Newbie 20 gallon macroalgae build

[Elijah F]

Alright, so a quick introduction: hi, I'm Elijah, and I've been working with freshwater planted tanks for around 5 years. This is my very first saltwater tank, and while I do aim to get a couple corals later on, my primary goal with this tank is to grow macroalgae. Seeing planted macroalgae tanks was what brought me into the salty side of the hobby; sure the fish and corals are beautiful too, but as someone with a naturally green thumb, I loved the idea of growing plants in a saltwater tank. So without further to do, here's my tank:

Okay, It's certainly not much right now, but it's still only 2 months old. That being said, there are some noteworthy elements I'd like to share.

As mentioned, it's a standard 20 gallon aquarium. Not too big to the point of burning through my wallet, but still large enough to house some neat creatures. The equipment is pretty simple too: I'm running an Aquaclear 30 on one end, a koralia 240gph pump on the other, an inkbird thermostat and a fluval 50 watt heater. I also have an old freshwater nicrew light on top for now, but I ordered a higher quality saltwater nicrew light that will hopefully get here soon. The tank also gets natural sunlight for 3-4 hours a day through the window. I also designed and built a diy lid, made from polycarbonate panels and carbon fiber windowscreen. I might be a newbie to saltwater, but I know the dangers of "flying fish", and have similar lids on my other freshwater aquarium.

Also, because I'm pretty cheap resourceful, I crafted sponge covers for both the filter cover and powerhead. Yes, they need cleaning, but they keep the equipment clean and free from debris, while also acting as a safeguard for future animals. Also yes, I'll clean them in a little bit.

Speaking of animals, there aren't many so far; just a couple snails, hermits, and lots of pods. I plan on adding more animals, which I'll list below, but for now I'm happy watching these derpy little inverts do their thing.

And as for macroalgae, I've got some chaeto, gracilaria hayi, caulerpa prolifera, bryothamnion triquetrum, and some gracilaria parvispora. The latter macro has been struggling in my tank, and keeps on turning white and dying. I dose chaetogro, neonitro and neophos daily, so my only other guess is that lighting is an issue. There are a few seemingly healthy strands in the shader parts of the tank, so I'm hoping that with the newer light being higher par but less bright, it will help this fussy species grow better. Otherwise, the other macros are doing pretty well so far, and the chaeto in particular has been growing like crazy lately!

In terms of future plans, we'll, I certainly have them. I'll of course be adding more macros once the tank is better established, and I might even get some soft corals like xenia or Kenya tree species. I also want to get more inverts as well; dove snails, collonista snails, feather dusters, porcelain anemone crabs, sexy anemone shrimp, peppermint shrimp, candy cane pistol shrimp, rock flower nems and many more miscellaneous inverts are on my radar for the future.

Fish, on the other hand, has been a bit more tricky for me to decide on. In the many months I've been researching saltwater aquarium care, I've bounced around several ideas; mandarin dragnets (nope!), dwarf seahorses (probably nope?), and neon dottybacks (tripple nope!) Are all fish that I've seen and become enthralled with, only to find out that they either fare poorly in aquariums, are difficult to keep, or are absolute jerks to other fish.

So, while I still haven't thuroughly decided yet, here's my current list of potential future inhabitants:

1 ocellaris clown

1 tigrigobius multifasciatus

1-2 elacatinus sp.

1 Koumansetta rainfordi

1 yasha or yellow watchman goby

1 bluestripe pipefish

*Note that all these options are available captive bred; as an avid reptile and fish keeper too, one of my biggest moral principles around pets is ethical sourcing, and I wouldn't feel good about dragging a fish from the sea just to shove it into a glass box. Aside from some of the inverts which are nonexistent captive bred, I aim for my tank to be almost entirely captive in origin.

There are certainly more updates to come, and let me say that despite the water changes, ugly stages and costs, I'm loving the saltwater hobby so far, and I'll do my best to update here every once in a while so I can share my experiences with other enthusiasts.

Thanks for reading, I'll end this with a cute pic of my gecko Butterscotch to brighten your day a little!

 

[blaxsun]

Plantrific!

 

[Elijah F]

Oh, I should also address the shells; no they aren't piles of rotting dead snails, they're empty seashells for the hermits. I set this up before knowing exactly how many hermits I'd get, or how big theyd be. Is it a bit overkill? Perchance. But I like the look, and over time different algaes will hopefully grow on them to create really neat textures.

 

[Elijah F]

10/8/22 update: just got in a nicrew reef light as an early Xmas gift, and the improvement is phenomenal!! Just see for yourself!

My macros and future coral are gonna love this, stay tuned for future updates later on!

 

[OldRed1]

Very cool tank! I am a huge fan of macros, too! Excited to see how your tank comes along!

 

[Elijah F]

12/18/22 update: it seems that due to the new light, my tank has entered a second "ugly stage" with dinos and diatoms covering many surfaces. Its particularly been difficult to keep them off the macroalgae, especially the spiny razor algae. I'm on the lookout for snails (dove, collonista, etc.) that'll help keep the macros free of diatoms, but have had no luck so far in my area.

 

[teela]

Very cool! I'm setting up my first reef tank and have actually ordered some macro algae before any corals. Real reefs have algae! I'm excited to watch your tank evolve

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I like the tank and the idea for it!!!

 

[Diastro]

Any updates?

 

[Elijah F]

Update 2/7/2023
Sorry for taking so long to give an update, and late happy new year! I do have quite a bit to report on, though not all of it is happy. Infact, I'm starting to question whether this hobby is actually for me.

The first thing you'll notice when you see the tank now is how...****** it looks. Specifically, the cloudy water and nuisance algae growth. I've been having some serious nutrient issues in the tank, and honestly I can't tell if I've been dosing too much or too little. I change around 10-20% of the water each friday with RO saltwater, and top off the water with fresh RO water too. It seems that each time I do a water change, a bacterial bloom follows shortly after and lasts up until the next change, if not longer. Right now my nitrite is up a bit too high, but everything else seems normal, infact the nitrate and phos are a bit too low despite my dosing schedule. Speaking of, I dose around 2 capfuls each of chaetogro, neophos and neonitro each night, and while they don't really pick up on my tests, the macroalgae still seems to be growing alright.
Oh and yes, I did wipe down the front glass for each photo. The water is just that disgustingly cloudy.

I've had some ups and downs with my macroalgae experience so far. The chaeto is doing fine, and is pretty hardy and fast growing. The red gracilaria species are doing pretty fine, though they've grown pretty slowly to say the least. The razor algae has been struggling, getting debris and distoms caught in it's spines, blocking it from growing or getting light. I scrub it off whenever I can, but while it's still alive, I haven't seen any new growth yet. The caulerpa, though expected to be especially hardy and fast growing, has had a couple issues in my tank. A few weeks ago, it started dying off, loosing fronds that would turn clear and disintegrate. Keep in mind that I was still dosing ferts back then, but in smaller quantities. Now that I've upped the dosage it seems to be doing better, rapidly growing a lot of new fronds. Yet, only time will tell if it can truly thrive, and since I don't have any fish in it yet, I'll have to keep manually dosing ferts to keep it's appetite satiated.

Speaking of fish, or lacktherof, I've learned something important about reefkeeping over these past few months. You see, just as you shouldn't get into cattle farming if you live in a big city, you shouldn't get into saltwater aquariums if you don't have good local fish stores around. Whith these issues I've mentioned, you might be wondering "well, why don't you just get some snails for the algae problems and some fish to keep the nutrients more stable?" Well, I would if I could, but my lfs' have been less than pisspor recently. I only have 3 within 30 miles of me, and one of them's a petco for Pete's sake! The other 2 aren't much better; both usually carry sickly, overpriced livestock, and one of them totally screwed me over the other week, as they claimed to have some of the snails I needed when in actually, the had literally sold out when I arrived and wouldn't get any back in for months on end, at least according to them. Needless to say, I don't have a lot of good variety for my tank right now. I've considered trying to get livestock online, but not only is it too cold to ship where I'm at this season, but online prices must hit the gym each day, cause they're JACKED! one site I found that actually carries the snails I need (which will eat nuisance algae but leave macros alone) charges $20 for 5-10 snails, which is a good deal to me, but the outrageous $70 shipping plus other "handling fees" are enough of a deal breaker to me, at least for now. Point is, it's hard to get the organisms i need to establish a healthy ecosystem in the tank due to the lack of availability around me. I have had some new hitchhikers show up; I found a colony of small isopods a couple days ago, which was only exciting. But if the most exciting thing in your saltwater tank are some 1 mm grey sea bugs, you know your tank is pretty bad.

At this point, I haven't truly enjoyed my tank for a couple weeks. It just feels like a money pit that I've spent a lot of time and resources caring for, without much reward so far. I want to keep it up for at least another 6-8 months,but honestly I'm starting to think that saltwater isn't for me. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I've decided to try it out, but this might be the last saltwater tank I set up for a while.

 

[Elijah F]

Any updates?

Sorry I'm late, just posted an update.

 

[AydenLincoln]

Well hello there Butterscotch! You are so cute!

 

[Diastro]

Aww this is so sad that it's not been working out.

Despite the issues I don't think the tank looks bad honestly.

Are your from the US by chance? If so you can pick up some macro algae super cheap on ebay, specifically seller 333 aquatics. Not only did I get good macro, but I also specifically asked for inverts to be included in my order. I received some stomatella snails, Medusa sea cucumber, amphipods, Asterina star fish, bristle worms, copepods, etc.

I know these might be considered pests to a lot of reefers but to me they're super fun, especially since my tank is similarly empty.

Maybe you can find more enjoyment in your tank with these critters, add more life and help everything start getting cleaned up.

I hope it turns around for you, I didn't think saltwater was for me either but I'm finding joy in macroalgae. Good luck friend.

 

[Elijah F]

Update 3/5/2023

The tank is finially starting to look nice again, and I have to say, while it's still not perfect, I'm really liking how the macros are growing in.

The water's finially clearing up, I believe in part due to me switching the brand of salt used for water changes. Instead of using instant ocean reef crystals, which I recently ran out of, I picked up a bag of fluval sea marine salt instead, which I used for this last water change. Despite only 2 days of being in the system, the tank is considerably clearer than before. I'm also guessing the nutrients have balanced out now, since a lot of the diatoms and nuisance algae has died back. Regardless of how it happened, im just thankful i can see through the glass again.

As you can see, the macros are really starting to fill in now, especially the chaeto and gracilaria. Amazingly, the small branch of razor algae I had has survived the diatom invasion, and now has some new growth on it! The caulerpa is still growing strong, and thankfully I haven't seen any more die off yet. However, I was informed that die off is actually normal for caulerpa, and that many species grow in cycles or spurts when nutrients are avaliable. So it's good to know that it's still healthy and has likley been healthy the whole time. It's just a matter of keeping my dosing consistent and stable. The dragon's tounge algae I have has to be one of my favorites, as it has these gorgeous orange spots that glow like lava when the blue lights are on.

The little critters in the tank are thriving, and have do e a great job keeping the macroalgae clean of debris. Currently there are munnid isopods, dorvilleidae worms, some type of small flatworm, various ostracods and copepods, and a few amphiods living in the tank, all of which are pretty interesting to see.

I still don't have any fish; I know, it's far overdue and i'm still debating which species to start with. I think that rather than getting a common clownfish, which might more quickly eliminate all the cool, teeny life forms in the tank, I might get a small elacatinus or tigrigobius goby to start. My family's been insistent on getting a mandarin dragnet, though I've had to explain to them countless times that my tank would not be appropriate for one, as well as how they need lots of rigorous care, attention and food. I have been considering getting a bluestripe pipefish though, which while similar to the mandarin in dietary needs, is allegedly hardier and less demanding to care for. It also has vibrant colors too, so would make for a good substitute.

Right now it's just a matter of finding a good store with healthy fish in it. Hopefully I'll have at least one fish in the tank by the time I update next.

 

[Elijah F]

9/14/2023: I didn't quit the hobby! Sorry it's been a while since I last posted on the forum, but my tank is still up, and while it's still not perfect, I've learned to grow content with it.

So first things first: I actually have fish in the tank. A while back I added 3 little friends; 2 skunk clowns and a neon goby. The goby has long since disappeared, they don't live long anyways so no surprise there, but the two clowns are certainly still alive. Infact, despite a period of sickness/deformation of some sort, they've bounced back and are healthier and more eactive than ever.

They love hiding in all the macroalgae, their fronds being similar to the anemones they'd host in nature. Speaking of the macroalgae, it's grown wildly over these past few months, and I actually have to remove clumps of it on a near weekly basis.

The water now stays mostly clear, outside of water changes and routine cleanings. The tank isn't really balanced yet though; film and bubble algae have become quite the nuisance in the tank, and it's quite tedious to scrub off the glass and rockwork. I'm hoping I'll be able to get my hands on some inverts to help manage it soon, but it's really hard to find macro-safe inverts in my area, so my own hands will have to do for now.

I am thinking of potentially getting another fish or two to make the tank more livley, such as a pipefish or some barnacle blennys. For now though, I'm glad I didn't tear the tank down and quit the hobby, as I absolutely love my little tank now, flaws and all.

 

[Don'tMindWhatYouCallMe]

Hey, I am also trying to setup a macroalgae tank. Well, the tank has been running for some years now and I'm still trying to keep some alive. How is your tank doing?