Weeds

[Michael Hoaster]

Thanks Kevin!

I'm anxious to get the lights back on and see what it looks like today. Lots more to come!

[lapin]

Sounds like a man with a plan
With any luck the live rock will come with some bacteria to finish off your problem algae and cyano.

[Michael Hoaster]

Thanks lapin! It's funny, even with a plan, I still felt like a bumbling idiot. It must be the change of routine. The big combo is a lot of work too. I'm pooped!

My 10 pounds of live rock arrived today. I saw sponges, corals, mussels and macros. A huge injection of diversity! I ended the blackout, which went three and a half days. I unpacked the rocks and popped them in the QT temporarily.

I unwrapped the tank and turned on the light. It looked so clean! After thorough inspection, I found a few small patches of cyano. I manually removed what I could before I did the water change. 30 gallons, roughly 20%. Then the rocks went in the display, uncured, basically on top of the old rocks. The macros went back in too, but I couldn't quite muster the gumption to take them out of the mesh bag and plant them. I'll leave that until tomorrow. I'm not satisfied with the rock placement yet. I have a feeling I've got a fair bit of tinkering to do with it. I want it to blend into the sand bar better, like a mini patch reef.

I turned on the main pump for a while, but turned it back off at lights out. With a lot more water moving through the system, the added noise was noticeable. I may put it on a timer, so it shuts off with the lights. I'm also still playing with the flow rate.

A good day of progress. Next, some fine tuning. Get the macros placed, and wait to see if the algae comes back. I imagine it will. We're at three months. It took me six to get out of Cyano City, in v1. I'm hoping I'm ahead of schedule this time!

I'm also curious to see what comes out of the live rock…

[vlangel]

Originally Posted by Michael Hoaster

Thanks lapin! It's funny, even with a plan, I still felt like a bumbling idiot. It must be the change of routine. The big combo is a lot of work too. I'm pooped!

My 10 pounds of live rock arrived today. I saw sponges, corals, mussels and macros. A huge injection of diversity! I ended the blackout, which went three and a half days. I unpacked the rocks and popped them in the QT temporarily.

I unwrapped the tank and turned on the light. It looked so clean! After thorough inspection, I found a few small patches of cyano. I manually removed what I could before I did the water change. 30 gallons, roughly 20%. Then the rocks went in the display, uncured, basically on top of the old rocks. The macros went back in too, but I couldn't quite muster the gumption to take them out of the mesh bag and plant them. I'll leave that until tomorrow. I'm not satisfied with the rock placement yet. I have a feeling I've got a fair bit of tinkering to do with it. I want it to blend into the sand bar better, like a mini patch reef.

I turned on the main pump for a while, but turned it back off at lights out. With a lot more water moving through the system, the added noise was noticeable. I may put it on a timer, so it shuts off with the lights. I'm also still playing with the flow rate.

A good day of progress. Next, some fine tuning. Get the macros placed, and wait to see if the algae comes back. I imagine it will. We're at three months. It took me six to get out of Cyano City, in v1. I'm hoping I'm ahead of schedule this time!

I'm also curious to see what comes out of the live rock…

O wow, I can't wait to see the tank after you fine tune the rock placement and plant the macros. It sounds like the new rock is exactly what you were hoping for which is cool.

I am also anxious to see if you are ahead of schedule with v2 because that will really show what can work faster. 6 mos was a long time to struggle with algae the last time, (very few folks would have the perseverance to do that). Hopefully you have laid ground work that will encourage others to try a grass reef that will get established with a bit less long term work involved at the front end.

[Michael Hoaster]

Thanks Dawn! I am very happy with the new rock. Tons of stuff on it. I still have a lot to do!

I believe I will be ahead of schedule, compared to v1. I think I slowed the maturation process in v1, keeping it nutrient poor in the first three months. Then I added fish, fed them, and cyano came acallin'!

This time I started with a dirty, high-nutrient sand bed and fish I fed from the start. So the algae onslaught began much earlier. I also made more of an effort to get a substantial crew in place much earlier. By applying what I learned in v1, this version should progress more quickly. We'll see!

If I succeed, I'm sure I'll go on and on about it!

I do hope to encourage others to try seagrasses. I was encouraged by a small number of people much smarter than me. I urge potential grass growers to study up. Probably the most helpful source of info was the "Forum Favorites - Old Helpful Posts", right here in RC's macro section.

Anyway, I best get in there and move some rocks and plant some plants!

[Michael Hoaster]

I got a couple quick shots from today's rock and macro planting, post blackout. I'm always amazed how effective and simple blackouts are. I found a little cyano, but no dinos, today at least. Usually, you'd see oxygen bubbles increase through the day. Not today! It's a good sign but I'm not going to claim victory just yet.


Full tank view, with new rockscape. Back wall is almost algae-free.



The new rocks and macros. Kind of a low profile patch reef. I'm diggin' it!

Now I just need to sit back and watch.

[vlangel]

O wow Michael, that looks so good, I love it. Have you turned the return pump on yet or are you letting the new red macros establish themselves first?

I have a question for you...what depth should a sandbed be for the easiest to grow grasses? Could I get away with 5-6"?

[Michael Hoaster]

Thanks Dawn! I'm cautiously optimistic. I have found traces of cyano, but no dinos.

I have turned on the main pump a couple of times, and turned it off. The increased flow has lead to some unforeseen problems. Mainly it's that it caused the water level in the overflow chamber to drop, leaving my top off sensor, canister intake and UV intake high and dry. It's fixable, I just need to think on it a while to figure out the best solution. So no massive tidal current for now. I had a feeling that turning on the pump wouldn't be so simple…

Sand bed depth is a function of root depth and size. Turtle grass has the biggest, deepest roots. Seven inches is recommended for them. The much smaller star grass can probably get by with two inches depth. In my experience, Shoal grass is the easiest to grow, and would probably need a minimum of three inches. So yes, 5-6 inches would work for most, if not all seagrasses.

That's an interesting question, Dawn! You got something up your sleeve?

[McPuff]

Whoa! That looks really cool. I like the new rocks as well. Nice addition.

[vlangel]

Originally Posted by Michael Hoaster

Thanks Dawn! I'm cautiously optimistic. I have found traces of cyano, but no dinos.

I have turned on the main pump a couple of times, and turned it off. The increased flow has lead to some unforeseen problems. Mainly it's that it caused the water level in the overflow chamber to drop, leaving my top off sensor, canister intake and UV intake high and dry. It's fixable, I just need to think on it a while to figure out the best solution. So no massive tidal current for now. I had a feeling that turning on the pump wouldn't be so simple…

Sand bed depth is a function of root depth and size. Turtle grass has the biggest, deepest roots. Seven inches is recommended for them. The much smaller star grass can probably get by with two inches depth. In my experience, Shoal grass is the easiest to grow, and would probably need a minimum of three inches. So yes, 5-6 inches would work for most, if not all seagrasses.

That's an interesting question, Dawn! You got something up your sleeve?

LOL, yes you sniffed out a motive for my question! I really love the idea of grasses and actually have been pondering it for awhile.

Back a bit I had considered using the 30g seahorse tank (after seahorses of course) for a grass/display fuge but I do not like the idea of 2 display tanks to keep clean plus 2 overflows don't thrill me either.

As I look at and study my tank I have not really successfully done much with the front middle right of the 56g blenny, goby macro tank. I tried to get the calcareous macros to take there but I have not had much luck with them. Right now dead center I have feather caulerpa but I would prefer not to have that in the display as it requires me to be super vigilant about keeping it contained to its area. I think I would enjoy building another retaining wall and layer a 4-5" sandbed of mixed grains (probably miracle mud too) and plant grasses in that area. It would not have the massive hypnotic effect of your tank but I do have the gyre set on forwards then backwards and I might get some swaying motion which could be cool. It looks like I could have about an 11" x 5" area for the grasses.

It will not really mimic any biotope but it is completely compatible with my natural high nutrient philosophy in that it gives me more DSB and something that will utilize nutrients. What do you think and am I missing anything obvious?

[Michael Hoaster]

Thanks McPuff!

Dawn, I don't see why you couldn't make that work. Go for it!

I have a suggestion that has popped into my head a couple of times, but haven't brought it up. For your post-seahorse days, why not consider one, big tank? I could see you easily filling a 120 or so with what you already have. Or maybe a 75 would work. It's a thought!

[vlangel]

Originally Posted by Michael Hoaster

Thanks McPuff!

Dawn, I don't see why you couldn't make that work. Go for it!

I have a suggestion that has popped into my head a couple of times, but haven't brought it up. For your post-seahorse days, why not consider one, big tank? I could see you easily filling a 120 or so with what you already have. Or maybe a 75 would work. It's a thought!

Ha ha ha, yes I have thought about a bigger tank too. I have been telling Dave for about the last 3 tanks that, "this is the LAST one ever!" My credibility is going down the tubes, and I used to have a very nice 90 gallon. I really feel that I need to make this tank work. I do not want to invest in new lights, tank and stand. I'd give up the sea grass idea before I would do that.

[Michael Hoaster]

I hear that! My wife just barely puts up with me…

[Michael Hoaster]

Later in the day I noticed a few oxygen bubbles here and there, indicating dinos. A few spots of cyano remain as well. Tomorrow I'll do some export. My mantra is export the uglies, favor the macros. It would be nice if my macros would kick in and grow, but they need to adjust to their new placement. I added more Ulva to help out. Plus several of them growing on the fake wall are looking promising after the blackout cleared them of dinos.

The new live rock looks good. I may have to make one more adjustment to them, then I think I can leave them alone. The new Codium plants have not done well, but I have a few left that could make it. I turned down the temperature for them.

My metal halide fixture is on rails, so I can move it, left to right. I'm playing around with moving it closer to the middle of the tank to give the dark side a little more light.

[vlangel]

Originally Posted by Michael Hoaster

Later in the day I noticed a few oxygen bubbles here and there, indicating dinos. A few spots of cyano remain as well. Tomorrow I'll do some export. My mantra is export the uglies, favor the macros. It would be nice if my macros would kick in and grow, but they need to adjust to their new placement. I added more Ulva to help out. Plus several of them growing on the fake wall are looking promising after the blackout cleared them of dinos.

The new live rock looks good. I may have to make one more adjustment to them, then I think I can leave them alone. The new Codium plants have not done well, but I have a few left that could make it. I turned down the temperature for them.

My metal halide fixture is on rails, so I can move it, left to right. I'm playing around with moving it closer to the middle of the tank to give the dark side a little more light.

Persevere is the name of the game at this point!

[Michael Hoaster]

Yep. I figured I wasn't quite in the clear yet. But I've got 'em on the ropes!

[Michael Hoaster]

I fine tuned the rocks' and macros' placement today. I cleaned the grasses of dinos and removed all but the healthiest of the Ulva. Some were fading and I wanted to remove them before they could release any more nutrients.

I also decided to add some erythromycin to the water. It's an antibiotic that can end cyanobacteria. I already had some on hand, so I gave it a go.

I've been thinking on my main pump situation. There are too many things in the overflow chamber. I need to move some of them, to make use of the return chamber. I've still got more thinking to do.

Here's a couple of pics of my little patch reef:


All rocks are sort of terraced into the hill. I'm happy with the macro placement now.



One of the reds went into the wall. I'm really looking forward to seeing them grow.

I've been examining the rocks everyday with a magnifier. I'm seeing a few small patches of some kind of green macro. I'll keep an eye on it.

[Michael Hoaster]

All green, all the time.



A small, green macro with a tuft/cup on top. Like a mini tufted joint algae. Further right, two orange sponges, maybe of the tree variety.



A good, red sampler.



Two of my favorites.



The deep end.

[Aquaticchaos]

This is incredible! I’ve often thought I’d like to build a system like this and find a way to link it to a reef tank.

[Michael Hoaster]

Thanks Aquaticchaos! It's coming along.

It's exciting adding live rock and macros to the developing ecosystem. More pieces of the puzzle! With most of the algae gone, it feels like my crew is now able to catch up. Now let's see if they can keep it at bay. I'm anxious to see what pops out of the rock. I can see a fair amount of encrusting sponge, and a few macro fragments. I've just about got the bottom the food chain filled in. Now it just needs time to reproduce and grow.

[vlangel]

What fun with seeing what grows out of your rock! How do the blennies like it? I would expect that they would be darting around switching holes all the time. I tried to find them in the pics but could not.

[Chasmodes]

Looks like it's coming together nicely and your blackout tactics are working. Well done! Thanks for sharing pics of your progress.

[Michael Hoaster]

Thanks Dawn. Yes, the blennies are in flux with the new rock. They are popping up all over the tank and checking out the options. New live rock is like opening a present. You don't know what you're getting but that's part of the fun!

Thanks Kevin. The blackout was effective, as part of an overall scheme. Whether it ends my algae phase is anybody's guess! I was encouraged that after Saturday's dino export, I saw none return on Sunday. If I am successful with this algae battle, I'll try to sum up what worked for me.

[Michael Hoaster]

Tuesday and I'm not seeing dinos. Today was also the forth and last erythromycin treatment. Maybe a trace of cyano lingering. I'm cautiously optimistic.

I played around with my avatar image. I settled for now on a pic of Mr. Zippy.

[vlangel]

Hooray for cautiously optimistic! Will Mr. Zippy be going in this tank, or was he a resident of a prior tank? I don't remember reading about him.