My 40gal macroalgae tank

[Gregg @ ADP]

As part of my Classroom 180g Mixed Reef, I have a 40g Macroalgae tank. It is the filtration for the 180, but I don’t consider it a refugium, because it is its own display containing fish, inverts, coral, etc.

Anyway, when I originally started this system, I added some Caulerpa prolifera. It went crazy, and I had to thin it out a bit. Then, I added some maricultured live rock from Gulf Live Rock. That along with scraping algae out of other systems, started to boost the algae diversity. I ended up w/a few types of Caulerpa, and some other turfs, a little Halimeda, etc.

The algae does really well…a little too well, actually. I don’t have any other filtration elements other than algae and mangroves to filter the 180, but my NO3 and PO4 levels are almost always bottomed out. I got tired of it just being dominated by Caulerpa, so I decided to pull a bunch and add some frags of several other macros…mainly reds.

Ordered a 10pc grab-bag from Mosaic Corals, and got the shipment in yesterday. Everything looked great. Not sure exactly what everything is…have some Dragon’s Breath, red gracilaria, sargassum, etc.

Today I managed to get all the Macroalgae frags mounted on rocks:

The plan for tomorrow is to remove about 60-70% of the existing Caulerpa, weed out some of the filamentous algae and cyano that’s creeping in (I just completed a huge overhaul of the 180 that consisted of me tearing the entire tank down, so the GHA and cyano had some life breathed into it), and then rearrange the tank to feature the new macros.

After that, I am going to be working to manage this tank to feature a bunch of fish, inverts etc that would not be able to compete in the main display. I’ll use this thread to chronicle that journey. Follow along.

 

[Subsea]

I will follow along. Consider calling it a display refugium.

One week ago, I started a similar sceanario, except it was to the 120G display that was set up 5 years ago in which a 40G breeder is used as a cryptic refugium. I received 40 pounds of diver collected live rock from the Gulf of Mexico and spread it out amongst 3 systems:
120G at 5 years mature, 75G at 25 years mature and 150G Rubbermaid tub.

After 1 week, three different Caulerpa species started growing at an excelerated rate. I can’t keep up with nitrogen demand of the fastest grower, Caulerpa Paspoidies. I removed all three Caulerpas’s from brightly lit 120G tank and transferred into dimly lit 150G Rubbermaid tub.

Now, I have emerging Dragons Breath (Halamenia) and Pom Pom macro (Gracilaria Hayi).

 

[amygetsalife]

I look forward to seeing it progress.

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

I will follow along. Consider calling it a display refugium.

One week ago, I started a similar sceanario, except it was to the 120G display that was set up 5 years ago in which a 40G breeder is used as a cryptic refugium. I received 40 pounds of diver collected live rock from the Gulf of Mexico and spread it out amongst 3 systems:
120G at 5 years mature, 75G at 25 years mature and 150G Rubbermaid tub.

After 1 week, three different Caulerpa species started growing at an excelerated rate. I can’t keep up with nitrogen demand of the fastest grower, Caulerpa Paspoidies. I removed all three Caulerpas’s from brightly lit 120G tank and transferred into dimly lit 150G mRubbermaid tub.

Now, I have emerging Dragons Breath (Halamenia) and Pom Pom macro (Gracilaria Ha

Caulerpa is definitely one you need to keep and eye on and manage. I think that because it is unicellular, it can just add mass so much quicker than the other algae.

I’m going to have to be diligent about keeping the Caulerpa growth down. I like it…just not an entire tank of it.

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

Reworked the macro tank yesterday. Pulled a few lbs of Caulerpa out, rearranged some rocks, and placed the new macros:

This is after I pulled a bunch of Caulerpa

This is the aftermath.

 

[Subsea]

Reworked the macro tank yesterday. Pulled a few lbs of Caulerpa out, rearranged some rocks, and placed the new macros:

This is after I pulled a bunch of Caulerpa

This is the aftermath.

What red macros am I looking at. I have never been able to grow Sargassum. In 1970, when I first started a marine tank, I lived near Galveston and during the Summer when the Sargassum came in, before it would beach, I collected neat little fish. I collected Condalacti anemone and peppermint shrimp on the jetties. I seined grass shrimp and green mollies from salt water marshes. For salt water I collected incoming tide water in Houston “ship channel”.

Two weeks ago, I got a shipment of 40 lbs from GLR that I spread out between 3 tanks. Check out some of the nicest pieces:

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

What red macros am I looking at. I have never been able to grow Sargassum. In 1970, when I first started a marine tank, I lived near Galveston and during the Summer when the Sargassum came in, before it would beach, I collected neat little fish. I collected Condalacti anemone and peppermint shrimp on the jetties. I seined grass shrimp and green mollies from salt water marshes. For salt water I collected incoming tide water in Houston “ship channel”.

Two weeks ago, I got a shipment of 40 lbs from GLR that I spread out between 3 tanks. Check out some of the nicest pieces:

I need to sit down and key the reds out. It was a mystery 10 pack, so nothing had names. Love the sponge growth. I’ve got some maricultured rock in there that has some decent sponge growth, as well as a good number of clams.

I have never intentionally done Sargassum. I had a 3000g reef I took care of years ago that had a couple thousand pounds of Fiji live rock. A few weeks after going in, the sargassum was going crazy. Everybody was freaking out, but I suggested adding a few naso tangs. 4 were added to the tank, and the sargassum was gone in 2 weeks.

But I love the way it looks, so I’m hoping it gets going.