Ska's 28 Macro Algae Display

[banditpowdercoat]

I wish you luck, thats all I can say

[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!

[skabooya]

Oh yea I will be posting pics.
As soon as I can get some LR from the lfs I will count the cycle as started and start testing. I will be taking pics then. right now its a box of water, sand and dead rock. Nothing interesting to look at yet.
The LR at the lfs comes from Hati and you know the issues they are having there. So they are trying to get some in from Jakarta but the dealer is not responding to them. I may have to buy some online from JLA. Ive not had issues with them except for the last shipment. Someone stole my Credit card ID via their secure website and tried to use it at Amazon.ca.
Amazon called and asked if I made a purchase which was a few hundred dollers. Umm no. Ive never been to amazon.ca. So they cancelled the order I cancelled my card and waited a month for my new one.
So now im wondering if i should wait for however long it takes for my LFS to get something in or do the JLA thing again.

As for the tank today: I was lowering the salinity very slowly. I took out about 2gals of saltwater and put in freshwater. Its still slightly above where I want it but Im gonna let it mix some more and then test. If its still the same Im going to remove another 2gals of water and add fresh water. Hopefully that will decrease the salinity enough to get to 1.025.

I cant wait to start getting some macro in the tank. Aparently with macro algae you dont need to wait for the cycle to be over. It wants to feed on nitrates. However no CUC until there is a complete cycle.
Still trying to figure out how much of what to put in there for a CUC.

[Chase31]

the ammonia might not do great on your plants, as for slowly lowering the salinity i wouldn't worry about that as theres nothing in the tank.
Try to find some live rock someone has to much of, or that someone is shutting there tank down, im getting some tonight for $5 a lbs