plants

[gollus]

I know having Macro algae in your display tank is asking for trouble, but what is everyones oppinions on different plants, like sea grasses. I havnt seen hardly any of these in peoples tanks, is it because they are bad to have in there or would the tangs or other fish just eat them or are they just kind of rare? I'm very interested in getting as much nitrate eating life in my tank and I like the look of some of the sea grasses, just wanted to know what everyone elses thoughts were on saltwater plants and if they should be placed in the display tank or not.

 

[beaslbob]

You are on the right track and plants do much more than consume nitrAtes. Basically you can setup a system where the fish feed the plants and the plants feed the fish.
This is all my experience here but I was amazed that no one even mentioned plants when I first started my 55g last year.
First and foremost people do not ask for plants
Second, for that and many other reasons, plants are not as profitable to sell as other things such as lr and ls.
Finally you are right that they are rare and there is not as much diversity in marine plants as there is in fw.
I found I had to culture macros in order to keep my display stocked. My first batch was consumed by me anemone crabs in about three weeks. So a word to the wise.
I finally found a red macro for about $16.00 on ---- that is slow growing and my livestock leaves it alone.
My gracillari (sp) is in my refug as my brillo pad.
The caulpera continues to grow nicely in my culture tank and is slow growing in my display.
There is turtle grass which I got for about $2.00/ blade plus shipping. It is a nice looking grass like true marine plant. I have had 6 blades in the culture tank and they have all done well. But they have not spread and no new blades are present. Still waiting for them to spread before adding to the display.
Manatii (sp) grass is another option but it does get long (2' or more) and may not look nice in shorter tanks.
Hope this has helped.

 

[2boyz]

i've purchased the "shaving brush plants " from swf.com (2 weeks)and they seem to be doing great. it adds something different and will hopefully help the nitrates. they do need very strong lighting. some of the plants that were too close to the l.r. with little lighting are dying off.

 

[fishman830]

perhaps mangroves, but they get huge

 

[powdertoastman]

i dont know what it is we have on our LR, but it grows like mad, it can regrow a leaf in just 2 days, i watched, its insane, but our coral beauty makes sure it stays at bay, he doesnt eat very much of it, just a little if it starts to get to long, smart fish. but i think plants in the tank make it look better, while also adding food for some of the fish that eat that kind of stuff, im all for it even if i have to cut stuff back once in a while. here is a pic of the plant, can someone ID for me btw? its growing like mad, took over the whole rock now, this is when we got it like 2 weeks ago. TIA

 

[powdertoastman]

we dont have a sump or a fuge, but i want to set one up after the 1st of the yr, just dont have the money with xmas comming up and all, here is a close up of the plant

 

[powdertoastman]

well at the rate its growing in a month or so ill have plenty to share, maybe even less time, if so ill be sure to get some our for you and let you know its almost taking over 3 rocks now, growing like mad

 

[powdertoastman]

ok, when it gets going a little better, shouldnt take to long, maybe 2 weeks or a month, then ill trim some and we can trade

 

[gollus]

Beaslbob thanks for responding, what kind of lights do you have on your tank?

 

[coloradodeb]

sort of along this thread, but what about maidenhair? Does that do anything except look pretty?