Growing seagrass in my first saltwater aquarium and my progress so far

[Urchin boy]

A few months ago I finally finished building my multi layered deep sand bed with different types of sand in each layer and I added some eelgrass to the deep sand bed that I found at my local beach in Sweden washed up and still moist sometime during July this year and now several months later it's still actively growing which is amazing to see and I am for sure going to add more eelgrass later on after I have bought a chiller and even without one mine has been growing just fine and the colours are nice and green as they are supposed to be.

I did also add some deep sand bed invertebrates like copepods and amphipods and they too have been thriving in my tank as I have been seeing them swimming along the sand bed and I can clearly see plenty of holes in the sand bed which is a very good sign meaning not only are my invertebrates digging and providing oxygen it also means the nitrifying bacteria are healthy and there are very few if any gas pockets and the few that exist are super tiny.

I do plan to add some more invertebrates eventually mainly sand dollars and others that prefer a deep sand bed.

 

[Subsea]

Does ell grass grow in cold North Sea waters or was it carried with the Gulf Stream onto Sweden shores.

PS: Because I couldn’t find ell grass at live-plants, I goggled it and was referenced to a fresh water plant

PSS: I looked at your earlier thread on using Caulerpa Prolifera and that would have been my recommendation for you. As you pointed out with the difficulty getting plants thru customs, it is difficult.
@Lasse,
How do municipal aquariums in Sweden bring in live corals, fish & plants?

Vallisneria

Vallisneria

myfwc.com

Vallisneria americana, commonly known as tape grass or American eelgrass, is a rooted aquatic plant with wide, strap-like leaves that can grow several feet in length. It is found throughout the United States and is an important component of Florida’s freshwater ecosystems. Tape grass is often the dominant submerged plant species in aquatic ecosystems and provides valuable ecosystem services that result in improved water quality. Healthy tape grass patches also serve as nurseries and forage habitat for a wide range of vertebrate and invertebrate species including certain Imperiled Species of Florida, such as the Suwannee cooter, the Florida sandhill crane, the tessellated darter, and the Florida manatee.

 

[Urchin boy]

Does ell grass grow in cold North Sea waters or was it carried with the Gulf Stream onto Sweden shores.

PS: Because I couldn’t find ell grass at live-plants, I goggled it and was referenced to a fresh water plant

PSS: I looked at your earlier thread on using Caulerpa Prolifera and that would have been my recommendation for you. As you pointed out with the difficulty getting plants thru customs, it is difficult.
@Lasse,
How do municipal aquariums in Sweden bring in live corals, fish & plants?

Vallisneria

Vallisneria

myfwc.com

Vallisneria americana, commonly known as tape grass or American eelgrass, is a rooted aquatic plant with wide, strap-like leaves that can grow several feet in length. It is found throughout the United States and is an important component of Florida’s freshwater ecosystems. Tape grass is often the dominant submerged plant species in aquatic ecosystems and provides valuable ecosystem services that result in improved water quality. Healthy tape grass patches also serve as nurseries and forage habitat for a wide range of vertebrate and invertebrate species including certain Imperiled Species of Florida, such as the Suwannee cooter, the Florida sandhill crane, the tessellated darter, and the Florida manatee.

As a matter of a fact it is native to the waters of the Nordic and its in in fact our only species of true seagrass as everything else is mostly algae or kelp

 

[Subsea]

I attempted a dsb of 10” to grow sea plants. In the warm waters of the Florida peninsula there are many options. I was not patient enough to establish the amount of organics required in the substrate for their nutrient uptake. I wound up running a reverse flow undergravel filter. Because I wanted a mixed garden with heavy emphases on filter feeding inverts. So, I mimicked a Caribbean lagoon system.
And because I like ornamental seaweed for their ease of establishment and sustainability, I eliminated herbivore fish in favor of copepods, amphipods and snails. While these herbivores control film algae, their larvae are food for the filter feeders, which are the main attraction for me. I like flame scallops, cucumbers, sea apples and nps filter feeders as the top predators of the microbial loop that is enhanced by the sponge loop., which acts as a consumer of DOC & POC and a producer of carbon rich detritus to feed the microbial loop.

For me, a mono specific tank, in the long term, would be difficult to maintain. Good fortune on your quest.