WaterNotes

20: May

Take a look at the photo for this month and compare to the growth during last month.  What’s changed? 

Well, the red macroalgae have started to hit the surface of this tank, and their increase biomass, along with the steadily growing Caulerpa, have put a strain on the available nutrients in this system.  I was previously dosing 6ml of KNO3 to this tank daily, I am now dosing 15ml with no appreciable rise in NO3 level readings from the water.

The lighting also went through a big change in the last month, switching out from PCs to T5HO.  Apparently the red macroalgae are reacting to the increased light - you can see they have bleached at the uppermost reaches.  This is pretty classic response from them to increased lighting levels. 

I am still trimming all the algae at least once a month, if not more like twice a month and it is currently doubling in size about every month.  Pretty impressive. 

This month I finally got to work on establishing Halodule wrightii and potentially a Halophila in this system. I’m not sure if the Halophila is going to grab hold or not, we’ll see. 

Starsky and Hutch continue to amuse me and the family and do their little shimmy shake dances.  They have put on quite a bit of size since first being introduced to the tank.  I’m interested to see when their first spawn may be. 

Other than that, I am continuing to trudge ahead with iron bioassays using Ilyanassa, Palaemonetes larvae and Nassarius larvae.  Not easy work, but some good results thus far. 

Till next month - happy underwater gardening!