Re: Marine planted tanks

["Heather Foy" <heatherfoy at rogers_com>]

Thank you Tom!

What about fertilization in a marine tank? From what I observed during my
brief stint the macro's - at least the ones I had - didn't seem to need
anything "extra" to encourage them, but the angiosperm ( I THINK mine was
hydrocharitaceae - the turtle grass, but I'm not 100% sure) seemed lacking.
They would grow to about 4-5 inches and then sort of rot off.

Of course, some of it's poor appearance was due to the seahorses
themselves - they were plenty abusive to it when it started to grow a bit,
but these do not seem like delicate plants to me, and although the little
buggers are stronger than you'd think, I've never heard of widespread damage
to grass beds from seahorse tails, lol.

> Other great thing about SW, it is really easy, don't fall for the notion
is
> not. A very simple method will reduce the needs for dosing, Kalk additions
> etc.
> It's called a water change.Something SW folks hate with extreme prejudice.
> Yea, salt cost money to mix for the water changes but it's not that
much....

I used RO water mixed with Reef Crystals, which is one of the more pricier
salt mixes out there. I bought it because it had extra calcium, it's not
necessary, I just figured it would perhaps eliminate the need to dose Kalk
as I  planned on keeping acropora or montipora in there at some point.
Halimeda needs good calcium too. There are other quality salt mixes for less
money out there. Instant Ocean (made by the same folks) seems the most
highly regarded. Cost me $40 for the huge bucket of 200g mix from what was
then PetWarehouse (now Dr. Fosters), so figure appx $2 for every 10g water
changed, which I felt was a fair price. It may cost more now that Dr's
whatever took the company over.

Not sure if I needed the RO unit, never used one for my fresh tanks, in
fact, I never even added water conditioner for my planted tanks, just
straight tap, but I was nervous with the saltwater, maybe needlessly so. I
didn't use a skimmer either, it would have been ridiculous on the dwarf
tank, and my larger tank was actually under-stocked (for seahorses) so I
didn't deem it necessary as I'm not lazy when it comes to water changes. One
thing I AM lazy with is topping off, which is more of an issue with a salt
tank, so I had to get all "boot camp" on myself, lol.

>
> While as previously mentioned, Seahorsies are rather difficult to
keep/raise
> etc. FW Mysis shrimp caught in local ponds work super. After about 2-3
weeks
> of live, switch over slowly to frozen Mysis shrimp. You need to go out
early
> in morning once twice a week to get the shrimps. This feeding routine
works
> well and allows much more sane keeping of these and pipe fishes.
>

Thomas Barr, you are spoiled!!! lol.

At the time I was living in Manhattan, which is rather lacking in
conveniently located ponds, although perhaps I could have found some FW
mysis in Central Park somewhere, hehe. Still, Central Park wasn't exactly
close to me either =). Now that I live in a far less urban environment, I
will explore my local options come spring when all this ice goes away 0_o. I
would really like to keep pipefish at some point, especially Doryrhamphus
dactyliophorus or Doryrhamphus multiannulatus if I could ever find them
anywhere.

Had I known your knowledge base extended to marine plants as well, I'd have
come to you for help in identifying some of the macroalgae I had. Most
saltwater people just see them as either food for tangs, something to put in
your sump for additional filtration or as a refugium hidden away somewhere.
There doesn't seem to be much interest in keeping them for their own sake,
although I think that sentiment may be slowly changing from what I've been
reading on reef boards.

Regards
Heather