Pico Tanks with Only MacroAlgae and Snails

[GirlWithFish]

Hello everyone!
I have been keeping freshwater tanks for a long time but am new to saltwater. I currently don’t have a saltwater tank set up but I have 6 freshwater tanks ranging from heavily planted tropical community tanks to cold water goldfish. I was recently gifted two beautiful rimless tanks, one 2.5 gallon and one 5.5 gallon. I was going to set them up as dirted tanks that would use only natural sunlight for plant growth. They are sitting in front of a North facing window with my other dirted tanks (if anyone here is familiar with the Walstad method for freshwater that is what I have here). The new tanks will have small sponge filters for water aeration/surface agitation. I was going to set them up as freshwater invert (snails and shrimp) tanks but my good friend who does saltwater thinks I can set them up as macroalgae only tanks with marine snails. Thoughts? Take into account they will only have natural sunlight, no special lights. How hard would this be? Is it doable? I also love water changes so that’s not an issue for me, even daily. Let me know thoughts Also I’ll add I’m very experienced with terrestrial/freshwater plants so not a beginner with freshwater but a total newb for saltwater

 

[afrokobe]

Natural sunlight is pretty strong for reef tanks. There is a build here that uses a sun roof, but for a tank that small I think you might run into issues even as a macro algae tank. I think you are better off not placing in the window and controlling the lighting to match your tank needs. Especially since this is your first saltwater tank, I wouldn't try complicating things more than you need to. You can use freshwater lights for macro algae tanks. Chihiros works great.

edit: freshwater changes are not the same as saltwater changes. I would not want to be doing manual water changes everyday. Even if you buy the water that will add up.

 

[GirlWithFish]

Natural sunlight is pretty strong for reef tanks. There is a build here that uses a sun roof, but for a tank that small I think you might run into issues even as a macro algae tank. I think you are better off not placing in the window and controlling the lighting to match your tank needs. Especially since this is your first saltwater tank, I wouldn't try complicating things more than you need to. You can use freshwater lights for macro algae tanks. Chihiros works great.

edit: freshwater changes are not the same as saltwater changes. I would not want to be doing manual water changes everyday. Even if you buy the water that will add up.

Yes good point with the water changes. I could consider moving the tanks, if I was going down the macroalgae route I would probably move them. Not sure how doable the pico tank is though, especially for my first saltwater tank

 

[vlangel]

I have kept saltwater tanks with just sunlight and it is doable. Macroalgae need nutrients so having some small fish and shrimp, snails and such would help feed a tank like that.

 

[GirlWithFish]

I have kept saltwater tanks with just sunlight and it is doable. Macroalgae need nutrients so having some small fish and shrimp, snails and such would help feed a tank like that.

Do you suggest a different type of filter besides a sponge filter?

 

[vlangel]

Do you suggest a different type of filter besides a sponge filter?

When I kept my 2 sun lit aquariums, ( 5 and half gallon aquarium, and 1 gallon jar) I did not have any mechanical/chemical filtration, only biological filtration from live rock. The other means of water quality I used was weekly water changes. I did about a 50% water change on the 5 and 1/2 tank and I did a 100% water change on the 1 gallon jar but it was mostly coral and not macroalgae. I do not think I would ever do 100% water change for macroalgae unless you are feeding the tank and insane amount of food. I like my nitrates to be 25 ppm at least and the phosphates to be .25 ppm to feed the macros. Sorry I don't have any pics of the macro aquarium. I originally set it up to keep brackish pipefish and grass shrimp. I fed the grass shrimp to my seahorses and wanted a cheap aquarium to keep them in. It only had an open airline tube as far as equipment. The macroalgae was so the shrimp felt safe, and some food, although I did feed the shrimp and pipefish.

 

[CoastalTownLayabout]

It’s doable and any advice from vlangel is worth listening to.

 

[Tired]

You're almost definitely going to wind up dosing nutrients, and you likely aren't going to need a lot of water changes. Water changes in saltwater tank are to remove excess nutrients (not a problem in macro-dominant setups) or to replenish calcium, magnesium, and such that are used up by corals. If neither of those needs doing, and there hasn't been any sort of contamination, no water change is required. Calcified macros will need those as well, but you might be better off dosing them instead of replacing them via water changes, in order to avoid removing nutrients.

Definitely doable! But maybe a little finicky. You might consider asking around on nano-reef.com as well; there are a lot of people who keep pico tanks (which these are), including macroalgae-dominant picos, running around on there.

 

[GirlWithFish]

When I kept my 2 sun lit aquariums, ( 5 and half gallon aquarium, and 1 gallon jar) I did not have any mechanical/chemical filtration, only biological filtration from live rock. The other means of water quality I used was weekly water changes. I did about a 50% water change on the 5 and 1/2 tank and I did a 100% water change on the 1 gallon jar but it was mostly coral and not macroalgae. I do not think I would ever do 100% water change for macroalgae unless you are feeding the tank and insane amount of food. I like my nitrates to be 25 ppm at least and the phosphates to be .25 ppm to feed the macros. Sorry I don't have any pics of the macro aquarium. I originally set it up to keep brackish pipefish and grass shrimp. I fed the grass shrimp to my seahorses and wanted a cheap aquarium to keep them in. It only had an open airline tube as far as equipment. The macroalgae was so the shrimp felt safe, and some food, although I did feed the shrimp and pipefish.View attachment 3047255View attachment 3047256

Thank you this was super helpful! In your 5.5 gallon are you just keeping shrimp, or are there some other inverts as well that could do well in this? And what type of shrimp? Sorry for the million questions haha I love your tanks!

 

[GirlWithFish]

You're almost definitely going to wind up dosing nutrients, and you likely aren't going to need a lot of water changes. Water changes in saltwater tank are to remove excess nutrients (not a problem in macro-dominant setups) or to replenish calcium, magnesium, and such that are used up by corals. If neither of those needs doing, and there hasn't been any sort of contamination, no water change is required. Calcified macros will need those as well, but you might be better off dosing them instead of replacing them via water changes, in order to avoid removing nutrients.

Definitely doable! But maybe a little finicky. You might consider asking around on nano-reef.com as well; there are a lot of people who keep pico tanks (which these are), including macroalgae-dominant picos, running around on there.

Thank you for the tips!

 

[vlangel]

Thank you this was super helpful! In your 5.5 gallon are you just keeping shrimp, or are there some other inverts as well that could do well in this? And what type of shrimp? Sorry for the million questions haha I love your tanks!

I think I may have had a few small snails, not many though. I ordered grass/ghost shrimp for my seahorses to have live food. I liked to gut load ( Dan's Feed) the ghosties to make them more nutritious for my seahorses. That food probably put a lot of nutrients in the tank. I had grape caulerpa and red titan, a halimeda macro in the tank.

 

[GirlWithFish]

I think I may have had a few small snails, not many though. I ordered grass/ghost shrimp for my seahorses to have live food. I liked to gut load ( Dan's Feed) the ghosties to make them more nutritious for my seahorses. That food probably put a lot of nutrients in the tank. I had grape caulerpa and red titan, a halimeda macro in the tank.

Great thanks!