Seagrass system

[fish_guy]

Going to try something new here.
I have a spare tank I am going to turn into a seagrass system.
Has anyone here ever run one?

[Fish Scales2]

Like a fuge. Please explain. Sand bed, mud, fish?

[fish_guy]

Deep sand bed.
Turtle grass along with a bit of live rock.
Was thinking of putting Bangi Cardnial fish and some urchins in it.
That or I found a source for dwarf cuttle fish eggs.
May try my luck with them.
I have kept ceph's in the past and have always wanted to try cuttled.

[tgray3]

I put some turtle grass and shoal grass in my fuge to try some variety. The turtle grass never took root and it seems to have all died off but since it grows from a bulb who knows, it may pop back up. The shoal grass did a lot better. It's not thick at all in my system but it pops out a new green shoot every now and then. Grows very slow for me. This is where i got it if your looking for a source:

http://www.live-plants.com/index.htm

[Hackman72]

I'm not familiar with these. Is this a seperate system all together or something added like a fuge to a main system?

[tgray3]

I just tried it in my fuge because i can't keep chaeto alive to save my life. Sounds like the OP is going to set up a whole system with it in the DT like a lagoon style set up. I think that type tank looks nice, like to try one myself some day.

[andregarcia_73]

Tagging along.........

[ichthyoid]

Originally Posted by tgray3

I just tried it in my fuge because i can't keep chaeto alive to save my life. Sounds like the OP is going to set up a whole system with it in the DT like a lagoon style set up. I think that type tank looks nice, like to try one myself some day.

What kind of lights do you have on the fuge? (just curious)

[ali]

Originally Posted by fish_guy

Deep sand bed.
Turtle grass along with a bit of live rock.
Was thinking of putting Bangi Cardnial fish and some urchins in it.

I may be wrong, but, as I recall, both kelp forests and seagrass beds suffer in the presence of urchins. In the oceanic world, kelp forests areas can be wiped out by them.
Clearly, those are armies of urchins and not one or two. But still, you may not want them munching on your grass.
I believe that the problem is caused by the fact that the urchins munch on the bottom portion and so cut the top off from the bottom rooting and anchoring structures.
Hope that helps.

[fish_guy]

going to run a 4 bulb T5 fixture on this system.
I am debating on running half 65K and half 10K .
As soon as it is up and running I will take some pics

[stacy22]

Seagrasses are difficult to have long term success with. They require a deep sand bed. I have had moderate success with turtle grass and some shoal grasses. I have ordered from these guys and have always gotten great service from them reefcleaners.org Their website has a lot of information about growing requirements.

Good luck!

[BASSCYN]

I have thought about doing this too. Tie in like a "display fuge" separate from my "grungie fuge" with lots of cool macro and see grasses.
+1 on the deep sand bed. I have also read where a super fine sand is best.

Do it!

[fish_guy]

Goingto use 3" of ultra grade aragonite.
I am thinking of using my oldsubstrate heating cable system from an old planted system to help get a very slow water movement to the root system.
As far as getting the sea grass I am collecting it myself so I know I get good root systems

[tgray3]

I run my fuge with a 3" sand bed and it was OK IMO for the shoal grass that i had some success with. The turtle grass (according to all the info I read) needs around 5 to 6" as the root system runs deeper that the shoal grass; which may have contributed to it dieing off in my system. I run a 36 watt 10K PC light on the fuge.

[roundman]

With a DSB I thought that you did not want anything to disturb it so that the anerobic bacteria would thrive. If you put plants in wouldn't the roots disturb the DSB.

[fish_guy]

The DSB is there for the root system.
And it is not like the plants are going to be moving the sand around.