Yard soil in reef tank

[Gonebad395]

Interesting can’t wait to see the outcome

 

[Ferrell]

Having lived the red tides created by the release of waters from Lake Okeechobee and farm run off from the cane field to the Everglades, a high nitrogen and phosphate levels in soil “may” create a mini red tide... interested to see.
Just think bay muck from a salt environment may have been better.

 

[mtfish]

Having lived the red tides created by the release of waters from Lake Okeechobee and farm run off from the cane field to the Everglades, a high nitrogen and phosphate levels in soil “may” create a mini red tide... interested to see.
Just think bay muck from a salt environment may have been better.

Red tide is always an issue when sourcing water. But like Ich, red tide cannot be created by nutrients, it has to be there first to take advantage of them. This site is so stuck on coral tanks. Lagoon grass beds are a whole nother creature. Nutrient levels that grow a lawn would kill a regular tank. Let's see how this plays out.

 

[jtl]

Having lived the red tides created by the release of waters from Lake Okeechobee and farm run off from the cane field to the Everglades, a high nitrogen and phosphate levels in soil “may” create a mini red tide... interested to see.
Just think bay muck from a salt environment may have been better.

Nutrient rich water from Lake O and even run off from yards may have contributed to the growth of Red Tide but it was not created from that. Red Tide starts way out in the Gulf, sometimes 50 miles out and moves to shore via currents. After the mess last year there is a lot of research going on but unfortunately no solutions.

 

[jtl]

Having lived the red tides created by the release of waters from Lake Okeechobee and farm run off from the cane field to the Everglades, a high nitrogen and phosphate levels in soil “may” create a mini red tide... interested to see.
Just think bay muck from a salt environment may have been better.

Nutrient rich water from Lake O and even run off from yards may have contributed to the growth of Red Tide but it was not created from that. Red Tide starts way out in the Gulf, sometimes 50 miles out and moves to shore via currents. After the mess last year there is a lot of research going on but unfortunately no solutions.

 

[School Reef]

"If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn't be called research would it" I'm stealing a quote from Einstein here, but agree with all those who say go for it. Mangroves are easy and will grow in straight aragonite sand. Iv'e seen tanks with shoal grass under fluorescent lights with sand as a substrate, but this experiment is intriguing. Can't wait for the pics. Don't know what pathogens you're worried about migrating from fresh to salt water, but baking it didn't hurt anything. Cyano will come when it comes, baking, bleaching, or running through a black hole won't stop it. The issue will be if the grasses can keep the nutrient levels low enough. If you stock with enough grass so that the nutrient level in the water is kept to a minimum, I think you'll have a great tank. I also agree with others who say that while this should work, it might not have been the easiest way to achieve the aquascape you want.

Post those pics!

 

[Rick.45cal]

Having lived the red tides created by the release of waters from Lake Okeechobee and farm run off from the cane field to the Everglades, a high nitrogen and phosphate levels in soil “may” create a mini red tide... interested to see.
Just think bay muck from a salt environment may have been better.

What they keep calling a “red tide” isn’t a red tide. It’s a giant cyano bacteria explosion from all the sugar runnoff from the sugar farms. It’s like a massive carbon dosing overdose. All the heterotrophic and cyano bacteria have gone crazy. The sugar industry and the corrupt politicians in Tallahassee keep saying it’s a “red tide” so they can place the blame on a naturally occurring organism and not their pollution. Everyone here in Florida thinks it’s “seasonal” but it’s only seasonal because of the Army corp of engineers releases water after the rainy seasons when the lake is overflowing. They’ve been gaslighting the public for decades calling it a red tide. It’s time people stopped believing it!

 

[mtfish]

What they keep calling a “red tide” isn’t a red tide. It’s a giant cyano bacteria explosion from all the sugar runnoff from the sugar farms. It’s like a massive carbon dosing overdose. All the heterotrophic and cyano bacteria have gone crazy. The sugar industry and the corrupt politicians in Tallahassee keep saying it’s a “red tide” so they can place the blame on a naturally occurring organism and not their pollution. Everyone here in Florida thinks it’s “seasonal” but it’s only seasonal because of the Army corp of engineers releases water after the rainy seasons when the lake is overflowing. They’ve been gaslighting the public for decades calling it a red tide. It’s time people stopped believing it!

Rick, not sure what you are talking about. The "red tide" they are talking about is caused by an algae, Karenia brevis. There may well be blue-green algae blooms (cyanobacteria) due to the COE water releases, but red tides are well documented. Unfortunately, I have to deal with them all the time here in Texas. I work for the agency that regulates the oyster industry and spend a lot of time looking at slides under a microscope. Let's get this back on topic as we are taking the OP down a path that has nothing to do with growing seagrass in a glass tank.

 

[VSVP bet]

Id say do it, love a good experiment. Keep us posted on the outcome. Maybe do a side by side? One mini tank with stream soil and one with refugium mud or something?

 

[Rick.45cal]

Rick, not sure what you are talking about. The "red tide" they are talking about is caused by an algae, Karenia brevis. There may well be blue-green algae blooms (cyanobacteria) due to the COE water releases, but red tides are well documented. Unfortunately, I have to deal with them all the time here in Texas. I work for the agency that regulates the oyster industry and spend a lot of time looking at slides under a microscope. Let's get this back on topic as we are taking the OP down a path that has nothing to do with growing seagrass in a glass tank.

I understand what a true red tide is, I appreciate the explanation. I’ll also agree that I shouldn’t have derailed the thread or meant to pick on @Ferrell comment. Sorry Ferrell, I mean no harm. But I disagree that what’s going on here is a cause of seasonal dinoflagellate blooms.

As for the OP’s idea, I say go for it, it will be interesting to see what happens.

 

[ThePurple12]

Finally, some crappy pics. You can see some kind of codium algae (I think) and some red algae (ID?).
Temperature is 74 degrees. I didn't want to add a heater because of the space it would take up, but I might end up adding one. Lighting is natural (next to a window) and a 10.5 W, 5,000 K LED. I noticed some air bubbles on some of the leaves; not sure if that's from photosynthesis or not.

 

[TheBackAndForth]

Time to add the acros!

 

[ThePurple12]

Time to add the acros!

:eek::eek::eek::confused::confused::confused:

 

[ThePurple12]

I might buy some more seagrass from floridapets.com

 

[mtfish]

If I am seeing this right looks like you have both shoal grass and manatee grass. Shoal will have flat leaves and manatee will be rounded. Also saw a couple of algal species.

 

[ThePurple12]

Cool, thanks

 

[Oldsalt]

I would use it as it is with no baking. I used to put garden soil in my tank all the time and I didn't invent that (but I wish I did) It was Robert Straughn "The Father of Salt Water Fish Keeping"
"The Salt Water Aquarium in the Home".

Be a Man, throw that dirt in there and while you are at it, eat some of it. :D

(or a Woman, I am not sure what sex Purple is :cool:)

I was waiting for @Paul B to chime in here and was thinking "he's going to say throw it in"...:D
A word of caution from Perth - I grabbed some estuarine mud and Chaeto not long ago and ran it in a tub within my refugium until it started to grow dark brown to black rings (almost like Cyano) upward into the aragonite layer so I pulled it out quick smart. There was a crab in there too eating the Gracilaria on a river rock. It ate nearly all of it in a month. I'm no biologist so I have no idea what was growing in there. I wanted Chaeto because the stuff is banned here but the Dept of agriculture posted a map of where Chaeto was blooming in the river that empties into the Indian Ocean. So I went and grabbed some, but also got other stuff that may or may not have been OK. I wasn't going to bake the mix and kill the Chaeto though. The waters where I went are brackish to full salt depending on the tides. Lots of baby shrimp, molluscs and jellyfish were there too.
I don't want to deter you from your experiment and would like to know how things turn out. Go for it and post back.

 

[Paul B]

Be careful you don't get one of these hitch hikers. They may eat all of your Manatee grass.

They also bring some of their own grass. :rolleyes:

 

[ThePurple12]

Be careful you don't get one of these hitch hikers. They may eat all of your Manatee grass.

They also bring some of their own grass. :rolleyes:

;Jawdrop;Jawdrop;Jawdrop;Jawdrop

 

[TheBackAndForth]

Be careful you don't get one of these hitch hikers. They may eat all of your Manatee grass.

They also bring some of their own grass. :rolleyes:

Actual picture of me waking up this morning. no lie