This project started off as a contest between me and my brother to see who could build the better tank for under a $100. After his filter broke, (whisper filters can't withstand being run over by a car), we decided to just use one tank. At first we added some corals, (zoos a couple of small frags), and another coral that I got off of Ebay. Then we decided to change it around and go with macro instead, although these corals still remain. In that way, this tank is similar to the "beach reefs" of Florida that have small amounts of coral and large amounts of macro. Because this was our $100 project, please don't laugh at the cheap equipment we are using.

The tank:
Birthdate: March 6, 2008
10 gallon kit at Wal-Mart
No liverock, but has about 3 lbs. of base rock that might have some life by now.
Seawater from a "beach reef" (Couldn't use Instant Ocean and stay under $100)
Mangroves for filtering
After cycling, 4 mangrove sprouts and some chaeto were added. Within days, parameters are near perfect, and we are now going to dose nitrates, silicates and phosphorous, to test growth rates and so forth. (To noobies: don't do this).
2 20watt 50/50 Coralife compact fluorescents keep everything growing.
1 outside light for the mangroves,
The tank was jump started with used filter media, and some live sand seed from an established tank.

The inhabitants:

2 Rock boring Urchins (Small)
3 Seargent Major Fry
1 Pinfish Fry
1 Wrasse Blenny Fry
1 Goby
1 Coral Banded Shrimp
2 Shore Shrimp
1 Sea Hare (Small)
1 Spotted Sea Hare (Very Small)
1 Thorny Oyster
3 Feather Dusters
2 Chitons
10 Dwarf Ceriths
5 Nerites (1 tesselated, 1 antillean, 1 four tooth, 1 bleeding tooth, 1 virgin- still need an emerald nerite)
2 Florida Ceriths
2 Stocky Ceriths
3 Fly Speckled Ceriths
5 Zig Zags
5 Planaxis Snails
1 Orange Encrusting Sponge
1 Crayfish

Before the fish police get on me, trust me I know each of these fish, and the sea hares will have to go into a larger tank which is setup and waiting for them. The urchins will go soon too. They are fed all the calurepa they can handle. There is plenty of room for these inhabitants as I am keeping the middle and top of the tank laregly unblocked.

Macros:
Halimeda Incrassata
Halimeda Monile
Bryothamnion triquetrum
Codium Isthmocladium
Codium Sp.
Penicillus Capitatus
Caulerpa prolifera (when it isn't wiped out by the sea hare)
Caulerpa mexicana (when it isn't wiped out by the sea hare)
Chaeto
Grape Caulerpa (when it isn't wiped out by the sea hare)
Sargassum
Scroll Algae
Dictyota ciliolata
Gracilaria verrucosa
Bostrychia montagnei
1 yet unidentified "red bush algae"
1 yet unidentified "red twisting kelp looking thing" algae
1 yet unidentified "light pink bushy stalk algae" it is my favorite red algae, a camera in my hands never picks up the detial of this beautiful macro.

I will be adding Udotea spinulosa and turbinaria turbinata soon.

This thread will have some pics soon enough. Follow this link to find some pics of the first round of aquascaping here in this zip file:

http://reefcleaners.org/tankpics/IMG_0562.zip

No viruses in it I swear. Just some blurry pics of the first round of aquascaping. Second round coming soon. I am trying out photobucket right now, so I can get smaller images. The images in this zip are too large and taking too much time to load for those who just want to read the post.

Holy cow..... with that much stuff in it, is there any space left for water?

Are all these wild collected, or did you buy them? Did they come from a website?

And why are you using an airstone? I would think it would remove CO2 that the plants need. I'm still learning about keeping macros though.

I have found that dosing c02 causes more trouble than its worth. In a macro tank like this, with no connected alternate photocycle, my biggest fear is a ph crash, and the co2 doser could make that very deadly. (If there is a large respiration from caulerpa if it goes sexual for example, nevermind if the product malfunctions. Note to Noobies: You must be very careful with caulerpa, if it goes sexual and has a large respiration, (original post edited for clarity) it can cause ph crashes. It is often sold as a beginner macro because it grows fast, but that is only half the point, if you are unfamiliar with ph crashes go with chaeto or mangroves in your refugium, and stick with more calcified macros as they tend to respire less.) By providing proper current, I find that you get closer to a natural mix. The bubbler itself doesn't add air to a tank, it just adds current. The current helps dissolves air, which of course has a natural mix of nitrogen, oxygen and co2. My thinking is keep it natural, keep it simple. With that said, the bubbler is no longer in there anyway, had to move it back to its original tank, will be adding powerheads, or maybe put it back attached to a bubble wand. (Even with the threat of salt creep I like it, I also keep up with salt cleaning).

Even less water after round 2 of aquascaping. Pics are on the way.

My brother is a commercial fisherman, I get them from him. I also have a fishing license and picked up a select few last time I was diving. I have to pick up the stuff not covered by his license, caulerpa, halimeda, and the little shaving brushes. (penicillus capitatus)

Believe it or not, there is 81/2 gallons of water in that tank, the rock is most holes, and the algae is not even a gallon worth. Just a small piece of each.

Here is a zip file of the second round of aquascaping. The link is here:
http://reefcleaners.org/tankpics/round2.zip

I am looking for an I.D. for the red one in IMG_608 and the white looking one, (really a pink red macro), in IMG_609

The red bush algae is not really easy to see from these pics. I will try to get a good pic for you when I get the chance.

Not to nitpick, but respiration is neccessary for an algae's survival and growth. As far as I know, caulerpa doesn't change the pH any more than chaeto because both grow very quickly and therefore respire a lot. The tricky thing with caulerpa is it's tendency to sexually reproduce and release nutrients back into the tank.

When they go sexual though they respire more, and can release a good amount of CO2 into the tank. Drastic changes in CO2 can adversely effect ph stability, - very quickly. We may be differing on the same point, I was just trying to explain it somewhat to others that might be reading.

Well John it sure sounds like you know what you are doing!

This past weekend i went out and got two small blennies. I went to a sandbar and walked out to a marker and stuck a dip net around it and caught 7 but i only wanted two! What kind of goby do you have in there?

He is real small, so it is hard to identify at this point. I have to go get that fish encyclopedia and check it again. I still want a beaugregory. By the way, I have seen an electric blue damsel with a black spot that is surrounded by bright orange. Do you know the name of this fish?

I'm right on the verge of setting up a 10g macro tank as well.
I didn't realize you had to worry about plant respiration adversely affecting PH any more than you would with corals. Why would macroalgae respiration have such a big affect on PH, as compared with coral photosythesis?
Maybe I'm just a plant n00b, but I thought plants released oxygen into the water and took up carbon dioxide, thereby helping with water oxygenation.
On another note, I may have a small amount of red macro available for you in a week.

now i wish! Those things are awesome! i had one in my 55 for a while and he did great and diddn't really pick on anybody too much. I also had two bo-gregorys ( i dont know how to spell it) but they were quite mean but did ok with some other guys i caught.

With plants, they also release CO2 when they use up the the glucose they have formed as food. I may be wrong, but it seems that during the night the problem gets dangerous because none of the plants are producing oxygen yet they are still giving off CO2 from respiration (along with the other organisms). This is one reason that the pH of tank water in the morning is usually lower than normal because of the increased CO2 concentration.

Yes, respiration is like the opposite of photosynthesis. I think the reason you worry about it more with plants than corals is that corals just don't do it as much. They aren't true photosynthesizers, just their internal algae does it. However, a well buffered tank shouldn't experience that high of a pH shift during the night. You just have to put in hardy livestock that can withstand the change in chemistry. Also, there are some macros that respire more, as John said. But, caulerpa isn't actually one of them from what I read. In fact, it doesn't require a respiration period. That is why it is possible, even recommended, to keep it lit 24 hrs a day. Some people keep macro display tanks lit all day, but I would think the fish would get stressed by that. I light my display 12 hrs and the attached fuge 24hrs. That way the caulerpa in the fuge doesn't go sexual and there is always some photosynthesis going on to combat respiration. Everything is going well so far.

Great to hear about that macro Weetie. Let me know when you are ready!

You are right luluface caulerpa can stay lit all day. The thing about co2 releases and macro algae going sexual that we were talking about before is that the release more co2 during this time. Buffering helps, bu the best thing is to have an alternate photocycle hooked up. This way some algae has the lights on, (so they give off oxygen and take in co2), while the other tank's macro is giving off co2. Luluface has this setup, and it is the best way to go. (However in her case one never goes off).

Check this article on iron dosing. Apparently, iron helps control microalgae populations while boosting the growth of macroalgae (and also it has anecdotal evidence that iron helps prevent caulerpa from going sexual).

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/aug2002/chem.htm

Thanks! I enjoyed the article.

Those beaugregorys could bite me for all I care. I want one! Just a little small guy. Even then I see them beating up on much bigger fish when I dive. Never see one when I have the net though. I think I will move the other fish if I do. There is enough stuff in this tank already. By the way, the seargent majors now school with the pinfish, who has become the leader. The pinfish is growing fairly quickly, and is almost an inch long now.

Well if you want a beaugregory then go to uhhh crap whats the name....Blowing rocks! Thats it. go there on low tide and there are many tide pools near the rocks and they hold a ton of them! I am not sure exactly if i am right but Nick's Reef has been there many times and seen them. Ill call him and see if hes home for ya to make sure thats the spot.

EDIT: its just down from there, its coral cove.

Oh don't worry about that. I see them all the time. Except when I have my net. Then they keep their distance. Go figure.

tagging along =)

this tank has been broken down for some time now. I gave up on keeping personal macro tanks last week actually, they always look crappy b/c I am taking from it when somebody really wants X macro that I am out of stock of. So they were all half bare, and not much fun. Going to do a coral tank now so I can keep something in there that will stay. Kind of bored with it though, coral just sits there, no waving in the water etc.. Maybe I should get a pulsing xenia forest....ehh..

Xenia or frogspawn/torch/hammer would be cool.

frogspawn, hammer, torch coral. xenia, gsp, clove polyps. All would be active.