Crazy idea of the day: adding a whole lot of macro algae to my tank, making it a "planted" reef.
• Motivator 1: I miss having a planted tank. • Motivator 2: Algae would make the tank more diverse. • Motivator 3: Having a unique tank look. • Motivator 4: Potentially would take up some nutrients.
The real thought process trigger was this recent post on the Glass Box, with a video of a Japanese tank. The sand bed is planted with turtle grass,
Thalassia testudinum.
I also like the look of Halodule beaudettei, which is more like freshwater hairgrass. Combined with turtle grass, you can get an interesting meadow effect, an often sought after look for freshwater planted tanks. If I could get this to grow thick enough, it would be a really interesting effect with the live rock rising out of it.
Live Aquaria has a good selection of marine algae, but they are often out of stock. I found a small company, Gulf Coast Ecosystems, that specializes in tropical algae collection and aquaculture. I'm going to do some more research right now, but think this may be an interesting change for the tank. The only (major) downside I can think of is that these plants are native to the Caribbean, and the majority of my stock is from the South Pacific. Though I've never intended to create a strict biotope, it would be more of an unusual species mix than I've generally preferred to make.
After allowing the silicone seals holding the shelf installation to cure overnight, the final step in this project was to finish the landscaping. I began with the back wall above the land area, which I wanted to cover with cork. This required cutting three pieces, including a notched middle piece to sit over the divider between land and beach areas.
By doing some fine tuning with a jig saw, I was able to get these three pieces to fit flush and tight enough that adhesive was not required. The plastic rim of the aquarium was helpful with this process. This also means that I could remove and redo the land area without having to cut off the back panel, should future renovations be necessary.
With the cork in place, I filled the beach area with an inch of coconut fiber soil, then topped it with three inches of aquarium gravel. I added some mondo grass, Ophiopogon japonicus, a plant that is mistakenly sold as purely aquatic but actually does quite well partly submerged, as I will be using it. This species did particularly well in the early iteration of this tank. For the land area, I added a bottom layer of large gravel for drainage, and then filled it to the top with coconut fiber.
The final step was a layer of terrarium moss and a few more terrestrial plants for the land area. This looks good now, but previously I have had trouble with moss growing under the bright UV lights I use for the turtle. Additionally, he tends to claw a lot of it into the water when climbing around. I was willing to try it once more just because of how good it looks, but I expect that in the future I may be going back to regular lawn grass which roots better.
One thing I failed to account for when moving to wood for the construction of this shelf was the added thickness. As such the land area ended up being a few inches higher than I wanted, leaving little room for plant growth under the light fixture and glass lid. It is also harder to view. I'm looking into a few options, the most appealing being some sort of screen riser for the tank that will provide additional vertical height and ventilation. There are a number of pre-made options for smaller tanks, but I have yet to find one in the size I need.
I will add a final post about this project with finished photos and an analysis of what went right and wrong with the project.
Last night I drained the 40 gallon aquarium and moved the turtle into a temporary 10 gallon tank on loan from a friend. Needless to say much hissing, clawing, and snapping was involved in this transfer, and someone is completely irate over his temporary home.
The shelf dropped into the aquarium quite easily, leaving only a quarter inch of clearance between the glass and the shelf on either side, while fitting perfectly flush to the rear of the aquarium. This is much more than I could ever hope for given my limited woodworking skills, and I attribute the success entirely to slow and careful planning and measurements. I placed the half logs on the bottom glass of the aquarium and then maneuvered the shelf to sit on them. Currently only the weight of the shelf is holding them in place, but I plan on evaluating the possibility of drilling through the platform and screwing it directly to the log columns. It was not possible to do this prior to installing the shelf and still have it fit into the tank.
Once the shelf was in its final place I used a healthy amount of silicone to affix it to the sides of the tank, creating what will (hopefully) become a water tight seal. This involved filling the quarter inch gaps on either side of the aquarium. Since these are not load bearing seals, I'm hoping this will be fine.
I also hydrated a brick of ZooMed coconut fiber substrate. This is basically a freeze dried block of shredded coconut shells, the planting substrate I used in the previous iteration of this aquarium. It has the benefit over other soils of being completely organic and holding up well under constant moisture. Placing the brick of fibers in a bucket with some water results in rich, moist substrate material.
Tonight I will evaluate the strength of the silicone, and make any patches if necessary. Then I will cut and affix the final cork panels to the rear wall of the aquarium above the land area, and begin filling in with substrate. Hopefully I will be able to return the turtle to the primary aquarium and break down the temporary tank.
This weekend I finally got started in earnest on construction of the new turtle tank, building out the shelf that will form the land area. Originally I had intended to use plexiglass for this, but after cutting the pieces, I noticed they were bowing in the middle between the support columns. This would stress the silicone seals holding the pieces together, especially when the landmass was added. I looked into thicker plastic options, but they were both expensive and unavailable locally.
Instead I decided to go with wood. I was worried about well this would hold up when partially submerged, but I was assured by an accomplished boat build (dad) that it would hold up fine. Thinking back to when I worked on a lobster boat in Maine and traps were built out of wood slats, it made sense.
I followed the same plan, modifying the measurements to take into account the extra thickness of the wood over the acrylic I had planned to use. Construction went as smooth as you could hope for when doing woodworking in your city apartment kitchen. The three pieces (shelf, front edge, and divider) were assembled with stainless screws and Gorilla Glue. I sealed the joints with silicone.
Next I cut some cork paneling to fit across the front. I had bought two 18x24 pieces, so two 6" strips sufficed to cover the front panel. I made a diagonal cut in beach area piece to disguise where the divider piece is. The beach area will be slightly below water level, making it easy for the turtle to haul himself out. This area will be filled with gravel and rocks for basking.
There is a bit of a seam between the two pieces. I should have put a bevel on the edge so the fit more seamlessly, but I think when the cork is in the water it will swell up and close this gape somewhat. Below you can see the shelf on its half-log supporting columns:
Next step is to get a small temporary aquarium to hold the turtle, so I can drain his current tank and get this shelf placed in. I need to silicone the edges of the shelf to the glass to create a seal separating the land from the water as much as possible. After that comes the fun part: landscaping!
Today my order of live rock arrived from Live Aquaria, bringing the first real look of a reef to this tank, along with a multitude of life. I had chosen 30 pounds of Lala Select rock harvested in Tonga which has a unique look and coloration. I wanted something different from the pink Fiji rock that is nearly ubiquitous in the modern reef aquarium. This rock did not disappoint, the colors of the encrusting corraline algae were unique and beautiful:
The design I had sketched out on vacation (with a snorkel trip still fresh in my mind) called for creating a slanted pile of rocks from the left side of the aquarium with an isolated island of one rock set to the right. The isolated rock concept was directly influenced by invincible569's 300 gallon system that I had been following on Reef Central for some time. Laying out a reef aquarium design is not easy: I had absolutely no idea what the size or shape of the rocks would be as they were coming via mail order.
I took all the rocks out and set them up on the kitchen table where I had marked off the dimensions of the aquarium, and attempted to reconstruct the design. Although the rocks were much larger than I had anticipated (the 30lbs was primarily comprised of only three large rocks), I was able to come closed than I anticipated to the original design. One rock in particular was well suited to become the solitary island, while the other two fit together nicely to create a larger area complete with cave and peaks.
I snapped enough photos that I could remember how things had been placed, and then dunked each piece of rock in salt water to remove sand and other loose debris before reconstructing the arrangement in the aquarium. Although the left side isn't quite as high as I had originally sketched out, I am quite pleased with the final results. As someone pointed out after the fact, its important to leave room for the corals to grow in. Creating a natural scene in a smaller aquarium can be tough with large rocks, and I'd seen enough poor examples to know both what I wanted to do and what I wanted to avoid.
Now the long wait while life dies off, bacteria becomes established and the tank becomes habitable. Plenty of time to research coral species and get some real world experience with the alchemy of creating and changing salt water.
Cassie and I had a great time in the Dominican. There really isn't any way to have a bad time as far as I can tell. We did some snorkeling on an inner lagoon reef and saw some great stuff. Lots of soft corals, some brain coral, and a few leathers. Tons of fish of course. I came away with some great ideas for how to layout my future reef project and some awesome visuals of what a reef looks like in nature.
I don't have an underwater camera, so these surface shots of my ugly head are all there is.
