A seagrass tank in Southwest Florida

[Tiburon_100]

I'm a biologist/teacher who has been working on a masters degree in marine biology for WAY too long (I may never finish). I teach biology & marine biology at Southwest Florida Christian Academy.

My goal in the classroom is to create aquariums, terrariums, & paludariums that imitate natural Florida ecosystems. I'm currently working on an integrated Mangrove/Seagrass tank plumbed into a reef tank via a shared sump and controller. This is new territory for me since I've always built a refugium into my sump, but now this role is taken up by one of the display tanks. I've also never tried to create a mangrove/seagrass biome nor have I seen anyone try on the web (maybe for good reason). I hope to be able to recreate the delicate balance that exists between natural mangrove forests, seagrass beds, and coral reefs.

The following are some pics of my setup. These are several months old, so I will update them as soon as I can.

 

[dbl]

Welcome to R2R from just down I-75!

 

[Crabs McJones]

I'm a biologist/teacher who has been working on a masters degree in marine biology for WAY too long (I may never finish). I teach biology & marine biology at Southwest Florida Christian Academy.

My goal in the classroom is to create aquariums, terrariums, & paludariums that imitate natural Florida ecosystems. I'm currently working on an integrated Mangrove/Seagrass tank plumbed into a reef tank via a shared sump and controller. This is new territory for me since I've always built a refugium into my sump, but now this role is taken up by one of the display tanks. I've also never tried to create a mangrove/seagrass biome nor have I seen anyone try on the web (maybe for good reason). I hope to be able to recreate the delicate balance that exists between natural mangrove forests, seagrass beds, and coral reefs.

The following are some pics of my setup. These are several months old, so I will update them as soon as I can.

Welcome to R2R!! Where were you when I was in school lol

#WelcometoR2R

 

[GWHouston]

Welcome to R2R. Looking forward to your forum classes.

 

[Tiburon_100]

Welcome to R2R. Looking forward to your forum classes.

Uh oh. I hope your expectations are set really low. I have a hard enough time keeping up w/ my live classes. You guys may be more of an enthusiastic audience though.

 

[Lovemyreef2015]

Welcome to R2R

 

[Fyveonit]

Awesome plan!

 

[jsker]

Welcome to R2R

 

[K. Steven]

Hang in there! I just got my Master's in marine biology in December after 3.5 years, 2.5 of which were just doing my thesis. Mangroves might be tough to recreate with fine sediment and dealing with anoxic zones and sulfide production. I would stick with seagrass (Thalassia) and salt marsh (Spartina) habitats and a reef tank. The salt marshes and seagrass beds up around the Big Bend were a favorite of mine when I was at FSU for undergrad after taking a field marine ecology course in St. Joe Bay.

 

[Chrisfish]

Welcome to R2R

 

[Jr'sReef]

I believe they have a few tanks in Key Biscaynes nature center that have sea grasses and mangroves if I recall correctly. They even have a spiny lobster tank which is impressive. Maybe they have some info they can share with you.

 

[KJ]

Welcome to R2R!!!

 

[Tiburon_100]

I believe they have a few tanks in Key Biscaynes nature center that have sea grasses and mangroves if I recall correctly. They even have a spiny lobster tank which is impressive. Maybe they have some info they can share with you.

Thank you! Good information.

 

[Tiburon_100]

Hang in there! I just got my Master's in marine biology in December after 3.5 years, 2.5 of which were just doing my thesis. Mangroves might be tough to recreate with fine sediment and dealing with anoxic zones and sulfide production. I would stick with seagrass (Thalassia) and salt marsh (Spartina) habitats and a reef tank. The salt marshes and seagrass beds up around the Big Bend were a favorite of mine when I was at FSU for undergrad after taking a field marine ecology course in St. Joe Bay.

Yes, I'm sticking with Thalassia testudinum, Halodule wrightii, and Syringodium filiforme, because those are the three species I focus on in my lecture. So far the tank only has T. testudinum. The shoal grass didn't take, which is strange because they are supposed to be the pioneer species. I thought they would do well in the tank. I put a THICK layer of sediment in the tank in order to accommodate the roots & rhizomes. The nice thing about living where these grasses occur naturally is that I can just go out and get some of that good mud.

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[Kamden Uelton]

Very nice! I have Johnsons Grass, Shoal Grass, some Turtle Grass growing in my 30g, Dispite the fact I only have 2 inches of sand all grasses are growing pretty well.

 

[Tiburon_100]

Very nice! I have Johnsons Grass, Shoal Grass, some Turtle Grass growing in my 30g, Dispite the fact I only have 2 inches of sand all grasses are growing pretty well.

It's good to know the grass will do well in that amount of sediment. I wasn't thrilled about taking up 4+ inches of my tank with mud, but all the research I read said that was necessary for the grasses to survive.

 

[Kamden Uelton]

I think it's just the Turtle Grass that needs a deeper sandbed, When I collected the grasses I noticed that the Johnsons Grass and Shoal Grassroots weren't as deep in the sediment as the Turtle Grass was. The Turtle Grass was very hard to collect.

 

[4FordFamily]

Welcome home, you will love it here!

Cool tank idea, thanks for sharing!

 

[reef lover]

Welcome to r2r!