MACROALGAE MASTERPIECES!! What are some questions you have for these guys with stellar macroalgae tanks?

[Daniel@R2R]

Macroalgae tanks are definitely a big trend in the saltwater hobby right now. I absolutely love following some of these awesome tanks! So... I got to thinking about ways that keeping these is different than keeping a regular reef, and I may or may not have an interview lined up with an expert on these... So...my question for you is: What questions do you have about keeping macroalgae tanks?

 

[Aldrinlights]

How easy is it to control the growth of direction of your aquascape plan to just keep it from overtaking the tank?

 

[redfishbluefish]

Should we consider different lighting options versus a reef tank? LEDs, T-5's, Halides.....what works best?

 

[Peace River]

What is the difference in the water parameters between a traditional reef and a macro algae tank? Is there a happy medium where someone could do both in the same tank?

 

[CMMorgan]

I'd love to see @Tigahboy voted as Reef of The Month to walk us through his spectacular macro tanks. He could teach a master class. Not to be overlooked - @ReeferBlaine does some amazing work. If you are not already follow these two on Insta .... @Tigahboy.h20 and @KingTideCorals
Both of these reefers set a high bar for the rest of us.

 

[Peace River]

I'd love to see @Tigahboy voted as Reef of The Month to walk us through his spectacular macro tanks. He could teach a master class. Not to be overlooked - @ReeferBlaine does some amazing work. If you are not already follow these two on Insta .... @Tigahboy.h20 and @KingTideCorals
Both of these reefers set a high bar for the rest of us.

Let's not forget @inland_reef!

 

[CMMorgan]

As to questions.... let's talk fertilizer? In freshwater planted tanks, I used to fertilize. But those plants had root systems in the soil (substrate). For macro SW tanks with the plants often tied to a rock.... do you fertilize and if so - how? Also, how does the balance of carbon dioxide and dissolved oxygen come into play?

 

[revhtree]

Speaking of saltwater macro algae’s, how do they each benefit a reef aquarium? What’s the list of each one?

 

[NashobaTek]

Some of the macro is planted in the sand. Mermaids fan, shavings brush and a couple of others I think. I have tried them all. From tying to rocks and the planted ones and eventually they all die or melt,. EXCEPT Ulva. That one never melts but no one is eating it either. Stupid tangs.

 

[Mastiffsrule]

What is the difference in the water parameters between a traditional reef and a macro algae tank? Is there a happy medium where someone could do both in the same tank?

Some of the macro is planted in the sand. Mermaids fan, shavings brush and a couple of others I think. I have tried them all. From tying to rocks and the planted ones and eventually they all die or melt,. EXCEPT Ulva. That one never melts but no one is eating it either. Stupid tangs.

Hi all,

Both of these folks are exactly what I was thinking (not like that would mean anything, I am also thinking about unicorns )

From the water quality side. I think we should take a step back and look at it like a lawn. I have said soooooo many times, our tanks need to replicate an environment. Different algae have different requirements like cold season grasses are different than florida Bermuda grass. They can work together if properly done.

From a feeding standpoint, my tangs love Cheeto (did that on purpose to see if you reading). My thoughts again are if we are putting a macro in our tank we want it to have the environment to survive, but also serve a purpose.

Anyway, I reached my rambling limit. Hope I made sense;Bored

 

[GoVols]

tagging!!

 

[Seabiscuit]

How do you figure par without a par meter or without a light that indicates the par rating. I only have a lux/lumen meter.

 

[ScottR]

@RichtheReefer21 if I recall, you have a nice macro display fuge?

 

[Northwest_Scapes_]

I've kept multiple Macro Tanks! (Current thread in my profile )
I can answer a couple questions:

Should we consider different lighting options versus a reef tank? LEDs, T-5's, Halides.....what works best?

You can definitely go with Reef Tank Lighting, I know people who use AI Primes. If you want corals mixed in, 100% go for it. But if you're keeping just Macros, Photosynthetic Gorgs, and NPS Stuff, standard Freshwater planted lighting works great! I know @Tigahboy , @inland_reef , and @ReeferBlaine use Twinstar lights which are pretty good, im currently using an Aqueon OptiBright+ as a temporary thing, but its actually been doing pretty well so I might get one that fits my dimensions.

As to questions.... let's talk fertilizer? In freshwater planted tanks, I used to fertilize. But those plants had root systems in the soil (substrate). For macro SW tanks with the plants often tied to a rock.... do you fertilize and if so - how? Also, how does the balance of carbon dioxide and dissolved oxygen come into play?

I and a lot of others use Brightwell Aquatic's "ChaetoGro". It's just liquid fertilizer, but it has a lot of good nutrients for the Macros and definitely increases the growth rate. NeoNitro and NeoPhos are good too if your Nitrates and Phosphate are too low since Macros need those. I cant answer the last part so I'll leave that up to someone else

Speaking of saltwater macro algae’s, how do they each benefit a reef aquarium? What’s the list of each one?

They all export nutrients like Nitrates and Phosphates so it's pretty helpful if you have super elevated levels. As for each species, I have no idea how many each species exports, but for a list of ones you can keep in a planted display;
•Caluerpa species (very important to do research into the ones you're interested, since they grow at different rates. Like Paspalodies, this one grows not as fast and looks pretty cool. Meanwhile Prolifera seems to just adapt to anything (Fun Fact; California might be banning ALL Caluerpa species now (used to be the feathers group that was only banned) since they found lots of Prolifera in Newport Bay and its spreading. So it literally adapted to Coldwater which is scary)

$REDS$ (That I know of)
•Gracilaria
•G. Hayi
•G. Curtissae
(I don't know the names of the others but there are other Gracilaria species)
•Galaxaura
•Red Pearl
•Bryothamnion
•Fire Fern
•Purple Fachae
•Botryocaldia (The red bubbly one)
•Dragon's Breath (tips glow orange under blue light, sometimes even under normal light if it's got high amounts like how Tigahboy's and Inland_Reef's does)
•Blue Hypnea
•Branching Coraline
•Fine Branching Coraline
•Sargassum
•Codium (and another variety called "Short Branching Codium)
•Mermaid's Cup
•Pencil Cap
•Shaving Brush
•Mermaid's Fan
•Christmas Tree
•Pinecone
•The Halimedia group
•Dictoya
•Red Titan
•Red Asparagus
•Blue Scroll
•Laurencia
•Red Feather
•Nemastoma
•Rose Petal
And so much more! These are all the ones that I keep / remember the names of that other people keep, some are very finicky so make sure to do research before buying since it could just wither away, I hope this helps!

 

[Charles Raabe]

Macroalgae tanks are definitely a big trend in the saltwater hobby right now. I absolutely love following some of these awesome tanks! So... I got to thinking about ways that keeping these is different than keeping a regular reef, and I may or may not have an interview lined up with an expert on these... So...my question for you is: What questions do you have about keeping macroalgae tanks?

Within the next year or two, I plan to get back into the reefing hobby given that I will be returning home to Mactan Island in the Philippines and can collect anything needed to set one up again. As such, I've been thinking about doing just such a tank as the "pretty sticks" routine just doesn't appeal to me anymore. Maybe a combination of both habitats? Am also thinking of setting up a connected string of tanks to better mimic the various habitats that allow for pretty sticks. An algae turf scrubber followed by a sea grass tank followed by a macro algae tank followed by a coral tank. Anywhoooos, I went back to an old article of mine to brush up on the macro algae and hope it will also lend a few ideas to you as well per lighting requirements, substrates and such.

The Natural Reef Aquarium - Part Three

Macroalgae and the Reef Aquarium

chucksaddiction.thefishestate.net

 

[Ron Reefman]

I kind of hate to admit it, but I've never paid any attention to a macro algae tank. Can't say I've even seen but a few freshwater planted tanks. Just not in my area of interest.

 

[Auquanut]

Is it difficult to maintain macro algae in the display without promoting pest algae in the same space? Or does the macro tend to out compete it?

 

[Northwest_Scapes_]

Is it difficult to maintain macro algae in the display without promoting pest algae in the same space? Or does the macro tend to out compete it?

Typically it out competes the pest algae, you'll still get Diatoms in the beginning but that's pretty much normal. As for hair algae, I only have a tiny bit since it was on something I moved to the tank but the macros I have are keeping it in check while my Hector's Goby is taking care of it
I've seen Tigahboy have small bit of Bubble Algae (It does look pretty nice in his tank though lol) and cotton candy algae. But typically, they won't grow out of control, more so they'll just kind of stay the same until something eats it / it withers away

 

[NashobaTek]

When I tried the macro it was also to help keep the phosphate and nitrate down because they were high and I had hair algae like crazy, water temp, flow and other parameters were good. But I still haven't had any luck with it. Now that the tank has more Age on it I may try it again. I might wait until I have added some real live rock. I've added the live sand booster and mud from Indo Pacific and it helped, but I think it still needs more diversity.

 

[zalick]

What’s the best way to balance macro and Soft/LPs/Sps? In the wild, the reefs are loaded with all of the above so is there a way to recreated that balance in our tanks?