Yesterday my macro's from reef cleaners arrived.

[debbeach13]

and of course some snails. As always very happy with order. It has been years since I have tried any type of SW plants. Floated every thing in the tank for about an hour. Rinsed in tank water (Thanks Wheetie) then placed most of them in the tank. Front and center the penny marco super glued to a tiny pc. of rubble. I put the mermaid's fan in the right front corner and the halimeda in the left front corner. Both are in low light and low flow for now. Most of the cactus caulerpa and palm are along the left side and back of the tank. A little bit glued to rubble in the back right corner. I do not have any fish line. Might call my son and ask for some. I do have zip ties. First I have no idea if my light is going to be ok for plants. Current orbit pro led fixture. Not a plant grow light by any means. Seems like some how it would be best to bury the runner part of the caulerpa in the sand. But how could it possibly stay there. Could be a PITA when trying to vacuum the sand. Would the caulerpa be ok glued to a small pc. of live rock and not in the sand at all or do the little roots NEED to be buried.

[Weetabix7]

Where's the pic? 

 

I honestly am not sure if the roots absolutely need to be in sand. 

My cactus and grape caulerpa are actually not buried in sand or attached to anything yet. My grape caulerpa just this morning started developing new little fine root hairs off the runner. 

My guess would be that if you kinda tucked the runner through the rocks it would send little roots down into the rock, but you'd want to be sure you're ok with it growing over your rockwork before doing that. 

Pretty sure cactus caulerpa won't take over like crazy with growth, should be controllable, but haven't kept the palm one. 

[debbeach13]

Thanks for the reply. Going to let them adjust for a couple days. Maybe I will cut some to shorter piece's, glue to a frag plug and bury the plug. OK going to think on this some more. I have a Samsung S3. Have never tried to post a picture with it here. They look like crap. It is kind of funny because I used to be into Photography. Even had a dark room. Only did my own black and white. But took wedding pictures and portraits for extra $$. 

[ReefWeeds]

The light should be fine for macros  

[debbeach13]

Last week went like this Kayah the little Chinese pug who gave us move love than anyone could hope for 16 years had to be put down due to painful health issues. I was a mess. I did top offs, feed everyday and gave a tiny bit of attention to my new plants. The penny algae started turning white and mushie. I trimmed it but today it looks gone. the halimeda is probably a gone almost all white coins . Mermaid fan and caulerpa so far so good I guess. Tank parameters tested ok Ammonia and nitrite 0, ph 7.8, Nitrate 10, PO4 about .05, SG 1.026 temp 78, alk normal between 1.7 - 2.8, mag 1270. Unfortunately my cal test kit has expired so I do not have that result. I will do a 6 gallon WC today. What else can I do if any thing?

 

[Weetabix7]

2 hours ago, debbeach13 said:

Last week went like this Kayah the little Chinese pug who gave us move love than anyone could hope for 16 years had to be put down due to painful health issues. I was a mess. I did top offs, feed everyday and gave a tiny bit of attention to my new plants. The penny algae started turning white and mushie. I trimmed it but today it looks gone. the halimeda is probably a gone almost all white coins . Mermaid fan and caulerpa so far so good I guess. Tank parameters tested ok Ammonia and nitrite 0, ph 7.8, Nitrate 10, PO4 about .05, SG 1.026 temp 78, alk normal between 1.7 - 2.8, mag 1270. Unfortunately my cal test kit has expired so I do not have that result. I will do a 6 gallon WC today. What else can I do if any thing?

 

 

Deb, I'm so, so sorry about the loss of Kayah. 

I know that hit you hard and you will still be feeling it for a little while. 

 

As for the Macro, most of your parameters sound good, but that Alk sounds a little low. Were you measuring it in meq/l? Can you test the Alk in your WC water?

[debbeach13]

Thanks Wheetie. The alk test kit is red sea. On the test card it says Milli equaivalents per liter what ever that means. The card goes from yellow to blue so it is green in the middle. yellow to light green says low 0 - 1.6, next is light green to light aqua 1.7-2.8, and last is aqua to blue 2.9-3.6. This test was absolutely in the normal range should I be aiming for the high range? I will test the WC it is almost to temp.  

[debbeach13]

I don't know what is up. The WC water tested in the normal range also. I have ocean's blend part 1 calcium and part 2 ph/alk. I was only dosing like once a week but I will test and dose more if needed. I also have prime but do not think that will help here. The Halimeda melted.  

[Weetabix7]

In my opinion, your Alk should be more like 2.8 to 3.2 meq/l (this is millequivalents per liter) to be healthy, but I'm interested to see what others say. 

 

The Halimeda and penny Macro may just not have handled shipping well. 

Did you have them shipped two day?

I had my Macros from John shipped 2 day, they arrived with no insulation so I think they prob had unhealthy temp fluctuations, and I lost 2 Macros within a couple of days. 

Can't tell yet whether my Dictoya will survive. 

My Caulerpas are doing great though. 

[debbeach13]

It was only 2 days. Shipped on a Monday and received on Wednesday. I was home and floated all the bags right away for over an hour because the box and content was hot. I will get the alk up. Thanks for the help. I am going to try to find my old digital camera this week and see if I can post a picture of my tank. Some thing might be better than nothing. All my corals look fine. Thanks again

[Weetabix7]

1 hour ago, debbeach13 said:

It was only 2 days. Shipped on a Monday and received on Wednesday. I was home and floated all the bags right away for over an hour because the box and content was hot. I will get the alk up. Thanks for the help. I am going to try to find my old digital camera this week and see if I can post a picture of my tank. Some thing might be better than nothing. All my corals look fine. Thanks again

 

Great, sounds good!!