hello macro growers!

[saltyfishwater]

Hello NR.  I'm new here, after coming across a 2015 TOTM featuring a macro/coral tank.  It's very close to what I was envisioning.

 

I previously had a 55 gallon planted freshwater tank with shrimps and snails and rummy nose tetras.  The things I loved about freshwater is the diversity of plants and the seen and unseen organisms and tank equipment that work together to drive the aquarium ecology.  Flash forward a few years and now I'm looking at setting up a 20 or 30 gallon saltwater tank with two  clown fish (Percula) and shrimps.  I'm not really interested in corals, and I was at first kinda disappointed by the options for saltwater plants.  But after looking at some of the pictures on NR, I'm excited about macro algae!  I think I'd like to eventually end up with a 2-clown and a couple shrimp/snail tank with some easy macro algae that can thrive on moderate lighting.  I'm currently browsing the forum for affordable lights that might work for rimless tanks.

 

Speaking of rimless tanks, I'm looking at rimless partly for better quality glass for viewing.  I'm open to making a small sump in the cabinet, especially for a 30 gallon so I have the option of growing Chaeto and copepods in a sump (ecology!).  One of the things that kinda turn me off corals is a lot of the coral tanks I see are so oddly lighted, very blue.  I want natural looking lighting that shows off the reds on clowns and shrimp, and maybe macro tank lighting is more compatible with that goal.

 

I'm currently floating in a sea of info on rimless tank brands and lights.  Any pointers would be appreciated!  Thanks to all for sharing so much info already on this forum.

 

Jason

[WV Reefer]

13 minutes ago, saltyfishwater said:

Hello NR.  I'm new here, after coming across a 2015 TOTM featuring a macro/coral tank.  It's very close to what I was envisioning.

 

I previously had a 55 gallon planted freshwater tank with shrimps and snails and rummy nose tetras.  The things I loved about freshwater is the diversity of plants and the seen and unseen organisms and tank equipment that work together to drive the aquarium ecology.  Flash forward a few years and now I'm looking at setting up a 20 or 30 gallon saltwater tank with two  clown fish (Percula) and shrimps.  I'm not really interested in corals, and I was at first kinda disappointed by the options for saltwater plants.  But after looking at some of the pictures on NR, I'm excited about macro algae!  I think I'd like to eventually end up with a 2-clown and a couple shrimp/snail tank with some easy macro algae that can thrive on moderate lighting.  I'm currently browsing the forum for affordable lights that might work for rimless tanks.

 

Speaking of rimless tanks, I'm looking at rimless partly for better quality glass for viewing.  I'm open to making a small sump in the cabinet, especially for a 30 gallon so I have the option of growing Chaeto and copepods in a sump (ecology!).  One of the things that kinda turn me off corals is a lot of the coral tanks I see are so oddly lighted, very blue.  I want natural looking lighting that shows off the reds on clowns and shrimp, and maybe macro tank lighting is more compatible with that goal.

 

I'm currently floating in a sea of info on rimless tank brands and lights.  Any pointers would be appreciated!  Thanks to all for sharing so much info already on this forum.

 

Jason