15g Macro Tank

[i love picotopes]

Hi guys and gals, I am relatively new to the reefing experience and have decided to create a low maintenance saltwater lagoon system. Inspired by this article: http://www.theokaa.org/articles/zero.pdf

 

Equipment:

15g tank

Unbranded 950l/H HOB filter

2x150l/H mini powerheads

27W 9000k table lamp

 

Set up the tank with sand collected from a beach nearby.

Day 1

 

Place a piece of shrimp from the market to get things going.

After a week, I managed to get a couple of pieces of live rock from the lfs.

Day 7

 

Few days later, I went back to the beach and collected some seagrass/macro algae during low tide.

Day 10

 

If anyone can identify the type of algae/seagrass that would be nice as I have no idea.

 

The collected flora came with a huge variety of sealife including snails, hermits, and even some skeleton shrimp which I have never seen before.(couldnt get pics as they are too small)

 

 

Will let the tank sit for another 2 and a half weeks before adding a blue damsel.(don't worry, its going to be the only fish in the tank.). Followed by a cleaner shrimp after some time.

 

Thats all for now. Will update when fish added.

Comments are welcomed.

Thanks!

 

 

[Slowtwitch]

What a cool little tank. I have always liked the tanks that are heavy on macros. Following.

[vlangel]

I also am partial to tanks with macro algae and seagrasses. Nice start and I am jealous that you live close enough to the ocean to collect stuff.☺

[uwharrie]

Very cool!

[charliethezero]

Love macro tanks, just started a 15 gallon too a couple weeks ago. Will be watching yours.

[i love picotopes]

So it's been awhile. Appreciate the positive comments guys.

 

First off, I managed to identify the green stringy algae that was in my tank. It turned out to be gut weed (Ulva intestinalis). I said "was" because it didn't do well and just slowly withered away. My guess was either my light not being in the right spectrum(9000k) for ideal algae growth combined with the fact that there were many (50+) small pests snails that came along with the gut weed. They only stuck on the gut weed and I suspect ate most of it. I managed to take out most of them but was probably too late.

 

Anyways, I also started a DIY hanging light fixture that housed 2 14W t5's at 6500k. Hoping that this would grow my macros better.

 

Some pics of the build:

 

After that was done, I began looking for a fish for the tank. and for some reason all the fish shops near me was not carrying blue damsels which are usually one of the most common fish. It took me about a week to finally found a beautiful fiji blue damsel.

 

Here you can see how little of the gut weed was left.

 

 

It acclimated well and began eating on the first day. However, the next morning I found him dried to a crisp on the floor next to the tank. I was devastated as I didnt expect a damsel to jump with them not being known jumpers such as dartfish and wrasses.

 

This lead me to make a screen cover for the tank as not to risk another fish going "carpet surfing" although I have wooden floors, Haha.

 

With the cover on the tank, i got some bubble caulerpa and red macro algae from my lfs and couple days later a common blue damsel(without the yellow belly).

 

This is the tank now:

 

This guy is more picky compared to the previous one and alot faster/active as I have yet been able to get a decent picture of him. He is constantly picking at the pods on the glass that have multiplied like crazy hence maybe why he doesn't seem to keen on the pellets.

 

Will let the tank stabalize for a week and then maybe get a skunk cleaner if I manage to find one at a good price.

 

P.s. All the larger snails and hermits are still doing fine can keeping the sandbed clean of diatoms.

 

 

 

[i love picotopes]

Got my cleaner shrimp and thankfully the damsel did not bother him at all.

 

Also got a decent picture of the damsel.

 

And noticed most of my caulerpa was going sexual so I did some majot prunning and only left the ones that were still dark green.

Before/After shots:

 

Decided that the screen I was using for the cover was too fine and blocking out alot of the light. Solved with this:

 

Now I am thinking of getting a soft coral either toadstool/Xenia/kenya tree for the rock on the left and let it grow out. What do you guys think?

 

 

[ABC]

A soft coral would be a good way to start stocking corals.