125 mostly macro tank planning

[Bluetangclan]

Yay I am retiring from the AF in the coming months and the wife is letting me set up a SW tank(she didnt want to deal with it with my constant deployments). So I am going to convert my cichlid tank back into the saltwater tank it used to be(never got deployed more than a month or two til I got married lol).

My history with SW tanks started back in college in the early 2000s when my roomate and I spontaneously decided to start a reef tank. Kept that reef through various moves forr about ten years.

My last tank was a macro tank about 8 years ago. Had it in my 75 bow front. I got mud/sand from Tampa Bay area from a guy who collected it from relatively untouched areas, and I got various grasses and such from him and a few online places. It was a ridiculously easy tank to keep. I had no skimmer and my marco grew massively and quickly. Halimida did well, I had insane numbers of pods from that mud. I had a few pipefish(its original purpose) and I could never get them to even consider frozen food given how much live was running around. I looked in the sump one night and it looked like a white ant nest.

So I have a 125 gal with a 40 gal breeder. I was thinking of making a mixed locally collected macro and maybe seagrass tank, with a few live rock islands, one a torch/hammer island and the other various colorful zoos. I am going to try and get the overflow in the corner covered by green star polyps or pulsing xenia. A few other smaller islands basically just to attach random macro and coral too. Sticking to LPS and softies for coral. No plans for SPS.

I have an auto-top off so will be putting a water tank of some sort beside the main tank for that. Ill camo it with a veneer or something to match the stand.

Now the real questions:
-In the sump, currently its unpartitioned. I used it basically for extra water, the heater, and to keep the water level in main tank stable. I was going to add two partitions, one for the in flow and one for the out-pump. Now for the center space, I am of two minds, either a skimmer of some sort or fill the space with live rock. Probably from TBS, where I will likely get a few pieces for the main tank. In the past I didnt need a skimmer, the macro really did alot of the work. But if I do get a skimmer, should I bother with an in sump skimmer or a hang on back skimmer? I obviously do not need hard core skimming. Whats a good brand these days?

-Lighting, I wish to go LED on this one. Whats a decent brand for less than $500. Reefbreeders used to be fairly good. Should work well for macros too right? I had some old T5s on my old tank, long since gone. Any other brands I should look at?

-Whats a good RODI system I can just hook to my faucet? We are on well here and have decent water quality. Never run actual tests for whats in the water.

 

[FartyParty]

I have a 50 gallon cube planted tank and run AI prime HD x2 at 60% brightness. I also run a refugium with all of the invasive non-display algae and a return pump. I have an octopus 110 externally plumbed to the return. This is all the lighting and filtration I need and I keep all types of coral in an overstocked tank. I run Triton for ease of use and have a BRS brand RODi unit directly hooked up to the ATO. The refugium runs a kessil H380 at full brightness for 6 hours per night.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Yay I am retiring from the AF in the coming months and the wife is letting me set up a SW tank(she didnt want to deal with it with my constant deployments). So I am going to convert my cichlid tank back into the saltwater tank it used to be(never got deployed more than a month or two til I got married lol).

My history with SW tanks started back in college in the early 2000s when my roomate and I spontaneously decided to start a reef tank. Kept that reef through various moves forr about ten years.

My last tank was a macro tank about 8 years ago. Had it in my 75 bow front. I got mud/sand from Tampa Bay area from a guy who collected it from relatively untouched areas, and I got various grasses and such from him and a few online places. It was a ridiculously easy tank to keep. I had no skimmer and my marco grew massively and quickly. Halimida did well, I had insane numbers of pods from that mud. I had a few pipefish(its original purpose) and I could never get them to even consider frozen food given how much live was running around. I looked in the sump one night and it looked like a white ant nest.

So I have a 125 gal with a 40 gal breeder. I was thinking of making a mixed locally collected macro and maybe seagrass tank, with a few live rock islands, one a torch/hammer island and the other various colorful zoos. I am going to try and get the overflow in the corner covered by green star polyps or pulsing xenia. A few other smaller islands basically just to attach random macro and coral too. Sticking to LPS and softies for coral. No plans for SPS.

I have an auto-top off so will be putting a water tank of some sort beside the main tank for that. Ill camo it with a veneer or something to match the stand.

Now the real questions:
-In the sump, currently its unpartitioned. I used it basically for extra water, the heater, and to keep the water level in main tank stable. I was going to add two partitions, one for the in flow and one for the out-pump. Now for the center space, I am of two minds, either a skimmer of some sort or fill the space with live rock. Probably from TBS, where I will likely get a few pieces for the main tank. In the past I didnt need a skimmer, the macro really did alot of the work. But if I do get a skimmer, should I bother with an in sump skimmer or a hang on back skimmer? I obviously do not need hard core skimming. Whats a good brand these days?

-Lighting, I wish to go LED on this one. Whats a decent brand for less than $500. Reefbreeders used to be fairly good. Should work well for macros too right? I had some old T5s on my old tank, long since gone. Any other brands I should look at?

-Whats a good RODI system I can just hook to my faucet? We are on well here and have decent water quality. Never run actual tests for whats in the water.

Thank you for your service! Army vet here.

Reef octopus skimmers are decent, parts are usually available for them if needed down the road. In sump skimmers are easier to use.

Based on your description of the sump layout, I would place the skimmer in the first section where your drains would come in at. Second section could be used for chaetomorpha or rock rubble.

Lighting, I'm using Chinese Black Boxes. 3, 165w Mars Aqua units. A few years ago I got all three shipped free for under $300. I did mod them to SB reeflights led diode layout (I keep SPS, lps and softies) SB reeflights is a good choice.

RO/DI units. BRS has decent units. 5-6 stage would work well for you.

 

[Bluetangclan]

Years ago I was unable to get a back and forth motion as if waves were going by overhead. Will modern wave makers do this without water going over the edge of the tank? I basically want to see the blades of macromoving back and forth like they do when I snorkle in shallow water.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Years ago I was unable to get a back and forth motion as if waves were going by overhead. Will modern wave makers do this without water going over the edge of the tank?

Oh yes, most definitely they will.
Most wave pump controllers will give you multiple options on wave and flow. A lot of options, a ton of control. Sizing the right wave maker pump for your application is key. Controlling it is easy.

 

[Bluetangclan]

On water quality note, any idea where(in broad terms, I dont want an exact address obviously)I can get my water checked for whats actually in it? I know theres a fairly high iron content in my water and its fairly hard. I do nothing to it for my cichlids but they are Africans and a bit hardier than SW stuff.

 

[Flippers4pups]

On water quality note, any idea where(in broad terms, I dont want an exact address obviously)I can get my water checked for whats actually in it? I know theres a fairly high iron content in my water and its fairly hard. I do nothing to it for my cichlids but they are Africans and a bit hardier than SW stuff.

A well maintained RO/DI unit will remove most contaminants. From there out there's :

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/icp-oes-testing-kit-triton-1.html

 

[Subsea]

RODI on a macro tank makes little sense to me. Protein skimmers are of little practical use in a macro lagoon with the exception to gas exchange and redox. There is no need for a skimmer, if you design your surface overflow skimmer correctly to provide maximum gas exchange as water tumbles into sump. I use reef rubble to assist with gas exchange, similar to wet dry filter.

@Bluetangclan
Welcome to the world of reefing. I started reefing in 1971 after four years in the Air Force. I grow macro for a livelihood. As I understand your goal, you wish to have a mixed garden macro lagoon. Seagrasses are much more difficult than seaweeds (macro algae). Caulerpa Prolifera looks like Oar Grass providing a meadow of undulating emerald green fronds.

Consider a reverse flow undergravel filter for your macro lagoon. I copied @Paul B design which worked for him for 47 years.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/wet-salty-for-christmas-2017.428100/

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/2...m-on-top-with-30g-ecosystem-mud-macro.421526/

 

[Subsea]

Get a water “whole house” water mineral test done for less than $30. Iron is good in a reef tank. Typically, hard water means calcium & magnesium. All coral and macro uptake large amounts of these two minerals. Why remove them with RODI only to add them later for alkalinity control.

https://www.wardlab.com/water-services.php

Add test for silicates for $6.

 

[vlangel]

I agree with @Subsea on not needing a skimmer or rodi water for a predominantly macro algae tank. Macro algaes actually flourish with iron in the water and they are pretty tolerant of other things as well. If its safe for humans, then I am sure it is fine for the marine life.

Macro tanks can be incredibly beautiful and they are relatively easy to maintain, not much harder than a cichid tank.

My seahorse garden uses T5s but they are quite old since the leathers, xenia and macros are not fussy about that.

There is an interesting thread on RC under the macro algae topic by Michael Hoaster called Caribbean seagrass biotope. Its his first try at seagrasses, he is currently redoing his tank to correct mistakes he made the 1st time and that thread is called Weeds. Anyway its an interesting read if you are really committed to seagrasses.

 

[Subsea]

Yay I am retiring from the AF in the coming months and the wife is letting me set up a SW tank(she didnt want to deal with it with my constant deployments). So I am going to convert my cichlid tank back into the saltwater tank it used to be(never got deployed more than a month or two til I got married lol).

My history with SW tanks started back in college in the early 2000s when my roomate and I spontaneously decided to start a reef tank. Kept that reef through various moves forr about ten years.

My last tank was a macro tank about 8 years ago. Had it in my 75 bow front. I got mud/sand from Tampa Bay area from a guy who collected it from relatively untouched areas, and I got various grasses and such from him and a few online places. It was a ridiculously easy tank to keep. I had no skimmer and my marco grew massively and quickly. Halimida did well, I had insane numbers of pods from that mud. I had a few pipefish(its original purpose) and I could never get them to even consider frozen food given how much live was running around. I looked in the sump one night and it looked like a white ant nest.

So I have a 125 gal with a 40 gal breeder. I was thinking of making a mixed locally collected macro and maybe seagrass tank, with a few live rock islands, one a torch/hammer island and the other various colorful zoos. I am going to try and get the overflow in the corner covered by green star polyps or pulsing xenia. A few other smaller islands basically just to attach random macro and coral too. Sticking to LPS and softies for coral. No plans for SPS.

I have an auto-top off so will be putting a water tank of some sort beside the main tank for that. Ill camo it with a veneer or something to match the stand.

Now the real questions:
-In the sump, currently its unpartitioned. I used it basically for extra water, the heater, and to keep the water level in main tank stable. I was going to add two partitions, one for the in flow and one for the out-pump. Now for the center space, I am of two minds, either a skimmer of some sort or fill the space with live rock. Probably from TBS, where I will likely get a few pieces for the main tank. In the past I didnt need a skimmer, the macro really did alot of the work. But if I do get a skimmer, should I bother with an in sump skimmer or a hang on back skimmer? I obviously do not need hard core skimming. Whats a good brand these days?

-Lighting, I wish to go LED on this one. Whats a decent brand for less than $500. Reefbreeders used to be fairly good. Should work well for macros too right? I had some old T5s on my old tank, long since gone. Any other brands I should look at?

-Whats a good RODI system I can just hook to my faucet? We are on well here and have decent water quality. Never run actual tests for whats in the water.

Welcome to the hobby addiction. I have been doing it for 48 years. Ken Feldman articles on carbon dosing in reef tanks documented that protein skimmer skimmate was 98% free swimming bacteria. Considering that bacteria are food for corals and numerous filter feeders why remove live food from the tank. Food on the reef is transported by the “microbial loop”. I don’t like foam fractionators in a reef tank. If you crowd fish in a tank, then you might need one.

If you choose to put rock in your sump, make it porus so that pods can colonize it. I use small bags of reef rubble and cycle them into display tank as pod condos. Mandarins are perfect choice to add to your macro lagoon.

 

[Katrina71]

And post pics. If you don't have a macro source, try The Macro Man on eBay. You can find him easily by searching nori clip holder. Tell him I sent ya... he'll hook you up.

 

[Subsea]

With respect to your lighting, I get dependable service from Mars Aqua lights, American made black box .
On your 120, I would recommend three 160W units at $110 each. No bells and whistles. Two adjustments for spectrum balance. With equal channel intensity, the color spectrum is about 14K.

Pictures are off my 120G new build with one original 160W black box and a new 300W Black box.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/wet-salty-for-christmas-2017.428100/


https://www.amazon.com/MarsAqua-Dim...pID=51HjexO3JfL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

 

[Bluetangclan]

Houster and I used to talk back and forth a bit back when I had my seagrass tank. The old RC thread had some of my posts on it. Not new, just been out for awhile and tech has changed a bit lol. Funny how alot of the names I knew on RC are here and RC lost a ton of its people especially the VIPs that used to show up like Fenner and FMarini.

Going to be a little while til I start it, just trying to figure out equipment so I can add something to my CHristmas lists heheh. Still have a couple months here in the desert.

I remember PaulB's undergravel filter, I watched his old RC thread for years. It was the tank that the hard core tech guys blew gaskets over since it went so far against the grain. If I remember, he had gravel, not sand didnt he?

Thanks for the link Kat, Ill be doing some local collection on some snorkel trips south to Jupiter but more exotic and cool looking stuff I will have to order so I will look him up.

 

[Subsea]

BlueTangclan said:
[I remember PaulB's undergravel filter, I watched his old RC thread for years. It was the tank that the hard core tech guys blew gaskets over since it went so far against the grain. If I remember, he had gravel, not sand didnt he?]

@Paul B
This veteran remembers you from “blood & guts” days at RC. I told him I mimicked your RFUG design, except as it turns out, I used 2” of aroggonite at .1 -1.0 mm and you used much coarser substrate.

I had an epiphany about you & clams there at Montauk Point involving a remote refugium full of clams. I still laugh when I think of you eating fresh clams with your red wine, then cleaning off clams from the table by dumping the shells in the reef tank.

Paul, you bring much wisdom, knowledge and experience to these hobby forums. Most of all, you bring humor and laughter. Thank you for that my friend.
Your Cajun friend,
Patrick

@Bluetangclan
Always glad to see vets. Paul was Air Calvary in the Highlands during Vietnam. I was an Air Force crew chief on Puff the Magic Dragon during the same time. We both started marine tanks in 1971.

 

[Subsea]

@Bluetangclan

Tell us about why you choose the handle. Also, don’t get too hot in the desert.

 

[Bluetangclan]

When I first joined RC I needed a user name and my college roomate was listening to Wu Tang Clan at the time. kind of just flowed together.

 

[Subsea]

When I first joined RC I needed a user name and my college roomate was listening to Wu Tang Clan at the time. kind of just flowed together.

The name fits the hobby, I don’t know about that music.

I retired from the deepwater offshore drilling industry as a Subsea Engineer on underwater blowout preventers. On one dynamic positioned drillship, I set up a small reef tank using once thru circulation from salt water “sea chest”. It became “the spot” to eat or drink coffee in the galley. I got a bad reputation with being brutal with eliminating “bad behavior” in reef community. An aggressive hermit crab had dismembered 2 of 5 legs on serpent starfish and as the “steward of harmony” in this reef community I excercised judgement by removing one claw. Two weeks later, the same hermit crab compleated removal of all starfish legs. Summary judgement was excercised and I feed hermit crab to the tuna fish in the
Deep Blue of 5000’ of Gulf of Mexico water.