Hi Sarah,
There isn't really a brackish category -- maybe you're thinking of
biotope. We had actually talked about including "extreme brackish" tanks
in the biotope category after Tom Barr posted some aquascape photos a
couple years back, and I would say, looking at your site, that your
seagrass tank falls quite nicely under the biotope category -- heck, it's
more biotope than any of the fully-freshwater biotope aquascapes over the
past few years. I've forwarded your request, and this reply, to the
organizing group so that others can verify or refute this. I'll e-mail
again after I know more. Thanks for writing!
- Erik
On Sun, 5 Jun 2005, S. Lardizabal wrote:
I have been keeping a small seagrass tank for months now with the
intention of keeping it in the style of traditional freshwater planted
tanks, veritably creating a saltwater planted tank. Its still a very
small and obscure part of marine aquaria, but its got a little momentum
at the moment. I had planned to enter it either later this year when it
looks settled and well-grown, or next year when the tank is far and away
mature.
I was just wondering if the AGA would reconsider its standing on the
point of exempting marine aquaria from submission. I very much agree
with keeping reef tanks out of the picture as they are rarely designed
artistically enough to meet this challenge. I also agree with keeping
out most marine aquaria as a rule. However, this seagrass tank, built
and designed from the perspective of a former freshwater planted keeper,
might be a really interesting entry in the showcase and might prompt a
little extension of what we consider to be a planted tank.
The tank is planted with only vascular plants at the moment, as I cannot
find many macroalgae's that fit into my biotope plans. Also, this tank
was built in the tradition that Steven Pituch started with his Texas
watershed tank back in the 2001 contest. The substrate, the inhabitants
and all the plants were collected out of the Indian River Lagoon system
on the Space Coast of eastern Florida. The intention was for it to be a
true recreation of a seagrass meadow, with some simple artistic
enhancements. There are currently four species of seagrass, grass shrimp
(Palaemonetes vulgaris) and a small fighting conch (Strombus sp.).
Future inhabitants are to include either Hippocampus erectus or
Hippocampus zosterae, lined and dwarf seahorses, depending on what I can
find that is captive bred. These are the only elements of the tank that
will actually be purchased.
In my opinion the tank is approximating the seagrass biotope as found off
of the Florida Keys as best as can be had in a confined environment. The
seagrass do not have epiphyte covering their leaves which is the only
major detractor I can find at the moment for the authenticity of this
setup.
So, please let me know your thoughts on considering a slight extension on
the brackish water category to include a full blown marine tank. I
noticed that several years ago one of the biotope entries was a mangrove
tank, and this is literally just a few feet off the beach from here to a
seagrass tank. I, of course, respect your decision if you ultimately
decide to not extend the category, but I would like to know if there is
anything I can do to change your mind over the next year or so. I had
really hoped to share this tank through the contest.
To see the evolution of the tanks (the first was a 10 gallon test tank
and NOT an aquascaped design, built mostly for propagation to fill a 20
gallon for aquascaping) please visit my website at
http://home.comcast.net/~slardizabal/home.html and go marine. The only
species not included in the test tank was Thalassia testudinum, turtle
grass, due to bed size requirements. It now appears in the aquascaped
twenty gallon - an update for this tank will be appearing soon.
Thank you very much for your time! I appreciate all the work that goes
into the AGA contest and have a lot of respect for all the work the
entrants put into their tanks each year and of course the judging
committee of the AGA as well as all the work that goes into creating and
hosting the website. Its a great inspiration to aquarists in many
places.
Sincerely -
Sarah
--
Sarah M. Lardizabal
Wildlife Conservation
Green Lab/DBI x4642 rm. 289
University of Delaware
(302) 690 - 7131
slardizabal@comcast.net
--
Erik Olson
erik at thekrib dot com
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