do well too. They're very interesting creatures.

[Chasmodes]

Michael, that gold line blenny on KP Aquatics looks pretty cool too. I don't think that they get very large. This would give you a mobile benthic fish, but not sure about compatibility with barnacle blennies. I would think that they'd get along, but I guess you don't know until you try. Maybe when your barnacle blenny grows a bit...

Edit: actually, the saddled blenny looks good too. If you had sailfins, barnacles, and one of each of these, you'd have a blenny lovers heaven Of course, I'd have to try and convince you to have a Hoaster Cam set up so we could watch them all day along with you!

[Michael Hoaster]

There's another thread, here in the plant forums that gets pretty deep into LED choices. It just seems to me that you'd want a higher ratio of white to blue, so that you can get full power in any color temp you want. Blue looks cool in reef tanks, and is appropriate for simulating depth. For tanks like ours, daylight works better for the plants and is appropriate for simulating shallow water. Having a little blue to accent the fish would be a nice bonus as well. That's my input/opinion.

Chasmodes, I was just checking KP's site yesterday myself. In the gobies section, I noted they didn't have a pic of the Seminole Goby, which I usually pass over for that reason. This time I googled it to take a look. They're gorgeous! I may give some of them a try.

[BonesCJ]

Originally Posted by Michael Hoaster

It would be great to follow along. We're getting little peeks, but it's hard to flesh out all that you're doing. Build thread?

Yes, yes I will get a build thread going :-D

I'll admit I'm just really lazy about uploading pictures

[sam.basye]

Originally Posted by Chasmodes

I think that the difficulty in obtaining a quality light is that nothing is really designed for what I'm trying to do. Many of the fixtures that I've been looking at that don't have much blue in them have relatively poor reviews and durability issues. I haven't ordered yet, so I still have some time to keep searching. Maybe another one of the AI products as it seems that the brand has a good reputation.

Anyone have recommendations?

I do. Lol

Pretty sure what you're looking for is an all white full spectrum light to recreate the sun lit shallow oyster reef.

I have an Evergrow IT2060 (Chinese reef breeders knockoff) and swapped all the LED's to make a custom layout. All my whites and a couple green are on one channel and all the actinic and a couple red on the other.
With only the white channel on, I'm pretty sure it is what you're looking for.

When I get home later I'll take some pictures at different intensities and litter Michaels thread

This is a nice fixture that is easily customizable, comes in 4 different lengths, is programmable, high output, and has a low price tag.

As long as it is programmable and has different channels, I think you will be fine.

Have you looked at the Kessil tuna sun? It's their freshwater pendant. The color is about right, but you don't have the programmability or reef capability of you decide you want a reef later on.

[Michael Hoaster]

I hear you, BonesCJ. My biggest 'srtuggle' is getting the glass clean enough to photograph. That's one of the downsides to bigger tanks. On the other hand, I'm a graphic designer, so I use photoshop everyday, so processing pics is pretty routine. I usually do most of the editing in the basic photos app that came with my iMac, then resize them in photoshop to work with RC's specs.

I think the key is to get a pic posting routine that simplifies the process. Photoshop is not required and there are lots of photo editing apps that work well and are very easy. Get that dialed and you're gold! That would be a good subject for a thread. I think there is a photo forum already that could help.

[Michael Hoaster]

Feel free Sam! I'm learning from this discussion, so go for it!