Maynard's mixed macro display

[ll_maynard_ll]

11/4/13

10/2/13

7/28/13

/albums/r450/ll_maynard_ll/WP_20130728_006.jpg

Here is my macro/toadstool tank I started a couple months ago. I had a build thread in the members forum but since it has turned into mainly a macro display I figured I'd move it here. I began with a 50 gallon, 48x18x13 tank and sectioned off a 36" display seperated by an acrylic overflow I made and glass baffles to what would be the sump section with a Tunze return pump. My main goal behind this was to have a low cost, low energy consumption and low maintenance tank for me and my family to enjoy. The macros are not only for looks but for nutrient export mainly as I am running the tank skimmerless and without any other filters besides some mechanical filter pads in the baffles. So far everything seems very happy and the macros are growing slowly with no detectable nitrates or phosphates.

 

Current tank specs

50 gallon 48x18x13 AIO

36 gallon display 36x18x13

Current 4x24w T5

Tunze 1073.020 return pump - 632 gph

Tunze 6025 powerhead - 734 gph

 

Macros

Bryothamnion

Botryocladia (red grape)

Graciliaia hayi

Rhodopeltis (red branching)

Caulerpa cupressoides

Caulerpa ashmeadii - hitchhiker

Halymenia - hitchhiker

Sargassum - hitchhiker

Halimeda optuna - hitchhiker

Neomeris so. - hitchhiker

 

Plants

Halophila engelmannii (star grass)

 

Corals

Sarcophyton (Toadstool)

Purple ribbon gorgonian

Orange sea rod

Corky finger

 

Fish

O. Clowns

Wheelers watchman goby

Tail spot blenny

 

Inverts

Skunk cleaner shrimp

Candy cane pistol shrimp

Nassarius snails

Cerith snails

Dwarf cerith snails

Nerite snails

Hermit crab - hitchhiker

Feather dusters - hitchhiker

Sponges - hitchiker

 

Gracilaria hayi and star grass. The gracilaria is growing the fastest, I have to prune it every couple weeks to about 1/2 its size. The star grass arrived in bad shape but new sprouts are popping up and its looking ok.

Toadstool, it was in really rough shape when it arrived from live aquaria. It was about the size of a quarter then and a dark green but has recovered well in a couple weeks and is now standing upright all the time and looking better everyday.

Red grape, red branching etc.

I still have some GHA on one rock but have a number of other unknown macros that are slowly sprouting out of other rocks along with numerous hitchickers.

[ll_maynard_ll]

So happy my toadstool is looking better everyday. This is my first attempt at any corals and I am attributing the good health of the tank to the few macros. It is easily the most successful tank I've tried to date despite having a huge skimmer in my 90 gallon FOWLR I had years ago. The GHA seems to be diminishing and everything else appears to be doing as good as the toadstool. I'm gonna go slow and not add anything else for a while and just let the macros grow out. I have a large number of greens sprouting out of the rock and a red one also that looks to be Halymenia but its still too small to get a positive id. I'll post some pics when they get bigger.

 

[drunkenmonk21]

Hey Maynard, tank is looking good. If you want to get rid of that green hair algae maybe let your Gracilaria grow out for a while. With the growing Gracilaria and Red grape they should start to starve it out eventually. Also I would keep an eye on the Neomeris, some tanks it can take over and become very invasive, while others it withers away to nothing. Keep it up and keep us posted pics are great!!

 

Monk

[ll_maynard_ll]

Hey Maynard, tank is looking good. If you want to get rid of that green hair algae maybe let your Gracilaria grow out for a while. With the growing Gracilaria and Red grape they should start to starve it out eventually. Also I would keep an eye on the Neomeris, some tanks it can take over and become very invasive, while others it withers away to nothing. Keep it up and keep us posted pics are great!!

 

Monk

Thanks, I think I'll try that and let the gracilaria grow out more, I was just worried about it out competing the other macros for nutrients but they all seem to still be growing slowly. I'm a complete beginner with a tank like this so its all trial and error. Plus I also recently removed almost all of the loose rubble pile the gracilaria was on because it was a huge detritus trap. I moved it all to the sump but I may just chunk it as I don't want it accumulating there either. Any opinions would be appreciated.

[ll_maynard_ll]

I received this beautiful macro yesterday from GCE. I've been unable to find a whole lot of information about others success or failures on trying to keep this good looking algae. I'm hoping it survives because it looks great in the tank.

 

[ll_maynard_ll]

I don't want to jinx anything but I think I've turned the corner and am winning the war against the nuisance algae. At first I started off with some GHA on one rock, then it spread to an ugly brown hair algae on every rock and the back glass. For the past month I've incorporated a number of techniques to defeat this ugly enemy. First I've been tearing out and removing as much as I could by hand to officially take out whatever nutrients that have been fueling it. Also, I strengthened my CUC, not necessarily to eat the algae but to eat the detritus that I had building up. I've also cut my feedings to every other day and changed the flow in the tank where i noticed some detritous builup. Plus I have started an experiment of mine. My macros were growing ok but the hair algae was growing better. Both N and P were testing at zero but I felt my tank had an imbalance and was N limited and so I've been dosing calcium nitrate for the past two weeks to hopefully give the macros the nitrates they need to grow faster and absorb more phosphates. I've also been running some phosguard for the past couple of months so that and anyone of the other factors may have contributed to finally seeing a noticable difference in the amount of hair algae. I'll post some pictures when it is more presentable.

[ll_maynard_ll]

Here are some updated pics of my tank. It is starting to look a little better everyday. It was my fault the hair algae got so bad, I live out in the country and was trying to use my well water which is surprisingly good but not good enough for a reef tank so I hooked up my old RO unit and it began to improve instantly. So my bad. I know, I know, good source water is a must. There is still some GHA on a couple rocks but it is going away slowly. I just got in the C. Cupressoides earlier today along with what i think is Portieria and the C. Ashmeadii popped out of the rock a couple weeks ago and is still small but seems to be growing slowly. The toadstool hasn't grown much, I don't know if I'm doing something wrong. It seems to be trying to move onto the rock next to it and is slowly letting go of the one it came on. But its still open everyday and has looked the same for a while now.

 

[jadedanime]

I like how natural this tank looks! Idk why but to me, it's just absolutely gorgeous. Like you literally took a chunk of the ocean floor and put in a glass box. I mean obviously a very tiny chunk from the edges of a major rock group...but still. Gorgeous.

 

What are your levels at? That tank must be sparkling with all those alga.

[ll_maynard_ll]

I like how natural this tank looks! Idk why but to me, it's just absolutely gorgeous. Like you literally took a chunk of the ocean floor and put in a glass box. I mean obviously a very tiny chunk from the edges of a major rock group...but still. Gorgeous.

 

What are your levels at? That tank must be sparkling with all those alga.

 

Thanks for the compliment, although you should have seen it a couple weeks ago, it looked like $#1T.

I try and keep nitrate around 5 by adding CaNO3 once a week so the macros will thrive. My phosphates read at 0 but with all the gha I'm sure they are eating it up before i can test for it. PH is 8.4 during the day and drops to 8.0 at night. Calcium is at 480 and Alk is 9. That's all I have any tests for besides for temp which stays at a nice 78 degrees which is why I like the Tunze pumps better than what I've had in the past. Even in TX in August when it was 102 outside. All of this is just trial and error, I'm a complete beginner at this, had some FOWLR's in the past.

[Subsea]

Very nice macro lagoon. Was your live rock aquacultured in Gulf of Mexico?

[ll_maynard_ll]

 

Very nice macro lagoon. Was your live rock aquacultured in Gulf of Mexico?

I got most of it from live aquaria and cycled the tank and it is good looking rock as far as shape goes, then I ordered a 2 lb piece of uncured rock and a lb of rubble from Premium Aquatics and that is where all the life and hitchhiker macros have come from. I don't know whether the cycle killed off most of what came on the LA rock but I think that the stuff from PA was just that much better.

[Polyp Addict]

Great start, please continue to update. I would love to see how it grows and matures

[Subsea]

I got most of it from live aquaria and cycled the tank and it is good looking rock as far as shape goes, then I ordered a 2 lb piece of uncured rock and a lb of rubble from Premium Aquatics and that is where all the life and hitchhiker macros have come from. I don't know whether the cycle killed off most of what came on the LA rock but I think that the stuff from PA was just that much better.

 

For my money, uncured live rock is like wrapped Christmas presents. No telling what is going to pop out. Patrick

[ll_maynard_ll]

Great start, please continue to update. I would love to see how it grows and matures

Its been fun to watch it grow out so far and will keep it updated with more pics, I want to start adding a few more gorgonians and some ricordea mushrooms next in a few open spots. Glad ya like it.

 

For my money, uncured live rock is like wrapped Christmas presents. No telling what is going to pop out. Patrick

I agree, I recently got a free 20L that I am going to drill and plumb into the sump section of this tank in a couple months and am going for all uncured rock from PA this time.

[ll_maynard_ll]

Here are some new photos and new additions.

[Justind823]

Nice.

 

Love the natural look.

[ll_maynard_ll]

Nice.

 

Love the natural look.

 

Thanks, its coming along nicely and everything is very healthy and growing well.

[Subsea]

Outstanding pictures. I really like the gorgongonians contrast of texture with macros.

Patrik

[ll_maynard_ll]

Outstanding pictures. I really like the gorgongonians contrast of texture with macros.

Patrik

 

Thanks for the compliment, I wish I had a decent camera, these are all just shots with my phone. My wife thinks I've spent way too much on reefing as is, let alone a camera to take photos of it.

[Kiwi]

very nice….it is stargrass in the back?

is the water really not that clear, as it looks on the pictures?

 

I'm looking foreword to see it mature

[ll_maynard_ll]

very nice….it is stargrass in the back?

is the water really not that clear, as it looks on the pictures?

 

I'm looking foreword to see it mature

 

Yep, star grass. It has grown towards the back and the old shoots that were up front have died. Still growing well. Actually moved it all back up front earlier this evening as I was trimming macros and moving a few things around. The water is very clear, just a phone camera though and its the glare from the lights. I'll post some new pics after I do a water change tomorrow, kinda been neglecting this tank for the past couple of weeks as I've been building a 20l mantis tank and plumbing it into with this one.

[Subsea]

Here are some updated pics of my tank. It is starting to look a little better everyday. It was my fault the hair algae got so bad, I live out in the country and was trying to use my well water which is surprisingly good but not good enough for a reef tank so I hooked up my old RO unit and it began to improve instantly. So my bad. I know, I know, good source water is a must. There is still some GHA on a couple rocks but it is going away slowly. I just got in the C. Cupressoides earlier today along with what i think is Portieria and the C. Ashmeadii popped out of the rock a couple weeks ago and is still small but seems to be growing slowly. The toadstool hasn't grown much, I don't know if I'm doing something wrong. It seems to be trying to move onto the rock next to it and is slowly letting go of the one it came on. But its still open everyday and has looked the same for a while now.

 

p

 

Your tank is absolutely gorgeous. Keep it coming.

 

I would like to comment about your use of calcium nitrate as a nutrient source for the macro growth. This provides for alkalinity buffering and a source of nitrogen. Macro also requires iron, phosphate, calcium and magnesium as major nutrients. How do you feed the rest of your tank?

Patrick

[ll_maynard_ll]

Your tank is absolutely gorgeous. Keep it coming.

 

I would like to comment about your use of calcium nitrate as a nutrient source for the macro growth. This provides for alkalinity buffering and a source of nitrogen. Macro also requires iron, phosphate, calcium and magnesium as major nutrients. How do you feed the rest of your tank?

Patrick

 

I do dose magnesium and iron but I don't have any test kits for them so I don't add them very often. As far as calcium my source water is well water which is off the chart but I run it through my RO and its still almost close to 500 after that with a dkh of 9 - 10. Yeah my well water is that hard. As far as everything else goes I feed the tank heavily, my nitrates I try to keep around 5 and phosphates are undetectable by my cheap test kit. I know I'm unconventional and I probably couldn't keep much else besides macros and softies but I'm happy with the way its been so far and everything seems healthy.

[Subsea]

My well water is also very hard here in the Texas Hill Country. I add it straight to the tank. Why should I remove minerals like calcium, magnesium and iron with RO only to add it as a supplement because my macro and corals require nutrients. I think that lagoon systems should be operated on the high nutrient end. They are the nursery to the oceans.

While this model is not good for SPS, I prefer the simplicity of lagoons with economy of equipment and ease of maintenance. For me, one of the biggest perks for the lagoon biothems is the complex food webs which promote filter feeder heaven. After 44 years of reef keeping, I started keeping Sea Apples two years ago. I now have five apples in my orchid.

Patrick

[ll_maynard_ll]

My well water is also very hard here in the Texas Hill Country. I add it straight to the tank. Why should I remove minerals like calcium, magnesium and iron with RO only to add it as a supplement because my macro and corals require nutrients. I think that lagoon systems should be operated on the high nutrient end. They are the nursery to the oceans.

While this model is not good for SPS, I prefer the simplicity of lagoons with economy of equipment and ease of maintenance. For me, one of the biggest perks for the lagoon biothems is the complex food webs which promote filter feeder heaven. After 44 years of reef keeping, I started keeping Sea Apples two years ago. I now have five apples in my orchid.

Patrick

 

I used to use the water straight from the tap but the GHA and diatoms were out of hand. And as soon as I plugged in my old RO unit it started clearing up imediatly.