A Macro Algae Specific Saltwater Tank

Hello. travis recommended me to this forum and I can say that I am impressed by what I see so far. I look forward to contributing during my time here.

A little background on my experience first: I've been working with planted freshwater aquariums for over three years now (Aug 03) and have been working with saltwater/reef aquariums for almost two years (Jan 05). I know it's not a long time and I'm not much one for advice, but I'm a very fast learner and I really like this hobby and the things you can do with it. Plus its nice to look at your work and just stay interested in all the life that's inside of them.

Planted FW: I've had a few 10G tanks, one 2.5G tank, and one 20G tank. When I heard about CO2, my first method was by yeast and the old Hagen bubble ladder with a HOB filter (I know, I know, bad combo). I increased light, CO2 and nutrients to levels you wouldn't believe and forced my plants to do things normal people shouldn't do--hard to keep algae controlled. Then I upgraded to a canister filter with my 20G setup and added a pH controller with a pressurized CO2 setup for pretty good growth under 65W bulbs.

Reef SW: I've had a 50G tank that started out ok, had some bumps in the road, smoothed those out and starting doing really well for a while. Then I went through some bad experiences with a cross-country move and things went downhill quickly as the tank went through another cycle. I lost quite a few corals and fish before I can find someone to take them. Then I restarted the tank. Almost a year later, I decided to sell the equipment down to a much smaller 10G system. From there I've been rocking and rolling with this little guy. Easy maintenance, easy to move, kinda hard to keep clean, but fun nonetheless. Its skimmerless with high flow and 96W of light with zoanthids, ricordeas and hair algae .

Now this is what I want to do. I'd like to start a saltwater macroalgae tank in a 10G format and specialize more on simple, easy to keep species of macroalgae. I've never dealt with macroalgae before so I'm brand new to this. As far as lighting, filtration, water movement, nutrient levels and general maintenance are required on a tank this size? I have some 13w bulbs, ballasts and sockets from my previous tanks, could these be used? And would a HOB filter with some bio-media for KNO3 production be acceptable? What kind of substrate should I incorporate? Would Seagrasses be able live in this type of environment or will the depth of a 10G be too shallow?

Thanks ahead of time and hopefully I can learn a lot of good information. And Tom Barr, you are awesome!

 

Any suggestions?

 

This is what I've done so far--this is actually for a nano-reef.com contest! Since I'm in the stock division of the contest, max lighting is 40W using the Current USA Satellite 40W 50/50 bulb and that is the light I'm using. I also picked up a Penguin 200 BIO-Wheel filter (200 gph) and am using the Bio wheel at the moment. I also have a Maxijet 600 (160 gph) on hand for any extra turnover that I may need, but it is not installed now.

I actually did go with 7 lbs of somewhat cured live rock from a LFS, and got some caulerpa, halimeda, and udotea along with coralline as hitchhikers on the rock. Less I have to buy ! For the substrate, I went with 3/4 aragonite mixture of seeded Nature's Ocean from my other SW tank, fine aragonite, and coarse aragonite. The other 1/4 of the substrate is Eco Complete Planted substrate from my planted FW tank. It has lots of good stuff in it.

So far after just a couple of days, the cycle is almost complete, new caulerpa shoots are sprouting out of the rock, and everything is looking good. For halimeda, should I now artificially boost the calcium to sustain it? I have on hand Seachem's Advantage Calcium, Seachem's Reef Builder, and Greg's KNO3. I'm thinking of ordering Greg's CaNO3 and supplementing that since K is not really as important in a reef, or is it?

Here's a pic from the other day and the thread of my contest entry.



[Stock] WarEagleNR88 - Nano-Reef.com Forums

 

Tom, thanks! Question for you if I may, what kind of Fe dosing schedule do you use for your macro algae tanks?

I'm considering purchasing "Kent Marine Super Chelated Iron Supplement with Manganese" through a local vendor and am wondering its performance with regards to macroalgaes. I've read through Randy Holmes-Farley's Fe article and realize that with macros, I should definitely dose Fe. The only Fe supplement source I currently have is Planted CSM+B and that includes chelated Copper at 1% which is a big no no for reef application--and I plan on having invertebrates in the tank.

I plan on fully utilizing your EI of dosing as I have done in the past with my very successful planted tanks--that does remind me I should bring my 10G out of hibernation to put my current plants. I have lots of Marsilea sp. that were growing out of control over the substrate of my 20G long before I swapped my reef into the tank. I love that little plant but I don't want to lose them as they are currently bagged! Are there any marine plants like that?

Also, I'll be transferring my SMS122 w/ 5 lb tank over to this macroalgae setup and pumping it with CO2 to help out my macroalgae growth. What do you think of that!

 

Tom, do you dose dry KNO3 of 1/8 tsp or a solution of it? I am dosing a solution of KNO3. The solution I am using is 1T of KNO3 in 500mL of RODI water. My plan is to dose 2 tsp per week.

As far as the EI goes, does it not workt he same in a marine aquarium? Please go into some detail if so. My idea was to incorporate larger water changes (approaching 50%) since it is a 10 gallon aquarium, but I may change this depending on how things are going and how things look. I say "how things look" because I'm thinking I should fuel the algae growth instead of using water changes to reset my parameters. But what is the best way to do that? And am I all wrong with my approach to growing macros? I'm looking for the best growth from them and am trying to fuel the fire--so to speak. Do you have/know of any literature or a website that outlines the parts of macroalgae and goes into good detail? I find it hard to know what to do to make these things flourish.

The cycle is nearing full completion--for the time being. My water tested 0 NH3/4 and 0 NO2 today. Again I haven't testing nitrates as I feel the alage will utilize nitrates. Diatoms have fully bloomed and the tank is good IMO, even with them taking over the place. I have added reef janitors (hermits, snails, and 1 emerald crab) and am looking for my first fish to add. I'm still searching for more algae, particularly red algae and have let my LFS's know I'm looking for interesting and hard to find macros and inverts. Currently in order of size, I have 5 large halimeda plants, ~5 species of caulerpa, chaetomorpha, and a small stem of what appears to be some type of botryocladia. Algae is even sprouting out of the rock and is appearing in all shapes and sizes that I'm not yet able to identify. Two that I think I can identify are a type of codium and small udotea sprouts growing from the rock. Oh and I can't forget the coralline and the diatoms that are growing as well.

Thanks for your help. I will try to post a picture very soon.

 

Can you detail your "picking things out" Are these older plants? Or are they to clear the vertical for the algaes that are being shaded?

Does algae benefit from pruning like FW stem plants do? If you trim FW stem plants, they typically will "fill-out" and become slightly bushier over time.

Also, currently I run the 200gph Penguin filter with the HOB wheel installed. Should I add a small powerhead to the tank? I have a MaxiJet 600 on hand that I can easily add.

Hmm, sorry for all the ?s, I'm very curious.

 

Here's what it looked like last Tuesday. It looks even more grown up now and it continues to grow like crazy. There are a lot of animals in there. Ask questions if you've got them.

How do I trim Caulerpa without it nuking the tank, Mr. Barr? I pulled some apart last week and it started oozing in the water. Should I run carbon if I do trim it?