Macroalgae Island Scape

[Theshallows]

This is great! I was planning on doing a macro algea tank too

[sam_the_reefer]

Just admiring, and I don't have a proper ID for this, but it's not-so-regular ochtodes that are slower growing and are more blue than purple.

 

[sam_the_reefer]

Update on this tank, macroalgae are growing well. Might add a real saltwater fish to this tank soon.

 

 

 

 

[schgr.cube]

Oh wow, this is amazing. Gives me some inspiration for a macro setup I am going to be doing soon, will definitely be following along for this!

[sam_the_reefer]

Picked up a dragons breath frag at the beach last saturday, it was free floating in very warm water. I'm expecting it to darken more as it recovers but it looks really good in the meantime. Also, 2 week old firefish and yellow coral banded shrimp hiding.

 

 

[drewerd7]

Your contrasting colors are gorgeous. 

Macros are looking very happy.. so bright.

 The blue one is Blue Hypnea, in case you haven't already heard.

 Also, so cool that you can find your own macros where you live! Keep up the good work.

 I dig your aesthetics.. not everyone has that artistic touch. -Drew

[sam_the_reefer]

On 1/8/2023 at 7:37 AM, drewerd7 said:

Your contrasting colors are gorgeous. 

Macros are looking very happy.. so bright.

 The blue one is Blue Hypnea, in case you haven't already heard.

 Also, so cool that you can find your own macros where you live! Keep up the good work.

 I dig your aesthetics.. not everyone has that artistic touch. -Drew

Thanks for the kind words! I need to update this thread.

Unfortunately, the red macroalgae died off (maybe due to a lack of Iron). But the holdfasts are growing new buds, so haven't completely lost hope for them. The Halimeda and Blue Hypnea have taken over and are shading out the soft corals, so it's due for a rescape.

[sam_the_reefer]

I lost all the mollies too, so now only the firefish is left. I'm thinking of adding a possum wrasse and maybe some small eviota gobies if they're available.

[debbeach13]

Sorry about the mollies, but new fish should be fun. 

[sam_the_reefer]

Before glass cleaning

 

After glass cleaning

 

Now to rescape...

[banasophia]

Looks nice already… looking forward to seeing what you come up with. 

[sam_the_reefer]

Rescaped

[sam_the_reefer]

Hope

[TheCoffeeReef]

Just stumbled on this thread, what an amazing ride! I really love your determination to get a macro algae tank 👌 lovely pics too.

[sam_the_reefer]

20 hours ago, TheCoffeeReef said:

Just stumbled on this thread, what an amazing ride! I really love your determination to get a macro algae tank 👌 lovely pics too.

Thanks!

[sam_the_reefer]

Many things happened happened since my last update. Work has been crazy (anyone here need a remote Laravel developer?) and I wasn't able to prune the tank or do water changes for a few weeks, so the halimeda decided to go sexual.

 

 

I did my best and did a 90% water change but the cloudiness still remained (I should have taken out the halimeda here). I ran out of salt water, so the only thing I could do after that was to aerate and use my HOB skimmer from my other tank. It eventually cleared things up, but I lost my firefish in the process. 😞 I removed all the halimeda after that.

[Tom@HaslettMI]

Cool tank. Where did you get the ovalis?  I’ve been trying to find a source for many years. 
 

Tom

[banasophia]

1 hour ago, xellos88 said:

Many things happened happened since my last update. Work has been crazy (anyone here need a remote Laravel developer?) and I wasn't able to prune the tank or do water changes for a few weeks, so the halimeda decided to go sexual.

 

 

I did my best and did a 90% water change but the cloudiness still remained (I should have taken out the halimeda here). I ran out of salt water, so the only thing I could do after that was to aerate and use my HOB skimmer from my other tank. It eventually cleared things up, but I lost my firefish in the process. 😞 I removed all the halimeda after that.

Sorry to hear. 😢

[sam_the_reefer]

7 hours ago, Tom@HaslettMI said:

Cool tank. Where did you get the ovalis?  I’ve been trying to find a source for many years. 
 

Tom

From a local beach.

[sam_the_reefer]

Bad things happened since I posted the last update. My mom suffered a hypoglycemic episode that ended with her being in a persistent vegetative state. 😞 My mom lives on another island so I left this tank for 3 weeks plus and during that time my wife took care of feeding the fish for my tanks and doing top-off. When I got back all the Blue Hypnea have died, covered in "dust" from the Talbot damselfish digging. On the upside, the Halymenia that I moved up top grew and thrived.  

[debbeach13]

So sorry about your Mom. Prayers for you and your family.

[sam_the_reefer]

Before I left:

 

 

 

 

[sam_the_reefer]

I lost the possum wrasse while I was away, I saw the cryptic red cardinal when I got back but haven't seen it again lately...

 

It might seem strange to still be reefing at this moment, but this is how I deal with trauma. It's sort of something I share with mom, she's into orchids and we share an appreciation for nature.

[sam_the_reefer]

[sam_the_reefer]

Finally built a mount for the blackbox light on this tank. I wanted to mount the lights higher and wanted to get rid of the mounting legs that keep getting in the way when doing maintenance. I originally wanted to use bent conduit but wasn't able to find a store here that can do the bending. My option two was to use GI pipes and elbows instead of conduit, but couldn't find the right lengths for the threaded pipes. Option two will probably be the final form but for now, I just wanted to make use of what I had to build a mount (my wife doesn't like it XD).