Just sharing my macroalgae tank

[GothFishKeeper]

A few days ago I finally got ahold of a pair of biota bluestripe pipefish, so I just wanted to give an update on this tank and show them to everyone!
View attachment 20260204_105116_CC588956-1743-4614-8DC6-377F7B96E9DE.mov
I’m still getting the hang of telling which pipefish is male or female upon first looking at them, so I haven’t named them yet but it’ll probably be soon (yes I name my fish lol). The female is always coming up to me when I walk past and the male quickly follows her when he notices she’s at the glass as if he thinks she’s getting herself into danger. They’re so adorable and I love them so much!

There’s a few things I gotta work on in here still, like replacing the giant mass of pom-pom with slower growing macros that look a bit more unique, but I’m still very proud of this tank. It started as a nano reef before I set up my 90g but when I upgraded I couldn’t bring myself to tear it down. It’s approaching two years now and it basically filters itself despite very heavy feeding for the gorgonians.

Side note: I did untangle the gorgonians in the front left from each other after taking this video.

 

[GothFishKeeper]

In case the video isn’t loading, here’s a youtube link for it:

 

[vlangel]

In case the video isn’t loading, here’s a youtube link for it:

I love your tank and the pipefish. I also have a macroalgae display and love those too. I used to keep seahorses and coral banded pipefish.

How long have you had the NPS orange gorg? I have tried the NPS gorgs and never could keep them longer than a year but maybe I did not feed them enough liquid food.

 

[GothFishKeeper]

In case the video isn’t loading, here’s a youtube link for it:

I love your tank and the pipefish. I also have a macroalgae display and love those too. I used to keep seahorses and coral banded pipefish.

How long have you had the NPS orange gorg? I have tried the NPS gorgs and never could keep them longer than a year but maybe I did not feed them enough liquid food.

Thanks so much!! Last summer I tried dwarf seahorses in here but quickly learned that such a non sterile tank isn’t good for them. I still eventually want a seahorse tank with a single pair of some kind of full size species, but I don’t have the time, money, or space for another setup right now haha.

I’ve had that one as well as the white one for 10 months now. They were pretty much the same size as they currently are when I got them but they still eat every day and seem healthy so hopefully they’ll get past that one year mark. I honestly don’y do a lot of liquid food in this tank, just lots of rotifers combined with rods coral blend.

 

[vlangel]

Thanks so much!! Last summer I tried dwarf seahorses in here but quickly learned that such a non sterile tank isn’t good for them. I still eventually want a seahorse tank with a single pair of some kind of full size species, but I don’t have the time, money, or space for another setup right now haha.

I’ve had that one as well as the white one for 10 months now. They were pretty much the same size as they currently are when I got them but they still eat every day and seem healthy so hopefully they’ll get past that one year mark. I honestly don’y do a lot of liquid food in this tank, just lots of rotifers combined with rods coral blend.

I have always wanted to keep dwarf seahorses but their need for daily live food always caused me to decide against them.

My seahorses were erectus and I had them 6+ years and they are awesome! I even raised 16 out of 24 fry into 4-6 mos jubeniles but it was a lot of work. Then lfs wanted to give $5ea so I gave my fry away after that. When my matriarch who was my last pony passed I was ready for an easier less maintenance tank.

What I learned from keeping seahorses was a bare bottom tank was the best for them. Also keeping seahorses without any fish with them was best. My ponies did not get infections when I kept them without any fish, even the most peaceful species. An ounce of prevention was worth a pound of cure. I wrote articles in the stickies of the seahorse/pipefish topic here on R2R.

 

[Patx]

How long has the sea slug lettuce been introduced?
I've never had any luck with them.

 

[BryanM]

Very nice!