Tigahboy's Macroalgae Tank(s)

[Tigahboy]

Also, this tank will be 2 years old this month. A couple recent shots.

 

[WheatToast]

Not sure what this hitchhiking macroalgae is, but I love me some free hitchhiking macroalgae.

How’s the Batophora doing?

 

[Eagle_Steve]

I've been battling dinos (ostreposis) in ALL of my macroalgae tanks. It's been pretty annoying. I've just elevated nutrients, continuing to dose phyto, and running a UV sterilizer. But I have to rotate the UV among the tanks given how many macroalgae tanks I have running. Here's a recent photo of my beach lagoon right before it got hit with the current bout of dinos (3rd time dealing with dinos in this specific tank now).

The one thing that helped out with dinos in my macro tank was dosing ammonia and keeping NO3 at 5-10/PO4 at .08-.1.

Ammonia provided the majority of the food for the macros and the residual nutrients kept dinos away.

@Subsea also does ammonia and has success with it.

Also, I am not talking about a ton of ammonia. Just enough dosed throughout the day to what would be .1 to .2 at the highest point if tested.

 

[Tigahboy]

How’s the Batophora doing?

Disappeared. -_-

The one thing that helped out with dinos in my macro tank was dosing ammonia and keeping NO3 at 5-10/PO4 at .08-.1.

Ammonia provided the majority of the food for the macros and the residual nutrients kept dinos away.

@Subsea also does ammonia and has success with it.

Also, I am not talking about a ton of ammonia. Just enough dosed throughout the day to what would be .1 to .2 at the highest point if tested.

Interesting re ammonia. I may try that on my macro tanks without any fish. My NO3 is almost never below 20 (typically it's higher) and my PO4 is also never below .1.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

Disappeared. -_-


Interesting re ammonia. I may try that on my macro tanks without any fish. My NO3 is almost never below 20 (typically it's higher) and my PO4 is also never below .1.

In tanks your size, we are talking around .1-.3 ml of austins clear ammonia ( 5% by volume). So not much at all. Somewhere there is a handy calculator for tank volume to dosing. Let me see if I can find it.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

Here it is. Defaults to 5ppm and 10%, so change that your desired number and then to 5% if using Austins.

Ammonia Calculator for Aquariums - Spec-Tanks

I included this calculator in my article on performing a fishless cycle but wanted to make it a separate post for easier access. This is a simple calculator. Make sure to select your units (gallons or liters) as a first step (based on your preference). The concentration depends on the ammonia...

spec-tanks.com

 

[NoahLikesFish]

have you read diana walstad's book, it explains aquatic horticulture and how algae works really well and its useful

 

[Tigahboy]

have you read diana walstad's book, it explains aquatic horticulture and how algae works really well and its useful

I have not. I'll check it out!

 

[Tigahboy]

I'm in a posty mood today. I got a pair of ORA Tiger Tail Seahorses (cuz you know me and tigers/tigahs) for my IM 30L. They are still getting settled and not really out and about yet, but I managed to capture this one shot.

I love seahorses, but their feeding requirements have deterred me from keeping them. I kept a pair back in 2005 and the live feeding multiple times a day was hard, so I gave up and re-homed them. The pair I got has been fed with frozen mysis, so that's helpful and since I WFH, I can keep up with multiple feedings now. So figured why not. Wish me luck!

 

[Eagle_Steve]

I'm in a posty mood today. I got a pair of ORA Tiger Tail Seahorses (cuz you know me and tigers/tigahs) for my IM 30L. They are still getting settled and not really out and about yet, but I managed to capture this one shot.

I love seahorses, but their feeding requirements have deterred me from keeping them. I kept a pair back in 2005 and the live feeding multiple times a day was hard, so I gave up and re-homed them. The pair I got has been fed with frozen mysis, so that's helpful and since I WFH, I can keep up with multiple feedings now. So figured why not. Wish me luck!

You got this. Not to mention, I am sure you have plenty of pods lol.

 

[Subsea]

Here it is. Defaults to 5ppm and 10%, so change that your desired number and then to 5% if using Austins.

Ammonia Calculator for Aquariums - Spec-Tanks

I included this calculator in my article on performing a fishless cycle but wanted to make it a separate post for easier access. This is a simple calculator. Make sure to select your units (gallons or liters) as a first step (based on your preference). The concentration depends on the ammonia...

spec-tanks.com

I an not so familiar with above calculator. I used Austin Clear ammonia at 5% concentration. I used 10ml per 20G of water. It really depends on light intensity and volume of seaweed. I dose after lights come on and photosynthesis is promoting uptake of alkalinity and moving carbon (glucose) up the food chain.

@Dana Riddle said it best in an article on Advanced Aquaria, “photosynthesis brings the inorganic & the organic world together”.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

I an not so familiar with above calculator. I used Austin Clear ammonia at 5% concentration. I used 10ml per 20G of water. It really depends on light intensity and volume of seaweed. I dose after lights come on and photosynthesis is promoting uptake of alkalinity and moving carbon (glucose) up the food chain.

@Dana Riddle said it best in an article on Advanced Aquaria, “photosynthesis brings the inorganic & the organic world together”.

Dang, didnt realize it was that much 20g for ya. I have always been on the lower side of things then lol.

 

[Tigahboy]

Blue hypnea carpet doing it's thang in the UNS 5N.

A macro shot of one of my NPS gorgs in the IM 30L.

A macroalgae bowl I put together recently.

 

[Mr_Knightley]

Blue hypnea carpet doing it's thang in the UNS 5N.

A macro shot of one of my NPS gorgs in the IM 30L.

A macroalgae bowl I put together recently.

What kind of spectrum are you growing the Hypnaea under? I would assume you'd need a lot of red & white, since the blue surface reflects the blue light?

 

[Tigahboy]

What kind of spectrum are you growing the Hypnaea under? I would assume you'd need a lot of red & white, since the blue surface reflects the blue light?

I've been growing blue hypnea well under full spectrum lighting. They just need higher light intensity, a good amount of nutrients, and decent flow to thrive.

 

[Tigahboy]

The current state of my bowl.

 

[Soren]

The current state of my bowl.

That bowl just looks amazing! It really compliments your artistic style with the tanks, small air plants, and curio-sort-of look to your shelf, in my opinion. Every time I see your new posts, I'm inspired.

We must have similar tastes in artistic appearance/style and balance, though mine is hardly manifested right now at all in reef tanks due to limited time.

 

[Tigahboy]

That bowl just looks amazing! It really compliments your artistic style with the tanks, small air plants, and curio-sort-of look to your shelf, in my opinion. Every time I see your new posts, I'm inspired.

We must have similar tastes in artistic appearance/style and balance, though mine is hardly manifested right now at all in reef tanks due to limited time.

Thank you!

Here's the whole shelf. My empty UNS tank gallery.

 

[NoahLikesFish]

how would you incoroporate macroalgae into a mixed reef in a way thats aesthetically pleasing & naturalistic. i dont want just a bunch of caleurpa on the sand bed.

 

[Drewerd7]

Thank you!

Here's the whole shelf. My empty UNS tank gallery.

I must agree with Soren.. the bowl is the next great step in the curiosities of the Tigah!
It continues to inspire hobbyists across stylistic and economic limitations.. pushing the envelope and questioning boundaries.

At risk of getting way too philosophical, I will add that this shelf as a whole summarizes the constant evolution of our interests as aquarists. It contains past knowledge from others in the field (books), a current project (fish bowl), and future potential (empty UNS tanks). It's where art and human touch meet nature, science, and the inexplicable capacity for life.

It's pretty much magic. Keep gettin' it!