rick12

When you say display, do you mean down at floor level, or adjacent to your cube tank?

what i mean is i want to create a marine planted tank.
here is the system as it sits today (needs a change)
currently it is bare bottom tank with most of the LR in the sump area.




the sump with the fuge attached

not sure if i am adding pics correctly??
wanted to share some of the mini nems currently in the system





also mangroves that are linked to my 90g that i may move over

I cleaned up those entries. I removed the IMG tags since Photobucket provides you with a clickable thumbnail image.

To convert your existing tank into a planted system, you'll need sand built up quite a bit for mangroves and seagrass to take hold of. You will want to avoid naturally invasive (quick-growing) species, more likely than not. Caulerpa would be a poor choice, but Shaving Brush algae would be interesting.

adding sand to an existing system sounds like Fun LOL. how fast can such a task be done without harm?
anyone done this successfully.
R.

Here you go: http://www.reefaddicts.com/content.p...ting-reef-tank

What sort of macro's did you have in mind? Sounds like a cool idea, I've always thought a separate eel grass tank would be fun.

Phil

hi Phil, not sure what macro just yet! cheato for sure LOL. i know i can grow that.
i will most likely gather what's available in my area from fellow reefers and LFS's. looking to start with some caulerpa's and some different reds like dragons' tongue.

first step is to add the sand. we dont have tropic eden in canada so i have to stick with the carbsea brands. this means i will have to rinse it well prior to adding it because it is not as clear as the tropic eden.

but thanks for that link melev. i will put the rinsed sand in a bag and follow the method prescribed.

R.

I wish I could get some mangroves going like that. I went through 35 pops and didnt get one . Welcome back stranger( Phil )

Hi DJ in WV. As for my mangroves I simply stuck the pods in the salt water and after a few months they grew roots. It wasn't until I started misting them with tap water that they grew leaves. So i mist them heavily every chance i get; at least once a day. I also don't hang a light over them like many reefers. (don't want the leaves and stalks to grow too fast. the roots are large though) They get light from the display and from the window. Actually it is not a lot of lighting, esp in the winter.

R.

I think depending on what you are wanting in there caulerpa may not be the best choice as it tends to want to go sexual if the lights are not kept on 24/7 where as from my experience chaeto doesn't seem to like the lights on constantly. Caulerpa is a very invasive species so you may want to do plenty of research on that particular macro algae. I think though that your other species like kelp, mangroves,mermaids fan, and shaving bush would probably be better choices. One more thing to take into account is caulerpa is going to not only grow quickly but it will attach itself to everything it can where as some of the others are a little slower growing and will make for a better display.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...662&pcatid=662 check this out for instance and there are a few other marine plants available to give you an idea

Hello cyano. I am aware of the dangers of the caulerpa and will think hard before adding it to my system, thanks for that reminder. My starting-out goal is to find a Macro selection from local reefers and that means not a large selection. There is also the LFS that occasionally get macro in their fish and coral orders. As for mermaids fan and shaving brush, i have never seen these in the LFS's in the area. There are many online macro sites in the U.S., however, I am not sure which ones will ship to Canada and even if the expense of shipping will be over the top?

R.

Check with live-plants.com - they might.

Originally Posted by melev

Check with live-plants.com - they might.

U.S. only.

I didn't realize you were in canada, locally i am sure that it will be difficult to find any real varied species of macro algae at all as where I live I am lucky to find chaeto so unfortunately if you want a nice variety of selections you will have to talk with your local suppliers and fellow enthusiasts (which is something that you obviously already realize ) to see if they are able to either order some of know of a website that has facilities in Canada (I have ordered items from canada and internationally enough to know that livestock is not something you want going through customs at things tend to get held up quite a bit.) Now depending on where you live in relation to the US boarder you may have the option to get things ordered to a fellow enthusiast on the US side and then driving down and picking it up .

Most lfs have a listing of livestock including macro algae that they can order and have delivered but chose to only order the more popular livestock as they want everything to have a quick turnaround (thats how money is made) but some are very willing to take payments on items and have them ordered just for you with they next shipments depending on how well you know the workers or owner.