Tigahboy's Macroalgae Tank(s)

Tigahboy · Mar 6, 2026

Gumbies R Us said:
Those are incredible looking!

Thank you!

Tigahboy · Mar 6, 2026

Some recent shots of my UNS 90LA.

Tigahboy · Mar 10, 2026

My UNS R80 is actually leaning more macroalgae now with a recent addition of halimeda (but also added more gorgonians as well). FTS from last night.

littlefishy · Mar 11, 2026

Any pumps or airlines in the bowls?

Tigahboy · Mar 12, 2026

littlefishy said:
Any pumps or airlines in the bowls?

Yup I have pumps and heaters in all my bowls. I am using a tiny Hygger wave maker for my main/medium sized bowl and just two standard tiny pumps for the smallest bowl.

Dustbunny · May 1, 2026

You have inspired me. I just read through the whole thread (great thing to do when feeling sick

) I was planning a second tank in the next couple months but I wasn't sure what to do. I think I found my answer.

I am coming from hightech planted tanks background and I love all the colors of the micro algae and how different it is from what you can create with plants. And I think having two tanks that look extremely different would be amazing. Also, I love that you only need basic equipment and you don't even need to inject co2 to get the bright colors. My stand can hold another tank but it definitely cannot hold much more equipment.

You were talking about trimming a lot. Are you trimming every couple days? Once a week? Are there be micro algea you only need to trim every couple weeks? I am a huge fan of lower maintenance tanks and I avoid stem plants for that reason. I'm would hate to start a tank that takes massive amounts of trimming.

And did you ever create the care sheet for all the different types of macro algae?

Do you need RODI water or would RO water be fine? I have an RO filter but didn't get the full RODI because it isn't necessary for a planted tank.

This is my tank. It is still very new and growing in but as I noticed with your thread,multi-tank syndrome is real.

AlexLT · May 5, 2026

Tigahboy said:
My UNS R80 is actually leaning more macroalgae now with a recent addition of halimeda (but also added more gorgonians as well). FTS from last night.

Perfect. Gorgonians and macroalgae.

Tigahboy · May 19, 2026

Dustbunny said:
You have inspired me. I just read through the whole thread (great thing to do when feeling sick ) I was planning a second tank in the next couple months but I wasn't sure what to do. I think I found my answer.

I am coming from hightech planted tanks background and I love all the colors of the micro algae and how different it is from what you can create with plants. And I think having two tanks that look extremely different would be amazing. Also, I love that you only need basic equipment and you don't even need to inject co2 to get the bright colors. My stand can hold another tank but it definitely cannot hold much more equipment.

You were talking about trimming a lot. Are you trimming every couple days? Once a week? Are there be micro algea you only need to trim every couple weeks? I am a huge fan of lower maintenance tanks and I avoid stem plants for that reason. I'm would hate to start a tank that takes massive amounts of trimming.

And did you ever create the care sheet for all the different types of macro algae?

Do you need RODI water or would RO water be fine? I have an RO filter but didn't get the full RODI because it isn't necessary for a planted tank.

This is my tank. It is still very new and growing in but as I noticed with your thread,multi-tank syndrome is real.

Wow, I'm impressed you managed to get through all of that. I trim probably weekly or every other week. Admittedly, I've gone longer, but just means things will become a jungle and you'll have to trim more to get things back in fighting form. I don't have a care sheet unfortunately, but something I'm interested in developing (it's just all in my head right now). On the RO vs RODI issue, I think it depends on the starting point of your water (how impure it is), but also, while I think macroalgae will be fine in general with RO alone, if you plan to keep other marine inhabitants and coral, RODI will likely be the better choice.