Weetie's Zen Learning Experiment, Random Stuff

[Weetabix7]

Ok, I got a couple good pics of the recovered Maze Brain but photobucket somehow lost the one I uploaded. 

I'll try again tomorrow. 

 

Now on to something a little different I'm trying with all the Macroalgaes in here. 

First, a little background. 

They're in my old 16g tank from the first page of the original Weetie's Lounge (before Lawn's Lounge, there was Weetie's Lounge). 

When we moved here I was actually gonna toss the tank, it was all crusty & cobwebby in the basement, but hubby talked me into keeping it. 

So pretty much in keeping w/the whole approach of taking things one step at a time & seeing what's possible, I cleaned it all up, pulled out some old equipment & planned on starting it back & just seeing where it goes.

I moved the LR & the Damsel from the 4g Pico into it and planned on putting my Macroalgae order into it as well. 

I figured it would be a big, mostly empty tank with a few Macros kicking around in it til I decided on the next step. 

Ha!!!!!

Gulf Coast Ecosystems sent me a veritable bounty of Macros, much more than I was expecting, so I actually ended up trying to figure out how situate them so they didn't all clump in corners on top of each other, which didn't sound healthy. 

I ended up taking some fishing line, and attaching most of the Macros to 3 different eggcrate shelves. 

It seemed like the best way to control them & keep them organized, and also to allow good water flow all around them to keep them healthy. 

 

Here's how the Macro Forest looks now:

 

 

The Macros on the left shelf are all being held for a local friend who went in on the order with me. There's at least 3 different types of Graciliara, Dragon's Breath, a small piece of Botrycladia, and Hypnea Pannosa is the bluish purple looking Macro. 

 

The middle shelf is covered kinda densely in a TON of Red Macro. It's mostly Red Botrycladia & Graciliara Hayi with a smallish piece of Flame Algae right in the middle. I have some smaller pieces of Graciliara Hayi that I will likely sell off since I honestly don't need that much, you can see them on the far left and right of the pic. 

On the far right of the tank is a long, thin piece of eggcrate at an angle that has 2 pieces of Sargassum in front and some Galaxaura in back that you can't see well. 

If you look close, you can see the Maze Brain front & center at the bottom of the pic. 

 

Here's a closer shot of the left Macro shelf, the stuff that didn't show up in previous pics:

 

 

And lastly, my little bit of Flame Algae, in the middle of a sea of Red Macro:

 

 

 

 

[seabass]

I really need to get caught up on what you are doing here Weetie.  It's very cool.  I want to incorporate macros into my next tank.

[Weetabix7]

Omg, @teenyreef, I just realized...... we could now call that whole Macro Forest tank Pinky & the Brain!!!! 

Just now, seabass said:

I really need to get caught up on what you are doing here Weetie.  It's very cool.  I want to incorporate macros into my next tank.

 

Hey, thanks, nice having you stop by!!!

It feels good to get back into Macros & I'm happy to help if I can, altho you probably already know plenty. 

Feel free to discuss your tank ideas anytime, I find it inspiring to hear what other people come up with. 

[SeaFurn]

This is so amazing!  So awesome what you are doing with the 16g. I don't really know much about macros at all so it's like a another cool avenue one could pursue in reefing. And I definitely know who my consultant will be should I ever try to tackle these!  

[J-Ranko]

 

17 minutes ago, Weetabix7 said:

Ok, I got a couple good pics of the recovered Maze Brain but photobucket somehow lost the one I uploaded. 

I'll try again tomorrow. 

 

Now on to something a little different I'm trying with all the Macroalgaes in here. 

First, a little background. 

They're in my old 16g tank from the first page of the original Weetie's Lounge (before Lawn's Lounge, there was Weetie's Lounge). 

When we moved here I was actually gonna toss the tank, it was all crusty & cobwebby in the basement, but hubby talked me into keeping it. 

So pretty much in keeping w/the whole approach of taking things one step at a time & seeing what's possible, I cleaned it all up, pulled out some old equipment & planned on starting it back & just seeing where it goes.

I moved the LR & the Damsel from the 4g Pico into it and planned on putting my Macroalgae order into it as well. 

I figured it would be a big, mostly empty tank with a few Macros kicking around in it til I decided on the next step. 

Ha!!!!!

Gulf Coast Ecosystems sent me a veritable bounty of Macros, much more than I was expecting, so I actually ended up trying to figure out how situate them so they didn't all clump in corners on top of each other, which didn't sound healthy. 

I ended up taking some fishing line, and attaching most of the Macros to 3 different eggcrate shelves. 

It seemed like the best way to control them & keep them organized, and also to allow good water flow all around them to keep them healthy. 

 

Here's how the Macro Forest looks now:

 

 

The Macros on the left shelf are all being held for a local friend who went in on the order with me. There's at least 3 different types of Graciliara, Dragon's Breath, a small piece of Botrycladia, and Hypnea Pannosa is the bluish purple looking Macro. 

 

The middle shelf is covered kinda densely in a TON of Red Macro. It's mostly Red Botrycladia & Graciliara Hayi with a smallish piece of Flame Algae right in the middle. I have some smaller pieces of Graciliara Hayi that I will likely sell off since I honestly don't need that much, you can see them on the far left and right of the pic. 

On the far right of the tank is a long, thin piece of eggcrate at an angle that has 2 pieces of Sargassum in front and some Galaxaura in back that you can't see well. 

If you look close, you can see the Maze Brain front & center at the bottom of the pic. 

 

Here's a closer shot of the left Macro shelf, the stuff that didn't show up in previous pics:

 

 

And lastly, my little bit of Flame Algae, in the middle of a sea of Red Macro:

 

 

 

 

 

Nice macro collection there!  I love red macros. Here's mine.  It's more maroon than purple in real life, but the blue light mixed with red makes it look more purple. 

 

 

 

[Lula_Mae]

Sargassum! I once had it grow from a little brown nub on my LR and it grew into a beautiful little bush.  Then I got a zebra hermit and the dang crab ate it all and then ate the nub! Have had my eye out for it ever since.  I love the orange tips on the flame algae!

[Weetabix7]

11 minutes ago, Lula_Mae said:

Sargassum! I once had it grow from a little brown nub on my LR and it grew into a beautiful little bush.  Then I got a zebra hermit and the dang crab ate it all and then ate the nub! Have had my eye out for it ever since.  I love the orange tips on the flame algae!

 

That Sargassum is actually the whole reason I placed the order. 

I'd been looking out for it for ages and the second I saw he had it on the site I pounced!!!

I'm really hoping it does well cause I know it's one of the more tricky Macros to keep. 

Do you remember what kind of conditions yours was in when it was growing well?

It's supposed to like high flow and high light. 

 

19 minutes ago, J-Ranko said:

 

 

Nice macro collection there!  I love red macros. Here's mine.  It's more maroon than purple in real life, but the blue light mixed with red makes it look more purple. 

 

 

 

 

Very nice!!! I noticed it earlier in your tank pic, I think it's on the left side, kinda in the back. Looks really good in your tank!!

[Weetabix7]

23 minutes ago, SeaFurn said:

This is so amazing!  So awesome what you are doing with the 16g. I don't really know much about macros at all so it's like a another cool avenue one could pursue in reefing. And I definitely know who my consultant will be should I ever try to tackle these!  

 

Thanks so much!!

Not sure why I'm so attracted to Macros, but I do really enjoy them. 

I'm happy to help you anytime!!

I have some smaller pieces of one of the Reds I'll list for sale over the weekend probably, they'd be small enough for your jar if you want one. 

They're one of the easy ones to keep, too. 

[Lula_Mae]

13 minutes ago, Weetabix7 said:

 

That Sargassum is actually the whole reason I placed the order. 

I'd been looking out for it for ages and the second I saw he had it on the site I pounced!!!

I'm really hoping it does well cause I know it's one of the more tricky Macros to keep. 

Do you remember what kind of conditions yours was in when it was growing well?

It's supposed to like high flow and high light. 

 

 

Very nice!!! I noticed it earlier in your tank pic, I think it's on the left side, kinda in the back. Looks really good in your tank!!

Let's see, it was in my 5.5 (first time) on the right hand side (the rock it was on was amazing, multiple clams/bivalves, two kinds of coral, the sargassum...such a great rock!).  I had an AquaClear...20? kinda on the left-middle and on the left side I had a small powerhead, a Rio or something.  Less than 100 gph, I want to say 66 or something, and I don't remember how I had the flow directed...mostly my goal was to break up the AC's flow (believe I had both on full blast).  I had a 36 watt 18" Nova Extreme T5 fixture, with a 10k bulb and 1 actinic bulb.  I noticed a smooth brown spot on the rock so I just kept an eye on it and watched over a few weeks as it grew a little point, which turned into a sprout, which grew leaves.  Was a long time before I found out what it was lol.  I remember it seemed to grow kind of slowly (though it was also my first macro experience) but it was so beautiful!

[SeaFurn]

Oh cool! That's something I hadn't even considered but I think that might be a pretty awesome addition to the bowl! 

[Lula_Mae]

1 minute ago, SeaFurn said:

Oh cool! That's something I hadn't even considered but I think that might be a pretty awesome addition to the bowl! 

Dooo eeeet!!!

[Nidilsky]

My corraline is just starting to appear. Never thought that it would encrust glass. I love this stuff. 

Betta food = magic and love? Huh. 

[teenyreef]

3 hours ago, Weetabix7 said:

Omg, @teenyreef, I just realized...... we could now call that whole Macro Forest tank Pinky & the Brain!!!! 

 

Hey, thanks, nice having you stop by!!!

It feels good to get back into Macros & I'm happy to help if I can, altho you probably already know plenty. 

Feel free to discuss your tank ideas anytime, I find it inspiring to hear what other people come up with. 

Lol, I love it! You should keep the brain in with the macros and start a new tank thread called Pinky and the Brain 

 

PS: those macros are beautiful! 

[Nidilsky]

I had some red titan, but my turbos crushed it. Getting some maidens hair and shaving brush. Anybody have problems with kelp?

Want to use it to feed the snails

[Weetabix7]

39 minutes ago, Nidilsky said:

I had some red titan, but my turbos crushed it. Getting some maidens hair and shaving brush. Anybody have problems with kelp?

Want to use it to feed the snails

 

Red Titan is actually another name for the Graciliara Hayi that I have right now and that I will be selling a few small pieces of. 

"Kelp" could be any number of things, seems like a generic name used to call a Macro rather than a specific, scientific name, so it's hard to answer your question. 

Do you have a link to it, or a pic?

[vlangel]

Wow Weetie, I love this macro tank.  I adore macro algaes and have contemplated ordering from GCE but just never did.  I have some great red macros but need more green and I too have always wanted sargassum.  I will be anxious to see how they do for you.

[Weetabix7]

In an effort to clear out a few Macros to make room for more and newer Macro types, I have just listed some great starter pieces of Red Macro and GSP, get 'em here before they're gone: 

 

On 4/18/2017 at 10:50 AM, vlangel said:

Wow Weetie, I love this macro tank.  I adore macro algaes and have contemplated ordering from GCE but just never did.  I have some great red macros but need more green and I too have always wanted sargassum.  I will be anxious to see how they do for you.

 

Thanks so much, it feels REALLY great to be getting back into Macroalgaes!!!

I'm working on making some room right now to get some Green Macros in, myself. 

 

So far the Sargassum seems to be holding stable, not seeing a lot of change in it. 

Not dying off, not growing, although it's known to be a slow grower so I'm not worried in that regard. 

[Lula_Mae]

1 hour ago, Weetabix7 said:

In an effort to clear out a few Macros to make room for more and newer Macro types, I have just listed some great starter pieces of Red Macro and GSP, get 'em here before they're gone: 

 

 

Thanks so much, it feels REALLY great to be getting back into Macroalgaes!!!

I'm working on making some room right now to get some Green Macros in, myself. 

 

So far the Sargassum seems to be holding stable, not seeing a lot of change in it. 

Not dying off, not growing, although it's known to be a slow grower so I'm not worried in that regard. 

I'm glad it's hanging in there!  If it does reasonably well for you I would totally be interested in a frag of it at some point.   Also eyeballing your botryocladia you've got for sale but not this week lol.

[WV Reefer]

If The Creep keeps eating all of mine I may have to hit you up for some.  He ate all my Blue Hypnea the day I got it. 

[Rain24]

On 4/17/2017 at 6:16 PM, Weetabix7 said:

Ok, I got a couple good pics of the recovered Maze Brain but photobucket somehow lost the one I uploaded. 

I'll try again tomorrow. 

 

Now on to something a little different I'm trying with all the Macroalgaes in here. 

First, a little background. 

They're in my old 16g tank from the first page of the original Weetie's Lounge (before Lawn's Lounge, there was Weetie's Lounge). 

When we moved here I was actually gonna toss the tank, it was all crusty & cobwebby in the basement, but hubby talked me into keeping it. 

So pretty much in keeping w/the whole approach of taking things one step at a time & seeing what's possible, I cleaned it all up, pulled out some old equipment & planned on starting it back & just seeing where it goes.

I moved the LR & the Damsel from the 4g Pico into it and planned on putting my Macroalgae order into it as well. 

I figured it would be a big, mostly empty tank with a few Macros kicking around in it til I decided on the next step. 

Ha!!!!!

Gulf Coast Ecosystems sent me a veritable bounty of Macros, much more than I was expecting, so I actually ended up trying to figure out how situate them so they didn't all clump in corners on top of each other, which didn't sound healthy. 

I ended up taking some fishing line, and attaching most of the Macros to 3 different eggcrate shelves. 

It seemed like the best way to control them & keep them organized, and also to allow good water flow all around them to keep them healthy. 

 

Here's how the Macro Forest looks now:

 

 

The Macros on the left shelf are all being held for a local friend who went in on the order with me. There's at least 3 different types of Graciliara, Dragon's Breath, a small piece of Botrycladia, and Hypnea Pannosa is the bluish purple looking Macro. 

 

The middle shelf is covered kinda densely in a TON of Red Macro. It's mostly Red Botrycladia & Graciliara Hayi with a smallish piece of Flame Algae right in the middle. I have some smaller pieces of Graciliara Hayi that I will likely sell off since I honestly don't need that much, you can see them on the far left and right of the pic. 

On the far right of the tank is a long, thin piece of eggcrate at an angle that has 2 pieces of Sargassum in front and some Galaxaura in back that you can't see well. 

If you look close, you can see the Maze Brain front & center at the bottom of the pic. 

 

Here's a closer shot of the left Macro shelf, the stuff that didn't show up in previous pics:

 

 

And lastly, my little bit of Flame Algae, in the middle of a sea of Red Macro:

 

 

 

 

 

These pics are actually making me interested in keeping macros someday!!!

[Lula_Mae]

13 minutes ago, Rain24 said:

 

These pics are actually making me interested in keeping macros someday!!!

Doo eet!

[Weetabix7]

20 hours ago, WV Reefer said:

If The Creep keeps eating all of mine I may have to hit you up for some.  He ate all my Blue Hypnea the day I got it. 

 

Forgot to respond to yesterday's posts, I'm sorry!!! 

 

I wonder if it would work for you to put Macros higher up or something. 

Also, I wonder if it makes a difference how hard the plant blades and stem are. 

Blue Hypnea is pretty soft, while the 2 Red Macros I'm selling are much stiffer. 

Just a thought. 

I only have a teensy tiny fragment of Blue Hypnea myself right now, mebbe I can get it to grow good....

8 hours ago, Rain24 said:

 

These pics are actually making me interested in keeping macros someday!!!

 

Do eet!!!! 

I love tanks that look like underwater forests. 

So beautiful, and as an added bonus they remove nitrates & phosphates from the water. 

[Lisa166]

Its so pretty!!!

[Weetabix7]

14 minutes ago, Lisa166 said:

Its so pretty!!!

 

Hey, thanks!!! You may have your own Macroalgae Forest growing up outta rock over the next few months.

[Nidilsky]

1 hour ago, Weetabix7 said:

 

Hey, thanks!!! You may have your own Macroalgae Forest growing up outta rock over the next few months.

I am attempting to incorporate macros into my display. Not having the best of luck so far. Notable exception being my halimeda.  I love yer stuff, Weetie.

I have been trying to get my hands on some grape kelp and dragon's breath.