Restarting my seagrass build

[Amphiprion]

Well, after becoming fed up with the sheer number of Aiptasia I had infesting my system, I became bold and tore everything apart. I purchased all new, dry sand, mud, and live sand from various sources. All the infested sand, rock, and (sadly) seagrass is gone. I was able to save 2 sprigs--one of each species of seagrass. I'm in the middle of receiving more types of live sand from various sources, as well as boosting my seagrass population. As of now, I've got more shoal grass (Halodule) coming and I'm going to attempt some turtle grass (Thalassia). The new setup features deeper, finer sand. There will be no rock for now, though I may add a piece of dry rock later. The few corals I still have are covered in Aiptasia, so they've been relegated to a quarantine setup lit by some spiral compact fluorescents in order to be de-Aiptasia'd with some Aeolidinella ("Berghia") nudibranchs. Hopefully, the new setup will be successful and the corals will be denuded of Aiptasia. I still plan to feed heavily, which is why it is vitally important to not have any Aiptasia, since even one could explode into hundreds with the kind of feeding schedule I typically use.

Anyway, some pics:

Sad display tank with one sprig:


Clowns w/ Aiptasia forest in background:


Broader view of jury-rigged quarantine:

[AuroraDrvr]

Wow. That's quite the change.

Any reason you only kept two small sprigs of Seagrass?

[Amphiprion]

Those were the only ones that I found that were 100% free of any visible Aiptasia. Literally every single piece I attempted to save had at least 1 micro-anemone on it. I thought about scraping them off, but that left the risk of introducing small pieces and potentially causing another outbreak. It just wasn't something I was willing to take the risk after the ridiculousness that was the Aiptasia in my tank.

On a lighter note, I thought it was interesting that I found 3 polyps of Duncanopsammia rather randomly. I don't even recall purchasing it, but I found it while I was trawling the bottom for cerithid snails, etc. Can't beat that.

[Amphiprion]

Well, I got all my cool stuff today. I received my live sands from different places (about 4 different ones), as well as my seagrasses. A few surprises there, actually. I only ordered 2 Thalassia shoots, but got 4--one had large rhizome intact. I also managed to get a single shoot of Syringodium. The rest was all Halodule and I got a LOT of it. I'm eager to see how it all fares in the new setup. I'll probably be able to add my fish back after a few more days, too.

[Amphiprion]

The Gulf Coast Ecosystems order was a bit too generous. I ordered one unit and had about 1/2 left over. I also ordered 2 Thalassia and received 4. Here are some pics showing how it turned out--I planted pretty densely from the start this time around:







I had to adjust the white balance because of some phytoplankton I introduced for filter feeders in the sand bed. It actually turned the water a yellow-green color, whereas the Iwasaki I have on it isn't nearly that bad. In fact, the white-balance adjusted pics look very close to what the Iwasaki really looks like.

[AuroraDrvr]

Pretty cool. Will be nice to see the Seagrasses intertwined, much like they are in the wild.

[Amphiprion]

Well, the tank decoded to turn into pea soup a couple of days ago. The skimmer is working overtime to get rid of the phyto bloom, though it is still quite hazy. I ran into this the last time I set this tank up for seagrasses, as well, so nothing terribly new. I just allow it to run its course and eventually things will settle after a week or two. Still a bit aggravating, though.

[Amphiprion]

Updates. The fish are officially in the tank, now. The grasses have already begun to sprout and move around. Even the single, tiny sprig of oargrass has already spread a good bit. I couldn't get a good pic, but the Thalassia is also sprouting.

[AuroraDrvr]

So how are the grasses doing?

Probably going to be tearing the 25 planted down. Don't have the time to manage an extra tank, and we may be moving (again) in a few weeks anyhow.

[Amphiprion]

They are doing well, minus the Thalassia. I say that, but it usually takes longer to exhibit stress effects from shipping, etc., anyway. The leaves finally dropped, except for a few newer shoots. Shoal and oar grass have taken off, especially the former. It's just a matter of waiting to see what does and doesn't do well.

[AuroraDrvr]

Seems to be about my experience with Shoal and Turtle. The Shoal that I collected flourished, and put up new shoots within just a few weeks. The Turtle didn't really do anything, it did put up a few new leaves, but ended up just dieing. That was after transplanting it within just a few hours after collecting.

[Amphiprion]

Well, all but one Thalassia shoot has any blades left. The ones on that particular shoot are rather anemic, however. I don't think any of them will make it in the long term, honestly. I have relatively reasonable hopes for the rest, however. I've seen improvements in the shoal grass and even the manatee grass. Not concerned about the oargrass much at all, since it already has a few dozen new shoots. The only other bad thing occurring at the moment is a brown, stringy slime, which seems to be a combination of algae/dinoflagellates and detritus. It is dingy, dirt brown due to detritus clinging to it. Much of it, I noticed, clings to the dying Thalassia shoots, though. Overall, though, I am still satisfied with the results. I think the tank will do rather well in the long run as long as I can keep up with pruning.

[AuroraDrvr]

Hows the tank doing? Updated pics?



BTW- Have you seen Plantbrain's thread on RC? Looks like my suspicions that John's H. decepiens actually being H. johnsonii have been confirmed. It doesn't surprise me though. I know where he collects, and having snorkeled the area, it's definitely H. johnsonii.

[Amphiprion]

Yeah, I figured that out after examining some under a dissecting scope when I first got the grass last year--it should be in the old thread, too. I've tried to keep a low profile about it, though, given its status. All of my grass blades completely lack serrated margins like H. decipiens when viewed under the scope. The general shape is different as well.

The tank seems to be doing fine, despite the fact that I rarely see it. The skimmer got clogged and I unplugged it and (not too surprisingly), everything has been doing better since. I don't suspect nutrients to be the issue, but rather CO2 availability. I was having a very long (months) bout with dinoflagellates. The whole time, the skimmer was aerating the system and keeping pH lower by introducing CO2. After unplugging it and allowing it to rise, the dinoflagellates went away, which is in line with how many use kalkwasser to do the same job. So at least it is doing better. Far from pic-worthy, though because of the neglect. My job deals with catastrophe mitigation and the recent hurricane has me more than busy. I'll be working a 100+ hr work-week for the next several months with zero off days. Hopefully everything will hang on well enough in the meantime.

[Amphiprion]

Wow, quick update. No pics as of yet. I take advantage of one of the rare occasions I get off early and I scraped a portion of the glass. From the time I made the last update, probably close to 500 shoots of H. "decipiens" have peeked through the substrate. No clue what prompted it, but it is almost hard to believe. I kinda freaked out when I saw it. There is literally a carpet of hundreds of tiny green leaves sprouting from the sand. I thought the dinoflagellates had all but killed this grass, but I may be able to salvage it yet.