Ska's 28 Macro Algae Display

[Chase31]

i see problems with that, the once a year water changes? your levels will get very high and you'll lose allot of fish, i would recommend like once every two weeks
76-77 is a little cold i would have it 78-80
skimmer i would leave 24/7
why are you overfeeding?
salt gravity is good i think recomened for corals is 1.025-1.026

all of this is IMO

[skabooya]

From what ive been told and what i understand overfeeding increases trates which plants need and use to grow. Levels yes will get high unless there are enough macroalgaes to balance the system. You cant just overfeed right off the bat. There needs to be enough plant life to uptake the extra nutrients. Instead of overfeeding people also dose KNO3, among other things to get the levels high enough but overfeeding does the same thing. Same thing for freshwater planted tanks which i run now.

I agree once a year doesnt seem like enough and I plan on doing more. The people that dont do WC often have very mature and stable tanks that take care of themselves. Ive even read about some reef tanks (10gal) that havent done WC in 2 years and their tanks are beautiful but they only have softies and a few fish as well as a skimmer. The tank I speak of now also did not use a sump. I as well as many others were very surprised.
The general concensus is that planted marine tanks are very different than reef tanks.

If the skimmer is on 24/7 it removes too many organics which the plants use, thus starving the plants. I think a skimmer is a good thing but not in a planted tank. I plan on running it for 12 hours at a time. If i see the plants showing signs of starving then I will shut off the skimmer and only run once a week or so.

the cooler temps come from people who keep macroalgae tanks with softies and seahorses or pipefish which need the cooler temps. All of them say these tanks need high nutrient levels and so they overfeed to achieve an environment healthy enough to maintain their horses and pipes as well as have a thriving macroalgae garden.

Everyone keeping these type of tanks agrees that there must be high nutrient levels or the tank will not be successful.
Macroalgae sucks up the nutrients and ends up balancing the system. Many of these people i spoke too also have reef tanks (no macroalgae) and they all agree a macro tank is much easier to care for and their water quality is much better because of the macro.

Even years ago when I started looking into macro tanks overfeeding or overstocking (which im not a fan of) to increase nutrient levels was a given. If you didnt do that then you needed to do some serious dosing.

Either way I want a macro algae tank and Im taking advise from people who have kept these tanks successfully for years (3+) not a couple of months or just over a year.
I am also reading up on tom barr's studies for saltwater planted tanks. He is very well respected for freshwater planted tanks. So far his studies are very similar between the two environments.

[skabooya]

double post

[banditpowdercoat]

I wish you luck, thats all I can say

[Skimmerking]

Originally Posted by Chase31

i see problems with that, the once a year water changes? your levels will get very high and you'll lose allot of fish, i would recommend like once every two weeks
76-77 is a little cold i would have it 78-80
skimmer i would leave 24/7
why are you overfeeding?
salt gravity is good i think recomened for corals is 1.025-1.026

all of this is IMO

I have been running my tank in the 77-76 range for about 3 years with no negitive effects

[Chase31]

well i dont know alot about the aquarium business yet, just general guidelines

[skabooya]

Here are some of the threads on macroalgae tanks.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=1508826

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...acroalgae+tank

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...oalgae+display

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...oalgae+display

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...5&pagenumber=1

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/inde...owtopic=175929

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/inde...howtopic=99552

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/lofi...p/t177752.html

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=1785144

http://forum.seahorse.org/index.php?showtopic=38609

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/greenalg.htm


And as for the WC because im assuming thats what the major issue is about; i said "WC are done minimally" That doesnt mean Im gonna follow some of the advise of doing it once or twice a year. Im gonna do it more than that but im not doing weekly WC. I cant with a new baby. Its just me taking care of all my tanks and im not a stay at home mom either. Every other week or monthly will be more for me. But Im going to do what the plants, coral, and fish tell me to do. If they look like they need more than that then I will do more than that.

High nutrient levels in a macroalgae tank doesnt mean holy poop high. Its higher than would be allowed in a reef tank. Nitrates need to be above 0 in order for the plants to recieve nutrients. Nitrite and ammonia need to be at 0. It doesnt take a lot to increase nutrients to the levels they need to be at. I mean geez people keep softy reef tanks at 20ppm of nitrates. Im not agreeing with it and i believe it should be lower for saltwater tanks. Macro tanks are not that high because the plants suck up all the trates. They typically end up at 0 anyway which is where they need to be. No overfeeding or dosing is needed unless the trates start to bottom out.

Because i am going slowly WC will happen often because I will bairly have any macro and the tank will be "new". Dosing/overfeeding wont really happen at the beginning because there wont be much for nutrient uptake. Adding fish with regular feeding at first will be all that is needed. Once the tank is full and bioload cant keep up with the macroalgae THEN you need to either start overfeeding or dosing or both depending on how much the plants suck up. Before then everything is almost the same as a regular reef tank.


Please tell me what are these successful tanks are doing wrong?? I would like to know. The more research I do now the better before I add anything to the tank.

[banditpowdercoat]

If you don;t mind the algaes taking over your display tank, then its all good. I procrasonate on water changes myself. Med stocked 150g, 15g/monthly WC. I have been battling GHA and am FED UP More water changed and lower nutrients are in store for my tank.

[skabooya]

No i dont mind the macroalgaes taking over the display tank. Thats what I want is a lush full mature display tank with macroalgae and some coral. I think they are beautiful. They dont look like candyshelved corals in a box of water.
Some coral only tanks are lovely because the hobbiest lets the corals grow to their potential and allows the whole tank to mature. Those are lovely.

[don.ald]

i like your plan. hope you have a good camera
you do know you owe us pics now!