14 gallon cube soft coral macroalgae only tank

[Spare time]

Greetings! I am putting together a 14 gallon cube in my department's building and I figured I'd share the thread here. Its going to be a soft coral only tank. I plan on having leathers/toadstools, mushrooms, and xenia. I also plan on adding macro algae. There will be no fish in this system. I'll be posting updates soon!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Can't wait to see the updates!!!

 

[Diastro]

Following along, I need to see more macroalgae tanks.

 

[Spare time]

Following along, I need to see more macroalgae tanks.

I'll be starting with xenia and a mushroom as well as pom pom gracilaria. I plan on adding blue hypnea too.

 

[Spare time]

My current equipment list:

• Aqueon 14 gallon rimless cube
• Sicce voyager nano
• Seachem tidal 32
• Finnex HPC 100w or 300w
• Inkbird (to be bought later)
• Two moani carib sea rocks (one more to be added later)
• Kessil a80
• Fl!pper float nano
• Carib sea special grade sand
• + Bio Spira, Reef Enhance, Reef Energy, Red sea dipX (never tried this dip so I am curious)

 

[Spare time]

Here is the first picture! The tank is hazy from the sand. I will be adding another rock or two and a few corals Thursday! The stand is meant for fluval flex tanks.

 

[19Mateo83]

How has this been progressing? I just set up one of these I built into an AIO. Just got it bubbling tonight.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/19mateo83’s-5-14-gallon-builds.971978/

 

[CreamCityCorals]

Sweet. I think these are the hardest saltwater tanks to maintain in balance.

But, When they are going they are beautiful! Worth it for sure, I will follow along!!

 

[Spare time]

I just got some macroalgae from gulf coast ecosystems. I also now have 6 corals in total and a blue photosynthetic sponge. Here are some pics

 

[Spare time]

I'll be adding one more rock probably.

 

[19Mateo83]

Looking good!

 

[Diastro]

Already coming together. I need to get my hands on that pink macroalgae. Keep it up!

 

[Spare time]

New coral addition! I also have an auto top off and safety shut off sensor coming in the mail as I will be away from the tank for quite a while.

 

[Spare time]

Update:

I was gone from the tank all summer, so the macro algae didn't make it, but the corals have grown a lot. I added another rock and more corals since then. Eventually I will replace the macroalgae, but for now I am letting my clean up crew deal with hair algae that took over this summer (there wasn't much of a clean up crew while I was gone). I can post some pictures if anyone is interested in seeing how the coral has grown. The toadstool has grown tremendously in such a small time frame.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Update:

I was gone from the tank all summer, so the macro algae didn't make it, but the corals have grown a lot. I added another rock and more corals since then. Eventually I will replace the macroalgae, but for now I am letting my clean up crew deal with hair algae that took over this summer (there wasn't much of a clean up crew while I was gone). I can post some pictures if anyone is interested in seeing how the coral has grown. The toadstool has grown tremendously in such a small time frame.

Sorry about the macro algae, but glad to see the coral is going good!

 

[Spare time]

Sorry about the macro algae, but glad to see the coral is going good!

Eh it was a trial run. My guess is the tank ran low on nitrate and phosphate for a period, resulting in them dying but in turn raising nitrate and phosphate enough for the soft corals to maintain themselves.