55 gallon planted marine

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orchidsnfish

Check out "our" 55 gallon planted. It needs some time to grow, but I think it's going to look cool. No inhabitants now except CUC. It does have a CO2 system on it and I'm dosing it with plant fuel two from FAF.

The codium is a mess in this pic. I tamed it some with a few zip ties.

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Check out this Dragon's Tongue algae. This is the nicest looking macro I've ever seen!

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that actually looks really cool! any idea on inhabitants? seems to be screaming sea horses to me...btw, where did you get all the different macro? i need to get some soon and am not sure where to get a good variety like you have.
 
Well a lot of the macros came from www.reefcleaners.org. Very nice to buy from. Awesome guy! I got the codium off ebay, but I don't recommend it as it was a total stinky mess when it got here and I still have my doubts about keeping it. I'm going to give it a chance though before I chunk it. The codium did come with some cool hitchhiker algae though like some different types of gracillaria, ulva, iridescent dictyota, etc so it wasn't a total waste. The Dragon's Tongue came from an individual on reefcentral. I am buying some Red Grape Caulerpa from an individual on seahorse.org. I have bought from Inland Aquatics in the past with good results also, but they are a good bit more expensive than the others.

Your right it does scream seahorse (except the tube anemone). Honestly I have no plans for inhabitants right now as I'm trying to see what I can do with co2 and lots of ferts without having to worry about hurting anything like ponies with the low ph/nasty water. I'm pretty content just watching the macro pearl for the moment. :D Not running a skimmer on it right now.If I do add anything that swims it will either be ponies or anglers.

I am adding some gorgonians from ccritters.com (the purple frilly ones are really nice and photosynthetic) and a red tree sponge. I'm curious to how the sponge will do it this nutrient overloaded tank.
 
did you put any of those fw planted nutrients down before you put the sand? there is a great article i found as i want to do a sea grass tank. if i can find it i will pm you the article
 
No I didn't. Might be a good idea though. Especially for sea grasses since they do root. A lot of macros are free floating so I don't know what it would do for them. Couldn't hurt though as I'm sure some of the iron and things dissolve into the water column. I wish I would have thought to try it!
 
Just a note on gorgonians... the ones I have love heavy flow, (purple frilly and orange sea rod) but my understanding is ponies don't like heavy flow.
 
@orchidsnfish wrote:
No I didn't. Might be a good idea though. Especially for sea grasses since they do root. A lot of macros are free floating so I don't know what it would do for them. Couldn't hurt though as I'm sure some of the iron and things dissolve into the water column. I wish I would have thought to try it! said:
This is probably the article.. http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-04/sl/index.php

Sara mentions using mud substrates with sand on top, as well as actually dosing nitrates, as some of these species are _very_ agressive about processing nitrates and become limited quickly.

@Matt wrote:
Very cool. I think Scott (Ashlar) could appreciate this tank! said:
Dang tootin!

I've never had much luck with codium sp. I've tried specimens from a place out of corpus christi, another ebay seller, and even a specimen that showed up in a local store- it seems to wither away in my system.
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Well the stuff I'm dosing has nitrate and phosphate as well as all the trace things for macro. I don't know what the codium will do. I have had decent success with codium taylorii, but this is Codium isthmocladum I believe. We shall see. Considering the ferts, co2, light these macros should have a decent chance at thriving. I have read a bunch or articles about ulva, gracillaria, etc that say most aquariums are too clean to grow them. Maybe dirty enough to keep them alive, but no growth. This water should be nasty enough for them.

Just a note on gorgonians... the ones I have love heavy flow said:
Yeah I'm not sure if I will add any ponies anyway. I have kept both of the types you mentioned in a seahorse tank before and they did well. I actually still have some of them in the 265. I think the main reason to keep them under high flow is to keep cyano and slime from growing on them, but I'm not sure. They seem to polyp out and "appear" happy regardless of flow. The purple frillys and orange spinys are my favorites and seem to be pretty hardy. In any case, I'm trying to let the macros get a little better established and then I will put a nano stream or two in. Right now I think everything would go flying if I tried it.

Angela
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I appreciate your post... I have a 30g Hex that I'm gonna have to break down because it's a FW and being overrun with Malaysian snails who are starving my kuhli loaches. I'm going to get another tank for FW to put them in So not wanting to part with the 30g Hex since I built a custom hood for it, your post on a macroalgae tank seems like a great thing to put in there.

Check out this site for macroalgae. They have a preorder on seagrass right now. I've never bought from them but have checked out their site on and off over the last year.

Disregard... I'll leave the link but I just looked closer and everything on the site is Sold Out... so not sure what's up with that.
www.marineflora.com
 
Yeah. They have been "sold out" for at least two years that I know of. I have searched high and low and right now reefcleaners.org has the best overall selection. If you want some really cool stuff I suggest finding it from other reefers.
 
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Keep us posted on your progress on this very interesting tank.
 
Updated pics. The Dragon's Tongue is growing like wildfire. It has at least tripled in just two weeks. I added some red grape and a few others and am hoping they follow in the steps of the Dragon's Tongue. I have actually put some of the Dragon's Tongue in all my tanks since it has such an insane growth rate and I really like it. Not the 265 as the tangs would have a feast. Oh, and there is a naked clown and a black/white ocellaris in there now also.

I guess I'm pretty good at growing algae...Should I be proud? :D

Angela

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Well see they have this thing called mail... :D Or you can put me on the list for a SRBTA. Then I will deliver.

I will be selling some soon. At this rate it's going to take over.
 
I'd love some as well, if I ever get a sec to spare... :roll:

Is that some type of feather duster to the left there?
It's pinkish!?
 
Yes it is a tube anemone. That thing has been with me for years. It's tough as a boot and very aggressive. Nothing has ever fell on top of it and lived. Very neat critter. I love feeding it. He's non photosynthetic but does a fine job of feeding himself!

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Updated pic of the unruly algae farm. The ulva is growing really fast as is the halymenia as you can see. The gracilaria is also growing well. I think the reason most people have problems with ulva and gracilaria is a lack of nutrients which this tank definitely doesn't have a shortage of.

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