10 gallon macroalgae setup...thoughts?

[LordJoshaeus]

Hi everyone! I have an empty 10 gallon lying around...it had been a high tech planted tank, but my indecision of what to keep in it (and consequent instability of water parameters) caused it to become algae infested, and I tore it down. I am still not quite sure what to do with it, but am seriously considering a macroalgae setup. How does this idea sound?
TANK; The ten gallon, of course
SUBSTRATE; None. Most macroalgae do not need a substrate as the bulk of freshwater plants do, so I was thinking I could skip the substrate and make cleaning the tank easier. (The macroalgae would simply be glued to live rock rubble)
FILTER; A 160 GPH internal power filter, filled with pillow stuffing for mechanical filtration. As the pillow stuffing will serve no biological filtration purpose, it will be rinsed out at every water change.
LIGHTS; Two 5000k BR30 bulbs, 8 hours a day. The lights emit 985 lumens each (no clue on PAR values)
SALT; Omega one salt
WATER CHANGES; 4 liters once a week. During each water change I will be siphoning detritus off the live rock, any fine macroalgae, and the tank bottom.
DOSING; As this will be a macroalgae tank, I will be dosing small amounts of nitrate, phosphate, perhaps potassium, and micronutrients through the week. Also, I will be dosing baking soda daily (enough to add about 1 degree KH to the tank) for the bicarbonates (which marine macroalgae will readily split to acquire carbon for photosynthesis).
SESSILE LIFE; Macroalgae. Not sure whether corals will be included.
FISH; Most likely a group of Pseudomugil cyanodorsalis, a very handsome euryhaline rainbowfish from northern Australia. I will try to spawn them at some point if I go this route, as they are reportedly VERY easy to breed by marine standards (no pelagic fry!).
SETUP; The tank would be set up with electronics (sans lights) and dry rock and will be dosed ammonia and beneficial bacteria daily (and receive weekly water changes) until 3 ppm ammonia is processed into nitrate within 6 hours. After this, the lights and macroalgae will be added and dosing will begin; I may temporarily do two water changes a week for the first month, and will still be dosing 1.5 ppm ammonia at night before I go to bed to maintain the cycle. Only after the first month with macroalgae will any fish or corals be added.

Thanks for your thoughts

 

[ichthyogeek]

I really like this! Here're my thoughts:

Some Caulerpa species (like C. prolifera) can do well on a sandbed, and look quite nice doing so. Just a something for you to think about. And all of the Caulerpa haters will tell you that it will go sexual. C. prolifera has less of a chance of doing so, especially when you give it what it needs (in this case, nutrients). Oh, and you can also use something like Miracle Mud which is supposedly better for macroalgaes by providing trace elements or something.

Make sure you dip your macros in fenbendazole to get rid of hydroids. They're a pain to get rid of if they get established in the tank, and will eat/sting a lot of fish fry.

For siphoning off the bottom of the tank, you might want to consider maybe doing a "raised bed" situation, where the live rock is lying on an eggcrate base that is suspended off the top of the tank, so it's easier for you to get all of the detritus out. I have had issues with vacuuming all the detritus out of a rubble tank, where the rubble is on the bottom of the tank.

Fishwise: also look into dwarf seahorses! Tagging in @sbash who also keeps P. cyanodorsalis.

Fertilization: There's some stuff called Guillard's F/2, but I'm not sure if that is useful for saltwater macroalgae nutrients dosing.

Microalgae: make sure you add a few snails! Astraeas haven't touched most of the macros in my tank, but they go to town on the microalgae that pops up from time to time.

 

[Alaeriel]

I'm a huge fan of codium macro; I've got a frag in my 20 gallon nano and they don't become tremendously overgrown

 

[Double monti 61]

Hi read the latest issue of Coral magazine it may help you make an educated decision.

 

[LordJoshaeus]

Thanks for all the insights!

I really like this! Here're my thoughts:

Some Caulerpa species (like C. prolifera) can do well on a sandbed, and look quite nice doing so. Just a something for you to think about. And all of the Caulerpa haters will tell you that it will go sexual. C. prolifera has less of a chance of doing so, especially when you give it what it needs (in this case, nutrients). Oh, and you can also use something like Miracle Mud which is supposedly better for macroalgaes by providing trace elements or something.

Make sure you dip your macros in fenbendazole to get rid of hydroids. They're a pain to get rid of if they get established in the tank, and will eat/sting a lot of fish fry.

For siphoning off the bottom of the tank, you might want to consider maybe doing a "raised bed" situation, where the live rock is lying on an eggcrate base that is suspended off the top of the tank, so it's easier for you to get all of the detritus out. I have had issues with vacuuming all the detritus out of a rubble tank, where the rubble is on the bottom of the tank.

Fishwise: also look into dwarf seahorses! Tagging in @sbash who also keeps P. cyanodorsalis.

Fertilization: There's some stuff called Guillard's F/2, but I'm not sure if that is useful for saltwater macroalgae nutrients dosing.

Microalgae: make sure you add a few snails! Astraeas haven't touched most of the macros in my tank, but they go to town on the microalgae that pops up from time to time.

I kept C. prolifera in a previous 10 gallon saltwater. It never went sexual, but DID grow excessively and became a pain to manage. Will likely avoid Caulerpa species or, at least, be more proactive about trimming them.

Yeah, I was going to do that to prevent hydroids from establishing themselves in the tank (though I was planning to breed the rainbows in a separate tank, as both the rainbows and any corals that I may use would also eat the eggs/fry). I have a product called 'no planaria' that I have used in the past to nuke hydras in my freshwater tanks; I do not know whether it contains fenbendazole, but if it works it seems more convenient to me than dosing a liquid goat dewormer.

The eggcrate idea is cool, and I may try it I could simply lift the rubble with the macroalgae attached (basically crude frag plugs) to get at any detritus beneath it. I was going to dose dry ferts like those used for freshwater planted aquariums...all my freshwater tanks at present are CO2 injected tanks. I'm pretty sure F/2 contains ammonia and would cause problems in a display tank...it is strictly intended for intensive microalgae culture. (With that being said...if I ever try to spawn a 'real' marine fish with pelagic larvae, I will likely culture Parvocalanus copepods, in which case I will need to culture microalgae anyway).

I have considered dwarf seahorses repeatedly in the past, but the fact they need daily feedings of live food (and will die if they miss a single feeding) always steered me away from them. Plus, rehoming the large number of (equally needy) offspring they inevitably produce when content did not appeal to me...at least the rainbowfish are straightforward to keep as adults.

 

[LordJoshaeus]

Here's a dumb question...does it matter where you trim macroalgae? I am assuming you want to trim caulerpa by cutting the rhizome in two (that's what I did in the past), but does it matter where you trim most other macroalgae? Can you trim just about anywhere and (A) not seriously harm the parent 'plant', and (B) get the trimming to grow into a new specimen?

EDIT: I forgot ANOTHER important question! How much dry rock should I use in this tank when it is set up? Would 10 lbs cut the mustard? I was thinking of setting it up in such a way that there is a 'peak' on one side of the tank, sloping down to no rock on the opposite side.

 

[najer]

I would also say c. prolifera, I love watching fish swim through it.

 

[LordJoshaeus]

I would also say c. prolifera, I love watching fish swim through it.

Are there any other Caulerpa species that are not prone to spontaneously going sexual? I really love the feathery appearance of a lot of the other species.

 

[najer]

Are there any other Caulerpa species that are not prone to spontaneously going sexual? I really love the feathery appearance of a lot of the other species.

I am trying to grow some of the feathery one now in my sump refugium, in my display refugium it is just tang food!
I also grow brachypus in the sump as tang food.
Buy what you like the look of and just "garden" once a week, get the ones like dragons breath and you could make money selling frags.