Seagrass Aquarium at the Ocean Discovery Visitors Center

[Brandon McHenry]

You are giving me goosebumps. My grandfather was the chairman of the NJ Soil and Water Conservation. I grew up helping him conduct studies on dune grasses to protect our coastline. I've always wondered if sea grass could be successful in a reef tank. I am following you... your threads are the stuff of childhood dreams.
My grandmother lives in Vero. If we ever get passed this Covid-19, I'll come pay you a visit.

I’m glad you appreciate the things I’ve shared here on R2R! When our visitors center opens back up after all of this craziness I look forward to your visit!

 

[Brandon McHenry]

Can we get an update? FTS?

How’s this?

 

[ThePurple12]

Tank is looking GREAT! I was wondering if you can ID this algae? For the most part it only grows on my seagrass. I think I picked it up when I collected some turtle grass in FL.

 

[Brandon McHenry]

Tank is looking GREAT! I was wondering if you can ID this algae? For the most part it only grows on my seagrass. I think I picked it up when I collected some turtle grass in FL.

Thanks! Unfortunately epiphytes are tough. You’d probably need a decent microscope and an Id guide to figure it out. Looks like stuff I’ve had in the past but it eventually went away.

 

[ThePurple12]

I was thinking of enlisting a few fighting conchs- I read somewhere that they clean seagrass blades.

 

[Brandon McHenry]

I was thinking of enlisting a few fighting conchs- I read somewhere that they clean seagrass blades.

You can but they aren’t delicate. You’d probably be better off trying various copepods, amphipods and maybe a lettuce nudibranch.

 

[ThePurple12]

You can but they aren’t delicate.

Kind of confused, do you mean by this?

 

[Brandon McHenry]

Kind of confused, do you mean by this?

I mean they are kind of like little bulldozers. They may do some harm and probably won’t get as close to the root of the algae as the smaller grazers would.

 

[ThePurple12]

I mean they are kind of like little bulldozers. They may do some harm and probably won’t get as close to the root of the algae as the smaller grazers would.

Ah, OK. Got it.

 

[ThePurple12]

Is that a lettuce nudi I see in the bottom left corner on the blade of turtle grass?

 

[Brandon McHenry]

Is that a lettuce nudi I see in the bottom left corner on the blade of turtle grass?

Yup!

 

[AngeMist]

Hi! I hope someone sees this because I could use some general help. I'm a college student in a zookeeping major, currently in an Aquarium Science course. In this class we need to build a hypothetical aquarium as a project. I have about 2 months from today to do so and chose a seagrass bed ecosystem, specifically the Vero Beach area, which is how I ended up here. Aquariums were never my thing, but I'm fascinated by what I've learned so far and want to do this right. I just started my research so I don't have any questions at the moment, but are there any general tips, tricks, equipment recommendations anyone can share? I'm looking at around a 100 gallon size, full ecosystem. Sorry if this is the wrong place to put this, I made an account about 5 minutes ago and have never been on this site before. Any help would be amazing.

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

Hi! I hope someone sees this because I could use some general help. I'm a college student in a zookeeping major, currently in an Aquarium Science course. In this class we need to build a hypothetical aquarium as a project. I have about 2 months from today to do so and chose a seagrass bed ecosystem, specifically the Vero Beach area, which is how I ended up here. Aquariums were never my thing, but I'm fascinated by what I've learned so far and want to do this right. I just started my research so I don't have any questions at the moment, but are there any general tips, tricks, equipment recommendations anyone can share? I'm looking at around a 100 gallon size, full ecosystem. Sorry if this is the wrong place to put this, I made an account about 5 minutes ago and have never been on this site before. Any help would be amazing.

I don't know if you will ever see this, but yes your query got lost. I hope you did get the answers you needed, but by your post count it looks like this was the only one. I feel R2R failed you in a certain way. From your post it looks like you will be well into your project. I do not envy you doing a crash course in keeping a planted marine tank and having results you can use for your research. If there is anyway one of us can help please reach out in a separate post with your questions.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Curious if there are any updates!

 

[CurtPGA]

Can we get an update on the seagrass tank? Hopefully it's still up and running. I'm getting ready to start my 55 gallon seagrass tank. It's gonna be a slow build but I'll post as it goes up.