keydivers 20 gal planted tank

[keydiver]

Nice tank! It's razor/ sawtooth caulpera. Caulpera serrulata.

 

 

Thanks for the compliment and the speedy ID!

[captainbastard]

Thanks man! I'm glad all the macros are doing good, has that galaxia colored up for you yet?

 

A little bit but not even close to yours. My lights are so bright I think I might be bleaching it out. How fast does it usually grow for you?

[captainbastard]

Ill tell you what man, the octodes and botryocladia has taken off. Doubled in size already, growing in nicely.

[keydiver]

Ill tell you what man, the octodes and botryocladia has taken off. Doubled in size already, growing in nicely.

 

 

Nice dude! I'm glad! Once the ochtodes really takes hold, it is the prettiest macro imo

[NinjaBum]

Yeah it's my favorite. I always get jealous when folks get it to grow well in their tanks. Last time I ordered some, it came to be looking a bright pink color on the tips and then it just disintegrated sad times.

 

Your tank looks awesome. When I had my setup running I was looking everywhere for red grape.

[keydiver]

Yeah it's my favorite. I always get jealous when folks get it to grow well in their tanks. Last time I ordered some, it came to be looking a bright pink color on the tips and then it just disintegrated sad times.

 

Your tank looks awesome. When I had my setup running I was looking everywhere for red grape.

 

 

Thanks for the kind words! My red grape is very....VERY big, pretty much my centerpiece.

[NinjaBum]

Thanks for the kind words! My red grape is very....VERY big, pretty much my centerpiece.

 

Yeah it looks awesome. What type of bulbs are you running over your setup?

[keydiver]

Yeah it looks awesome. What type of bulbs are you running over your setup?

 

Right now i'm running 14k, but I was just testing it, and it was fading out my halymenia, so I'm going to switch back to my stock FNI bulbs or buy some new ones

[NinjaBum]

Those bulbs are like an 8000k-ish bulb aren't they?

[keydiver]

Those bulbs are like an 8000k-ish bulb aren't they?

 

Yeah something like that. It would be interesting to know the different effects of bulb colors on macros. I think 8-10k will probably work best though

[NinjaBum]

Yeah something like that. It would be interesting to know the different effects of bulb colors on macros. I think 8-10k will probably work best though

 

Yeah. Anything higher than 10K is probably not going to work as well just because most of them lack high levels in colors besides Blue and Violet. Deep water reds seem to do alright with bluer bulbs but that's because the blue end of the spectrum is all that's left by that depth.

 

I'm going to try some of these

Aquaflora

 

Anything with a lot of red/orange/green is going to do better than something with Blue/Violet. That's why when bulbs get old and start producing more red spectrum in reef tanks people have issues with microalgae breakouts.

 

That's why I'm going to roll pure Macro. Last time I had a tank I had to balance light for LPS and other coral and in turn gave up things in areas for both of them. Instead of having an awesome environment for one or the other, I had an average one for both.

[keydiver]

Yeah. Anything higher than 10K is probably not going to work as well just because most of them lack high levels in colors besides Blue and Violet. Deep water reds seem to do alright with bluer bulbs but that's because the blue end of the spectrum is all that's left by that depth.

 

I'm going to try some of these

Aquaflora

 

Anything with a lot of red/orange/green is going to do better than something with Blue/Violet. That's why when bulbs get old and start producing more red spectrum in reef tanks people have issues with microalgae breakouts.

 

That's why I'm going to roll pure Macro. Last time I had a tank I had to balance light for LPS and other coral and in turn gave up things in areas for both of them. Instead of having an awesome environment for one or the other, I had an average one for both.

 

Hey, there we go! Thanks for the quick write up. Makes sense, you don;t see macros very deep in the wild because the spectrum is filtered out and only blues and violets remain at deeper depths.

[NinjaBum]

No problem, and you're exactly right when it comes to macros in water below a certain depth. I'm going to try one of those aquaflora bulbs with a couple GE daylights and either a Blue+, or if that doesn't help to balance the first 3, something like this PureActinic or this Actinic+ to balance out the harsher yellows and oranges of the others.

 

I'm going to run it like I would a freshwater planted tank.

[johnmaloney]

caulerpa serrulata - razor caulerpa

[NinjaBum]

Spectral Graph

Here is a spectral graph of how different colors of light are utilized by flora.

 

Phycoerithrin and Phycocyanin are Phycobiliproteins which are present in certain algae (Red algae especially) that pass light they capture on to chlorophyl to aid in photosynthesis.

Phycoerithrin is a red protien that absorbs blue-green/yellowish light.

Phycocyanin is a light blue colour and absorbs orange and red light.

 

As you can see, chlorophyl doesn't touch green light which is why plants with no other pigments are green. They reflect green light because it serves no purpose to them. Red algae utilizises certain amounts of it through it's accessory protiens. Green algae will utilize more blue/red light.

 

Just thought it would be interesting for macro lovers.

 

I'm trying to come up with a spread that uses as little of the unused spectrum as possible.

[keydiver]

Spectral Graph

Here is a spectral graph of how different colors of light are utilized by flora.

 

Phycoerithrin and Phycocyanin are Phycobiliproteins which are present in certain algae (Red algae especially) that pass light they capture on to chlorophyl to aid in photosynthesis.

Phycoerithrin is a red protien that absorbs blue-green/yellowish light.

Phycocyanin is a light blue colour and absorbs orange and red light.

 

As you can see, chlorophyl doesn't touch green light which is why plants with no other pigments are green. They reflect green light because it serves no purpose to them. Red algae utilizises certain amounts of it through it's accessory protiens. Green algae will utilize more blue/red light.

 

Just thought it would be interesting for macro lovers.

 

I'm trying to come up with a spread that uses as little of the unused spectrum as possible.

 

Sweet dude, thanks! I'm going to be switching over my bulbs soon so i'll probably try something similar to what you're doing.

[NinjaBum]

For the red side of the spectrum,

Geismann Aquaflorax2

Plant Growx2

 

Geismann Pure Actinicx1 since it's specturm is virtually all in the zone used by Chlorophyll A,

ATI Blue+x1 because is covers the lighter blue side used by Chlorophyll B.

 

I have space for two more lamps, but I don't want to burn the macros. If needed I will add more blues to balance out the yellowish-red light of the others.

 

I've considered using a 3000K grow bulb to see how it would help.

[pisces3kitty]

Hi, it seems that some of the green plant is growing in my 20gal tank. What benefits will it bring it? I'm not very familiar with this.

 

Thanks

[keydiver]

Hi, it seems that some of the green plant is growing in my 20gal tank. What benefits will it bring it? I'm not very familiar with this.

 

Thanks

 

If you're talking about caulerpa prolifera, it is very good as reducing nitrates and a good all around nutrient export. It will keep your water quality tip top.

[keydiver]

Here's a quick update with pictures and stufffffff....enjoy

 

Here's how my tank looked in the beginning, less than a year ago...so for all of you who are buying macros from me, I was just like you guys not too long ago!

 

 

Here's how my system looks from the side

 

Slish Slosh of bottom macros

 

Overhead view

[NinjaBum]

Here's a quick update with pictures and stufffffff....enjoy

 

Here's how my tank looked in the beginning, less than a year ago...so for all of you who are buying macros from me, I was just like you guys not too long ago!

 

 

Here's how my system looks from the side

 

Slish Slosh of bottom macros

 

Overhead view

 

Lookin great!

[drunkenmonk21]

Thats looking very nice I cant wait for mine to grow out!

 

The ochtodes and red grape I got from you are growing like wild fire, unfortunetly I had a couple turbo snails in there who decided to mow down the ochtodes last week to half the size lol. They have since been evicted! Good thing is one week later it has grown back to size.

 

Also, whenever your rdy to get rid of some of that blue scroll and branching coraline ill be waiting

[keydiver]

Thats looking very nice I cant wait for mine to grow out!

 

The ochtodes and red grape I got from you are growing like wild fire, unfortunetly I had a couple turbo snails in there who decided to mow down the ochtodes last week to half the size lol. They have since been evicted! Good thing is one week later it has grown back to size.

 

Also, whenever your rdy to get rid of some of that blue scroll and branching coraline ill be waiting

 

 

To be honest, I think my ochtodes colony has overgrown the last of my blue scroll. It was on the same rock, so i'm not sure if it's still growing under or what the deal is. Thanks for the compliments.

[SbCaes]

pruning time!

[keydiver]

pruning time!

 

Moving time! I'm seriously considering changing my 40g rimless starfire high tech FW tank into a macro tank. It's got everything set up perfect, even pressurized C02 and a Herbie overflow so the water can absorb maximum C02.