Low Maintenance Reef Plan (Freshwater Planted Mindset)

[Teebo]

I have been in the freshwater planted tank hobby for several years now, I have really enjoyed it and tried all types of aquascapes from wild jungle to Japanese style Iwagumi. The last year or two I have been researching everything I need to know to start a marine tank which is making me loose interest in my freshwater tanks. Right now I have a 2 gallon riparium and a 16 gallon Iwagumi, the 2G seems to be just as much if not more maintenance than the 16G!

My thinking is that a well planned out small reef tank would be less maintenance than freshwater. I have never really been a big fish person so I have no worries of dealing with a large bio-load, I was always into the plants and the fish just complimented the scenery...inverts interest me though. The problem with both tanks is I have to manually dose Excel daily because I choose to not complicate them with CO2. With the Iwagumi I have to constantly trim the carpet of dwarf baby tears, and then net it all from the surface, then tiny pieces randomly come loose throughout the week so that stands out to me with it being rimless and I find myself with a cup of water and a tooth brush collecting the tiny pieces. The small tank needs trimming just as much since its smaller and also has a carpet, plus tiny vines and needs constant nit-picking. I think number one problem here is the trimming and cleanup of what you trim off. The only thing I have going for me is the shrimp keep the plants clean and snails keep my glass clear enough for me to not have to ever clean my glass.

With a reef tank there is no constant trimming, fragging is done less often than maintenance-trimming in freshwater aquascapes. The only thing is I am going to be heavily drawn to trying to aquascape with macro-algae and base my live stock around that (non macro eaters) so hopefully macros will not require as much trimming. I will attempt to maintain my glass with snails the way I have been in freshwater, the trick is you need to feed them, if you have enough snails to keep the glass clean they will constantly be hungry without supplemental food imo.

I do not mind using dosing pumps and an ATO, and doing water changes will be minimal since I will be for sure using macro-algae along with emerging marine plants. I may even try using my macro-algae in 1 or 2 corners of the tank with spot lights on staggered timers, so the coral is lit during the day and the macros are lit as night...keeping photosynthesis and pH stable. I know people do this with refugiums but I want to use an AIO without a sump to keep it simple.

With this low maintenance theme I have to keep the salt creep in mind when choosing a tank, I really love rimless tanks so I think my only option is to get an etched tank where the rim is not fully transparent. I have seen them on the internet before mostly used with wave makers though. I was at my LFS here in Tampa FL when I saw the Cobalt C-Vue lineup of tanks which got me thinking about ditching my freshwater tanks and finally getting into a marine setup. I was between their 18 gallon and the 40 gallon...not that I really want a 40 gallon tank but the panoramic dimensions of it are attractive to me, plus the room for red mangrove roots since I have amazing access to a legal mangrove selection (calm down people lol).

Suggestions?

 

[ReefInskeep]

I’m interested in starting a freshwater planted tank around 3-7 gallons. Any tips on websites, books, blogs, etc. that I can dive into and learn from?

As far as your plan goes, as a rough draft it looks okay to me. Salt creep isn’t that bad, and as the tank matures hopefully coralline algae is a bigger problem. Water changes are debatable, depending on what livestock you choose you may not need them very often, but for the vast majority of tanks the first year I strongly suggest a regular water change schedule. After that, as it matures, hopefully you can get away with bacterial, sponge and algal filtration eliminating the need for regularly scheduled water changes. The macro-corners in an AIO lit by spotlights would likely be okay, but you’d have to try to limit light-spill into other areas of the tank to discourage nuisance algae growth, depending on light used. I’d suggest you come up with a plan for what you want the tank to be, SPS dominant, LPS, mixed, Softie, etc. Then figure out what you’ll need before starting, and follow the plan. Also, test, test, test. Failure to monitor key parameters often leads to major issues in newer tanks. Stability is paramount.

Take it slow & do your research thoroughly before doing anything. My biggest mistakes when getting into the reefing hobby (as a teenager) were not having a plan & letting impulse rule the livestock choices, then most others were caused by being reactive and fiddling with things too much, seeking perfection and being impatient. I learned most things the hard way. lol BRSTV has become an excellent resource, along with this forum and many other websites like advanced aquarist, etc.

 

[Reefer1978]

I used to be a planted guy, moved to reefs 4-5 years ago. Was a huge ADA fan, so a rimless tank was also a must for me. I don't think you need a frosted/etched rimless tank, salt creep is not as bad as you think. The green algae/slime at the water edge of planted tanks is almost worse.

With a reef, it take time to mature, about a year. My latest tank is 20 months in. I barely have to clean the glass, snail actually stay on the rock most of the time as glass no longer grows diatoms for them to eat. Salt creep is an issue mostly on the overflow/connectors, glass itself is not bad, weekly 10 second paper towel wipe-down is all you need. Scraping off coraline algae is by far a more time-consuming task if you want the glass pristine.

You don't need to frag unless you want to unlike planted tanks. You can let them overgrow for years without it becoming an issue.

Water changes will still be required. They are mostly used to replenish micro-elements, not so much to deal with N/P nutrients (I am guessing that's what you meant with mention of refugium). Or you may want to go the way of dosing micros, then you don't need to rely on large water changes.

 

[Teebo]

I used to be a planted guy, moved to reefs 4-5 years ago. Was a huge ADA fan, so a rimless tank was also a must for me. I don't think you need a frosted/etched rimless tank, salt creep is not as bad as you think. The green algae/slime at the water edge of planted tanks is almost worse.

With a reef, it take time to mature, about a year. My latest tank is 20 months in. I barely have to clean the glass, snail actually stay on the rock most of the time as glass no longer grows diatoms for them to eat. Salt creep is an issue mostly on the overflow/connectors, glass itself is not bad, weekly 10 second paper towel wipe-down is all you need. Scraping off coraline algae is by far a more time-consuming task if you want the glass pristine.

You don't need to frag unless you want to unlike planted tanks. You can let them overgrow for years without it becoming an issue.

Water changes will still be required. They are mostly used to replenish micro-elements, not so much to deal with N/P nutrients (I am guessing that's what you meant with mention of refugium). Or you may want to go the way of dosing micros, then you don't need to rely on large water changes.

The last few years I have been running a 55G planted community, and am finally ready to start looking at a SW tank. I think I will seek a 33G and reuse the 55G stand....may not be rimless but I like the shallow panoramic dimensions of the 33G.

I thought it was bad to let corals touch each other even of the same species so fragging becomes necessary in that scenario?

Even with FW planted tanks if all your nitrates are being consumed and the water is clear allowing you to basically not have to do WCs it is still necessary from time to time to remove some toxins that build up over time from my experience but I can see a planted reef tank requiring very few small WCs over time if done right.

 

[Teebo]

I’m interested in starting a freshwater planted tank around 3-7 gallons. Any tips on websites, books, blogs, etc. that I can dive into and learn from?

As far as your plan goes, as a rough draft it looks okay to me. Salt creep isn’t that bad, and as the tank matures hopefully coralline algae is a bigger problem. Water changes are debatable, depending on what livestock you choose you may not need them very often, but for the vast majority of tanks the first year I strongly suggest a regular water change schedule. After that, as it matures, hopefully you can get away with bacterial, sponge and algal filtration eliminating the need for regularly scheduled water changes. The macro-corners in an AIO lit by spotlights would likely be okay, but you’d have to try to limit light-spill into other areas of the tank to discourage nuisance algae growth, depending on light used. I’d suggest you come up with a plan for what you want the tank to be, SPS dominant, LPS, mixed, Softie, etc. Then figure out what you’ll need before starting, and follow the plan. Also, test, test, test. Failure to monitor key parameters often leads to major issues in newer tanks. Stability is paramount.

Take it slow & do your research thoroughly before doing anything. My biggest mistakes when getting into the reefing hobby (as a teenager) were not having a plan & letting impulse rule the livestock choices, then most others were caused by being reactive and fiddling with things too much, seeking perfection and being impatient. I learned most things the hard way. lol BRSTV has become an excellent resource, along with this forum and many other websites like advanced aquarist, etc.

Its been 6 years since I started this thread and have primarily just had a 55G FW nano community....I am so over regular trimming and replanting propagates. Have housed just about all my nano species on my bucket list and am getting board. After a lot of thought I want to reuse the 55G stand and start a 33G planted reef without a sump, just keep it simple with some HOBs for media and power-heads.

Here is a good example of what I want to accomplish but with much more rock and coral, along with emerging mangroves. Not a fan of the high kelvin lighting on most reef tanks so I am hoping I can keep things under 7000K with higher temps as supplements when I am not home if needed.

As for coral types, since I am a community guy and like diversity I would be looking at a mixed tank...something like 50% SPS with the other half 50/50 between LPS and softs (so SPS dominant?)

I never rush into anything, which is the whole point of starting a low risk tank to get my feet wet. It took me over a year to plan my current 55G before it event went wet. BRS-TV is great I watch a lot of those guys!

 

[Teebo]

Now, what I am about to post next is highly controversial so please do not hate on me and ban me. Being that I live literally on the central West coast of FL I spend a lot of time walking the beach and often find little tiny pocket size chunks of dead coral and reef rock. I went out after hurricane Helene and again after Milton both of which destroyed my community and noticed much larger chunks of beached rock and coral. Hear me out - all of this is destine to be smashed into pieces by the currents until its turned into dust and absorbed back into the ocean. I am not removing anything from any active systems or even from the proximity of even a dead system...this is all beached and dried when found. While I am out there I am also collecting trash from the beach so my intentions are good!

This is a small sample of some of the things I have collected and my plan is to give it a second life in a planted reef tank. I can build the entire hardscape from native collected pieces, kind of reminds me of how I got into FW planted tanks by collecting plants from local ponds and rivers well before buying anything. It would all have to undergo lots of water changes to flush any traces of pollutants, sunscreen, etc.

I know there are many types of reef rock so I am not sure what types make up the Florida reefs, but I find 4-5 different types here including a much heavier very white and solid non-porous rock that always has tiny shells embedded in it.....I find it unattractive so I do not collect it, plus its so heavy.

Do different types of coral prefer different types of reef rock? Would it thrive better growing on top of the same species of dead coral? If some reef rock is made up of dead coral than what came first the coral or the rock? lol

Can anyone help identify the pieces? I am not sure what the rounded top left coral is, or the top middle 2 which are extremely light coral, and I know the top right is staghorn. The bottom 2 appear to just be reef rock, but 2 very different yet consistent textures. The bottom left is the heaviest and typically found in larger chunks, where the bottom right is lighter always with much smaller holes, gray in color and found in smaller pieces.

 

[asiu0009083]

I have been in the freshwater planted tank hobby for several years now, I have really enjoyed it and tried all types of aquascapes from wild jungle to Japanese style Iwagumi. The last year or two I have been researching everything I need to know to start a marine tank which is making me loose interest in my freshwater tanks. Right now I have a 2 gallon riparium and a 16 gallon Iwagumi, the 2G seems to be just as much if not more maintenance than the 16G!

My thinking is that a well planned out small reef tank would be less maintenance than freshwater. I have never really been a big fish person so I have no worries of dealing with a large bio-load, I was always into the plants and the fish just complimented the scenery...inverts interest me though. The problem with both tanks is I have to manually dose Excel daily because I choose to not complicate them with CO2. With the Iwagumi I have to constantly trim the carpet of dwarf baby tears, and then net it all from the surface, then tiny pieces randomly come loose throughout the week so that stands out to me with it being rimless and I find myself with a cup of water and a tooth brush collecting the tiny pieces. The small tank needs trimming just as much since its smaller and also has a carpet, plus tiny vines and needs constant nit-picking. I think number one problem here is the trimming and cleanup of what you trim off. The only thing I have going for me is the shrimp keep the plants clean and snails keep my glass clear enough for me to not have to ever clean my glass.

With a reef tank there is no constant trimming, fragging is done less often than maintenance-trimming in freshwater aquascapes. The only thing is I am going to be heavily drawn to trying to aquascape with macro-algae and base my live stock around that (non macro eaters) so hopefully macros will not require as much trimming. I will attempt to maintain my glass with snails the way I have been in freshwater, the trick is you need to feed them, if you have enough snails to keep the glass clean they will constantly be hungry without supplemental food imo.

I do not mind using dosing pumps and an ATO, and doing water changes will be minimal since I will be for sure using macro-algae along with emerging marine plants. I may even try using my macro-algae in 1 or 2 corners of the tank with spot lights on staggered timers, so the coral is lit during the day and the macros are lit as night...keeping photosynthesis and pH stable. I know people do this with refugiums but I want to use an AIO without a sump to keep it simple.

With this low maintenance theme I have to keep the salt creep in mind when choosing a tank, I really love rimless tanks so I think my only option is to get an etched tank where the rim is not fully transparent. I have seen them on the internet before mostly used with wave makers though. I was at my LFS here in Tampa FL when I saw the Cobalt C-Vue lineup of tanks which got me thinking about ditching my freshwater tanks and finally getting into a marine setup. I was between their 18 gallon and the 40 gallon...not that I really want a 40 gallon tank but the panoramic dimensions of it are attractive to me, plus the room for red mangrove roots since I have amazing access to a legal mangrove selection (calm down people lol).

Suggestions?

dang your setup looks pretty neat. Would love to follow a build thread if you have one.

I've got some experience with with a low maintanence majority macro tank(every 1-2 months water change + trimming and feeding) and though I'm not sure about how fast freshwater plants grow you WILL need to trim the macros. Maybe avoid caulerpa sp. if you don't want to do it as often. Blue Hypnea, Udotea, Penicilus and some Halimeda sp. are pretty slow growers, maybe once a month trim at most. Gracilaria is so-so depending on how much light it gets. But yeah, it's definitely possible.

IME monitoring nitrate, phosphate and calc alongside some trace elements like Iron or Manganese or Zinc and some others as those are the nutrients that get depleted the quickest. Don't worry about ph, it fluctuates pretty heavily depending on day/night both in the reef and the ocean anyways. Good flow and lighting is surprisingly important with some of the more sensitive macros. Also regarding phycotoxin production I'm not sure how much it really matters and I couldn't find any studies within the aquarium back when I had my tank but a ton of macroalgae release them and they have been shown to prevent predation and other macroalgae growth in the wild so I run carbon just in case.

Everything everybody else has been saying applies as well. Use RODI, have patience, use tons of rock and sand etc...

Anyways, been rambling a bit too long. Good luck and hope it works!

 

[Teebo]

dang your setup looks pretty neat. Would love to follow a build thread if you have one.

I've got some experience with with a low maintanence majority macro tank(every 1-2 months water change + trimming and feeding) and though I'm not sure about how fast freshwater plants grow you WILL need to trim the macros. Maybe avoid caulerpa sp. if you don't want to do it as often. Blue Hypnea, Udotea, Penicilus and some Halimeda sp. are pretty slow growers, maybe once a month trim at most. Gracilaria is so-so depending on how much light it gets. But yeah, it's definitely possible.

IME monitoring nitrate, phosphate and calc alongside some trace elements like Iron or Manganese or Zinc and some others as those are the nutrients that get depleted the quickest. Don't worry about ph, it fluctuates pretty heavily depending on day/night both in the reef and the ocean anyways. Good flow and lighting is surprisingly important with some of the more sensitive macros. Also regarding phycotoxin production I'm not sure how much it really matters and I couldn't find any studies within the aquarium back when I had my tank but a ton of macroalgae release them and they have been shown to prevent predation and other macroalgae growth in the wild so I run carbon just in case.

Everything everybody else has been saying applies as well. Use RODI, have patience, use tons of rock and sand etc...

Anyways, been rambling a bit too long. Good luck and hope it works!

Thanks, I do not have a build thread yet but when I officially start the tank I will post one.

I did see a few videos talking about how some macro species require more trimming than others I think one of them was a kelp. Would not be opposed to a background of sea grass and it should be easy enough to uproot and pull the runners in foreground with my long tools. Read up on some species being a risk if they go sexual in the tank or experience a nutrient crash. I plan on stocking lots of Gorgonians which I believe is actually a coral? The Caribbean Biome tanks are really attractive with the Gorgonians IMO.

Will certainly monitor those perimeters, are macros harder to melt when hit with a nutrient crash like in freshwater planted tanks? Do they have a longer tolerance for low nutrient windows? Although I do not plan to run a refugium on this build, I will in the future so I can implement reverse photosynthesis cycles for a more stable pH because there will always be photosynthesis occurring in the water column both day and night between the display and refugium.

Rather than run carbon I plan on running Purigen which is my go-to for all my FW tanks vs. carbon....it should absorb potential phycotoxins right? Regarding the lighting I already have 2 Fluval Plant 3.0 lights on my 55G which is overkill so they should work fine on a 33G and still able to produce most blue spectrums required for corals.

Yup I already run RODI for my 55G FW tank so I am already setup for that, just need to continue collecting this beached rock and broken coral.....current debate is which rock to use I have several varieties and not sure if straight up dead coral would make a better base for new corals than reef rock. It would certainly look cooler!

 

[asiu0009083]

That dosing setup is gonna be insane with the fuge lol.

TBH I've never used Purigen but I heard they do different things entirely, so probably non-replacable. Also avoid Kelp. Lighting and nutrient reqs are way too high. Make sure to also slowly adjust the macros up to stronger lighting, especially the reds.

So for the issue of macros going sexual it only happens when other things in your tank go wrong(nutrient crash, too much light, toxins etc...) so its more a symptom than a cause. Idk too much about freshwater but macros are pretty resilient. When I had nutrients bottom out the only macro that was impacted was caulerpa and all I had to do was remove the sections that were dying and it was fine.

For gorgs make sure you get the photosynthetic ones. The nps ones don't do well under high light or the parameters that macros thrive in. It's possible to keep them but for me I had to plan ahead, mark out where I wanted to put them and figure out flow/lighting before I even filled the tank with water.
Reef rock and dead coral are the same thing 99% of the time. Just whichever one looks better. Gotta boil them too. What's the livestock plans?

 

[vlangel]

Hi Teebo, here is my low maintenance macroalgae mixed reef.

 

[Teebo]

That dosing setup is gonna be insane with the fuge lol.

TBH I've never used Purigen but I heard they do different things entirely, so probably non-replacable. Also avoid Kelp. Lighting and nutrient reqs are way too high. Make sure to also slowly adjust the macros up to stronger lighting, especially the reds.

So for the issue of macros going sexual it only happens when other things in your tank go wrong(nutrient crash, too much light, toxins etc...) so its more a symptom than a cause. Idk too much about freshwater but macros are pretty resilient. When I had nutrients bottom out the only macro that was impacted was caulerpa and all I had to do was remove the sections that were dying and it was fine.

For gorgs make sure you get the photosynthetic ones. The nps ones don't do well under high light or the parameters that macros thrive in. It's possible to keep them but for me I had to plan ahead, mark out where I wanted to put them and figure out flow/lighting before I even filled the tank with water.
Reef rock and dead coral are the same thing 99% of the time. Just whichever one looks better. Gotta boil them too. What's the livestock plans?

I have been using it in place of carbon for a decade and swear by it, but my application is tannin removal and its advertised application is for organics removal. It keeps your water crystal clear, people constantly question if I have water in my tank at all at certain angles. It lasts 6 months and you can simply recharge it and reuse so its cheaper than carbon. Last time I looked into all this a product called Chemi-pure was the SW equivalent.

Well if the lighting requirements are too high that is not a problem as I run my planted tank on a very long 16-18 hour lighting cycle every day....but it ramps up and down slowly with long low light periods outside the peak. Two Fluval Plant 3.0 lights on my 55G are overkill and I do not even go above 20% brightness at the cycle peaks, but it changes in color temperature as well matching the sun.

Regarding nutrient requirements that is another aspect I will have to look into with kelp because it seems like you really complicate things with a mixed tank of corals and macros; you need enough nutrients for the macros without it effecting the corals. Sounds like you answered my questions about how tolerant they are to nutrient crashes before you notice and need to dose...because I could see that becoming a negative feedback loop where the nutrient crash melts your macros which in turn pollutes the water and kills the corals. With the red macros do they require high iron the way red FW plants do? The high light requirement seems to be a constant with reds between FW and SW.

I have been reading a lot about that the last few nights about sticking with photosynthetic gorgs which makes sense, the NPS ones would defeat my goals with this tank. I collect these on the beach all the time for crafts and decor, are these gorgs?

Boil the rock you say? Hmm well I think mainly granted I have enough of it I will be using chunks of dead plate coral and such with a rock filler base under it if that is the case as you say....but I cannot help but think there must be a trend of what certain types of coral species are more naturally found thriving on particular rock types, surface textures or mineral ratios such as a rock with a higher concentration of calcium over another one.

Livestock plans are still up in the air, I want to keep it nano sized species with possibly a larger centerpiece fish or two, lots of inverts and cleanups in ratio with the waste load (do not want to have to feed cleanup crew - only supplement their diet when needed). I know I gotta have a goby that is a must, preferably one that buries and spits sand lol. For example I keep a 55G planted tank with nothing larger than 2-3" they have no clue they are in captivity and the longer you look the more fish you see but appears mostly calm from a distance. I am big into nano schools so if I could get a school of SW nano fish that would be desirable.

Unfortunately after calling around Aqueon has discontinued their 33G long tanks so I have to reconsider what I want to do for a tank now. Not ready to dive into the complexity of a sump system until after I move in a year or two so I am looking at AIO options, and whether or not I want to start small or shutdown my 55G FW tank and focus on a larger reef tank in that case I would just convert the existing 55G to SW....but I heard running a canister on SW tank is not recommended.

Hi Teebo, here is my low maintenance macroalgae mixed reef.

Thank for sharing! Looks like your macros are mostly all Gorgonians?

 

[asiu0009083]

I have been using it in place of carbon for a decade and swear by it, but my application is tannin removal and its advertised application is for organics removal. It keeps your water crystal clear, people constantly question if I have water in my tank at all at certain angles. It lasts 6 months and you can simply recharge it and reuse so its cheaper than carbon. Last time I looked into all this a product called Chemi-pure was the SW equivalent.

Well if the lighting requirements are too high that is not a problem as I run my planted tank on a very long 16-18 hour lighting cycle every day....but it ramps up and down slowly with long low light periods outside the peak. Two Fluval Plant 3.0 lights on my 55G are overkill and I do not even go above 20% brightness at the cycle peaks, but it changes in color temperature as well matching the sun.

Regarding nutrient requirements that is another aspect I will have to look into with kelp because it seems like you really complicate things with a mixed tank of corals and macros; you need enough nutrients for the macros without it effecting the corals. Sounds like you answered my questions about how tolerant they are to nutrient crashes before you notice and need to dose...because I could see that becoming a negative feedback loop where the nutrient crash melts your macros which in turn pollutes the water and kills the corals. With the red macros do they require high iron the way red FW plants do? The high light requirement seems to be a constant with reds between FW and SW.

I have been reading a lot about that the last few nights about sticking with photosynthetic gorgs which makes sense, the NPS ones would defeat my goals with this tank. I collect these on the beach all the time for crafts and decor, are these gorgs?

Boil the rock you say? Hmm well I think mainly granted I have enough of it I will be using chunks of dead plate coral and such with a rock filler base under it if that is the case as you say....but I cannot help but think there must be a trend of what certain types of coral species are more naturally found thriving on particular rock types, surface textures or mineral ratios such as a rock with a higher concentration of calcium over another one.

Livestock plans are still up in the air, I want to keep it nano sized species with possibly a larger centerpiece fish or two, lots of inverts and cleanups in ratio with the waste load (do not want to have to feed cleanup crew - only supplement their diet when needed). I know I gotta have a goby that is a must, preferably one that buries and spits sand lol. For example I keep a 55G planted tank with nothing larger than 2-3" they have no clue they are in captivity and the longer you look the more fish you see but appears mostly calm from a distance. I am big into nano schools so if I could get a school of SW nano fish that would be desirable.

Unfortunately after calling around Aqueon has discontinued their 33G long tanks so I have to reconsider what I want to do for a tank now. Not ready to dive into the complexity of a sump system until after I move in a year or two so I am looking at AIO options, and whether or not I want to start small or shutdown my 55G FW tank and focus on a larger reef tank in that case I would just convert the existing 55G to SW....but I heard running a canister on SW tank is not recommended.


Thank for sharing! Looks like your macros are mostly all Gorgonians?

Yeah so my bad iseems like there's better ways to cure the rock than boiling now. Always make sure to double check before just taking any blind advice. Also I mean as long as it can remove the eavy metals, organics and other nasties it works.

Anyways so what you have here is Gorgonin aka gorgonian skeletons. I wouldn't add them personally because as far as I'm aware they don't have the same benefits as aragonite but can still bring hitchhikers in the tank. Just make sure to clean them beforehand. In terms of what coral grows on other coral its basically coral growing on the skeletons of dead coral. The stuff all dead hard coral is made of is exactly the same. Aragonite is one form of calcium carbonate which is alkaline so it'll help with ph, especially if you do keep hard corals.

I kept an acropora and a montipora in my majority macro mixed reef so I really wouldn't worry about nutrients that much. Just figure it out as you add the livestock which nutrients to supplement and when. In my case after a couple months of daily maintenance things just settled into a routine pretty neatly. You're going to need a fair amount of iron no matter which macro you choose. This is a pretty good intro but I highly recommend digging into more specific research papers about which macros require what and designing around that.

Reds IME are the least tolerant to strong light then brown and green both like their light. The spectrums matter as well for the type of macroalgae. Reds do well under mostly blue-greens or spectrums whereas brown and green are a bit more tolerant. In reality it depends on the environment they come from and varies from species to species so do research. If you don't want to overthink it whatever works for corals plus a little white will work for most of them.

Also you want a sump. The tank I had was the waterbox 35.2 AIO and maintanence was a nightmare compared to someone else I knew's reef tank with a sump. With an AIO you'll need to reach all the way to the back of the tank anytime you want to do maintenance, splash saltwater everywhere and all the wires will end up tangling. Aside for making sure not to spill water on the wires when the water evaporates there are these salt crusts that form on them that are a pain. I had a couple power heads, a heater, an auto phyto farm, 2 lights, an ATO and a doser. It ended up looking really messy. A sump may be more pain at first but you won't regret it. I used a canister on my old jellyfish experiment and it worked fine. Gotta clean it more often cus it builds up junk quickly and becomes a nutrient factory. Also a PITA to open every week. Good flow is more important than any filtration in that kind of tank anyways.

By the way correct me if I'm wrong. Don't diamond gobies need a super larger sand surface area and DSB cus they starve to death often in aquariums?

 

[Teebo]

Thanks for confirming on the Gorgs, I didnt see any spots for polyps so was not sure but I have no intention of adding them to my tank as they seems organic and prone to breakdown....I just collect them for crafts and home decor. Everything I collect that is intended to be put into the tank however will be thoroughly dried...can hitch hikers make it through that? Maybe dormant eggs but nothing alive I can imagine?

If I understand you correctly regardless of the species of hard coral their mineral makeup and ratios are basically all the same, but maybe some of the rock I am collecting is made up of a lesser percentage of Argonite than others? They certainly do not look similar.

Interesting so reds are the opposite in SW in terms of light requirements vs FW!

The sump is really a topic of debate for me as if I am going to use a sump its going to be elaborate and I just don't have the time and room for it until after I move including drilling the display, overflow boxes are a hit or miss. I would not be running all that jazz in an AIO sump it would be a basic tank until I move and setup a more automated tank with space for a sump. This primarily for messing with macros and a few hardy corals, manual top offs, etc.

If the temporary canister creates nutrients and I am running a high nutrient demand tank with Mangroves and Macros with a light bio load what could go wrong? The canister is oversized for my 55G with dual returns one of which is a SpinStream so flow would be strong but still require power head(s).

I have no clue on the Diamond Gobies.