Ska's 28 Macro Algae Display

[whatcaneyedo]

Gracillaria is pretty non invasive and is a great source of red color. Thats the only one I would dare put into a display tank. Halimedia, chaeto, caulerpa, etc all have a way of taking over and are better suited in a refugium section of a sump.

[skabooya]

I really dont mind the "take over". I would love to do a macro tank with some corals which is what i was planning for the last couple of months. I entertained the idea a few years ago and I am again. I love planted reef tanks.
The corals will be softies, shrooms, zoas, cloves, xenia and some lps like frogspawn or a torch and maybe an acan and candy cane
I am aiming for a mature look tank where there are a few corals and they just spread everywhere

[skabooya]

So far for a CUC Im looking at
1 hermit crab
2 certh
2 nassarius
and whatever comes on my LR if im a lucky one


Anything else??

Remember I want to grow macro algae but not micro algae.

Then after a bit I want to get 1 or 2 skunk cleaner hermits, fan worms.
And for fish; 2 true percs.

I may have to add something else to get the bioload up at a later date to increase trates in the water for the macroalgae. Its hard to choose. The only other fish I really want is a coral beauty (my fav) but it will just eat all the macro
Gotta look into that bit a lot more.

[skabooya]

Right so ive been doing a lot of reading and talking to people who have macro tanks and seahorse/pipefish tanks. This is what im doing.
SG at 1.025
Temp at 76-77F at the warmest
Overfeed tank inhabitants and feed daily sometimes twice a day
No dosing except for maybe trace elements and only every few months if that
Variety of macroalgaes and they must be trimmed often so they dont choke eachother out.
I will not be using green grape capulara or hamladea (sp?) or chaeto
Dwarf angelfish do not eat macroalgae but they do eat microalgae.
Skimmer (have many different results from people using macroalgae tanks) 24/7, not at all or 1/2 time. Aparently they all work depending on your setup.
WC are done minimally. Once or twice a year. Some however do it more often about once a month (10%) to replenish the trace elements.

Livestock will be 2 true percs and a coral beauty (YAY). 1 skunk cleaner shrimp and a few snails and a hermit crab. OH and some feather dusters.
Corals will be, Zoas (super bright ones like devils armor), lots of mushrooms (electric blue and shrooms with stripes and spots), pulsing xenia, cloves (esp blue), rics (maybe), Either a green with pink/purple tip frogspawn or a pink tipped torch, acan lord, duncan (maybe), dendro (maybe), gorgonian (maybe)
Of course lots and lots of macroalgae.

[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