Tigahboy's Macroalgae Tank(s)

[Key Largo]

Beautiful tank. I have been toying with the idea of adding a sequestered area (in a container) with macro in my display tank for nutrient export. I have had success with cheato etc. in my sump refugium area. But the additonal work and mess it created in my sump, because of lighting growing all kinds of stuff all over the other equipment, made me abandon it. Cannot grow it directly in DT because the fish I have would not let it thrive. I am using a 5x5x12" long perforated container close to the lights (135gal mixed reef DT). I know this would work better on a reverse light cycle, but is there any nutrient export value in doing it this way? I got the idea because certain types of macro started growing organically on wave makers and powerheads already close to surface where fish cannot get at it. Alternately, I have been thinking about doing a dedicated macro tank, connected to my main display, just have to figure out the plumbing system. Of course this is after seeing macro tanks like the poster's. Is this feasible? Both for nutrient export and the beauty and challenge of keeping a second display. I would probably light it on the same schedule as my DT, as a reverse schedule would ruin the dark period of the main tank. Any thoughts? BTW I have also tried an ATS instead of refugium, but space constraints and constant tweaking lead me to abandoning that also.

 

[Tigahboy]

Beautiful tank. I have been toying with the idea of adding a sequestered area (in a container) with macro in my display tank for nutrient export. I have had success with cheato etc. in my sump refugium area. But the additonal work and mess it created in my sump, because of lighting growing all kinds of stuff all over the other equipment, made me abandon it. Cannot grow it directly in DT because the fish I have would not let it thrive. I am using a 5x5x12" long perforated container close to the lights (135gal mixed reef DT). I know this would work better on a reverse light cycle, but is there any nutrient export value in doing it this way? I got the idea because certain types of macro started growing organically on wave makers and powerheads already close to surface where fish cannot get at it. Alternately, I have been thinking about doing a dedicated macro tank, connected to my main display, just have to figure out the plumbing system. Of course this is after seeing macro tanks like the poster's. Is this feasible? Both for nutrient export and the beauty and challenge of keeping a second display. I would probably light it on the same schedule as my DT, as a reverse schedule would ruin the dark period of the main tank. Any thoughts? BTW I have also tried an ATS instead of refugium, but space constraints and constant tweaking lead me to abandoning that also.

I think balancing macroalgae and a coral-heavy tank can be challenging given 1) they take up the same major and minor elements as coral and 2) macroalgae would do better more nutrient-rich environments. Having said all that, I think it's doable, either scenarios - whether a separate compartment within the display but with sufficient flow going through it or a separate macroalgae-only display connected to a main coral tank. Good luck!

 

[Tigahboy]

Got another order in from Seahorse Savvy, which included a group of 5 Pajama Cardinalfish for my 70g! I honestly want more.

I may re-home my mollies now since I think I prefer the look of this tank with predominantly Pajamas. What do you think?

Also got a couple of these really cool purple/maroon and gold feather dusters (and a bunch of other new additions that I'll post up once I get some photos)!

 

[Tigahboy]

Couple shots I took of my 70g/UNS 90U just now.

I actually decided to re-home my mollies to make space for more fish.

 

[mlasala99]

Love all your tanks on Instagram and really enjoyed your 3022 MACNA presentation. Thanks for taking the time to share your passion so that others can be inspired to join the macro algae community.

I am in the process of planning a tank as we speak and wanted to ask a basic question. Do you have a preference for the salt mix you use in your tanks?

Thanks again

 

[Tigahboy]

Love all your tanks on Instagram and really enjoyed your 3022 MACNA presentation. Thanks for taking the time to share your passion so that others can be inspired to join the macro algae community.

I am in the process of planning a tank as we speak and wanted to ask a basic question. Do you have a preference for the salt mix you use in your tanks?

Thanks again

Thanks for watching my presentation! I am using Fritz RPM Blue box right now. Mixes fast enough for me and I can buy it very easily at a number of my fish stores nearby. I usually say just go with the best quality salt that fits your budget and that you can buy easily.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Couple shots I took of my 70g/UNS 90U just now.

I actually decided to re-home my mollies to make space for more fish.

Love the new photos!!

 

[Tigahboy]

Love the new photos!!

Thanks! I actually got a bunch of new fish, but haven't been able to get good photos yet. Soon!

 

[Tigahboy]

Hello! A couple shots of one of my PJ Cardinalfish:

Also, will be getting some new fish next week!

 

[Tigahboy]

Sorry for lack of posts here, but I've been away on Oahu for 4 weeks. I just got back last week and I'm still sorting out all the overgrowth, nuisance algae, etc. in my various macroalgae tanks (but fortunately no major losses), but in the meantime, I wanted to share a cool, impromptu project I decided to work on while I was away in Hawaii.

I visited a bunch of cool tide pools on Oahu like this, and saw so much beautiful macroalgae.

I looked up regulations on what I could collect (turns out I could collect a lot - only Red Ogo was really regulated and I didn't collect any of that), so decided on a whim to create a macroalgae tank while on vacation. My first time setting up a project while on vacay!

First, I collected all this beautiful macroalgae at a couple tide pools. I've never seen this much variety and diversity of macroalgae before, and most of the macroalgae I collected I've never held in my hands. Needless to say, I was like a kid in a candy store! Like seriously macrolagae heaven.

I went completely in the wrong order in terms of setting up a project, but I moved all of the above into a bucket and picked up a water pump (Sicce Micra) from Petco on my way back to where I was staying from the tide pools. Then, I went to a fish store in Honolulu - Aquascapes - and bought a UNS 3N (3 gallon tank) and a Twinstar 30B for lighting. Then went back to Petco and bought some sand - Caribsea dry sand.

For the hardscape, I took inspiration from the black lava rock that I saw at one of the tide pools as shown below.

Ordered some black lava rock from Buceplant and got a nice assortment. Here's the finished product!

There are over a dozen different species in this tank. None of my prior macroalgae tanks have had this diverse a mix of colors and textures.

Also collected by hand various snails, hermit crabs, and a tiny goby.

Got a bunch of hitchhikers as well such as spaghetti worms, pods, flatworms, and even this really cool sea slug - Elysia tomentosa which eats caulerpa.

My plan when I first started this project was to return everything back to where I found them (minus the invasive species like Graciliaria salicornia), and just take down the tank. But the owner of Aquascapes reached out to me towards the end of my stay and offered to keep and maintain the tank at their shop. I returned the sea slug to where I found it since it needs a lot of caulpera to survive and this tank didn't have much caulerpa, then moved it over to their store. Look at how beautiful the Aquascapes store is! If you are on Oahu, go check it out!

Let me know what you think!

 

[CoralB]

Sorry for lack of posts here, but I've been away on Oahu for 4 weeks. I just got back last week and I'm still sorting out all the overgrowth, nuisance algae, etc. in my various macroalgae tanks (but fortunately no major losses), but in the meantime, I wanted to share a cool, impromptu project I decided to work on while I was away in Hawaii.

I visited a bunch of cool tide pools on Oahu like this, and saw so much beautiful macroalgae.

I looked up regulations on what I could collect (turns out I could collect a lot - only Red Ogo was really regulated and I didn't collect any of that), so decided on a whim to create a macroalgae tank while on vacation. My first time setting up a project while on vacay!

First, I collected all this beautiful macroalgae at a couple tide pools. I've never seen this much variety and diversity of macroalgae before, and most of the macroalgae I collected I've never held in my hands. Needless to say, I was like a kid in a candy store! Like seriously macrolagae heaven.

I went completely in the wrong order in terms of setting up a project, but I moved all of the above into a bucket and picked up a water pump (Sicce Micra) from Petco on my way back to where I was staying from the tide pools. Then, I went to a fish store in Honolulu - Aquascapes - and bought a UNS 3N (3 gallon tank) and a Twinstar 30B for lighting. Then went back to Petco and bought some sand - Caribsea dry sand.

For the hardscape, I took inspiration from the black lava rock that I saw at one of the tide pools as shown below.

Ordered some black lava rock from Buceplant and got a nice assortment. Here's the finished product!

There are over a dozen different species in this tank. None of my prior macroalgae tanks have had this diverse a mix of colors and textures.

Also collected by hand various snails, hermit crabs, and a tiny goby.

Got a bunch of hitchhikers as well such as spaghetti worms, pods, flatworms, and even this really cool sea slug - Elysia tomentosa which eats caulerpa.

My plan when I first started this project was to return everything back to where I found them (minus the invasive species like Graciliaria salicornia), and just take down the tank. But the owner of Aquascapes reached out to me towards the end of my stay and offered to keep and maintain the tank at their shop. I returned the sea slug to where I found it since it needs a lot of caulpera to survive and this tank didn't have much caulerpa, then moved it over to their store. Look at how beautiful the Aquascapes store is! If you are on Oahu, go check it out!

Let me know what you think!

Awesome!!

 

[Lowell Lemon]

Have aquarium will travel lol!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Sorry for lack of posts here, but I've been away on Oahu for 4 weeks. I just got back last week and I'm still sorting out all the overgrowth, nuisance algae, etc. in my various macroalgae tanks (but fortunately no major losses), but in the meantime, I wanted to share a cool, impromptu project I decided to work on while I was away in Hawaii.

I visited a bunch of cool tide pools on Oahu like this, and saw so much beautiful macroalgae.

I looked up regulations on what I could collect (turns out I could collect a lot - only Red Ogo was really regulated and I didn't collect any of that), so decided on a whim to create a macroalgae tank while on vacation. My first time setting up a project while on vacay!

First, I collected all this beautiful macroalgae at a couple tide pools. I've never seen this much variety and diversity of macroalgae before, and most of the macroalgae I collected I've never held in my hands. Needless to say, I was like a kid in a candy store! Like seriously macrolagae heaven.

I went completely in the wrong order in terms of setting up a project, but I moved all of the above into a bucket and picked up a water pump (Sicce Micra) from Petco on my way back to where I was staying from the tide pools. Then, I went to a fish store in Honolulu - Aquascapes - and bought a UNS 3N (3 gallon tank) and a Twinstar 30B for lighting. Then went back to Petco and bought some sand - Caribsea dry sand.

For the hardscape, I took inspiration from the black lava rock that I saw at one of the tide pools as shown below.

Ordered some black lava rock from Buceplant and got a nice assortment. Here's the finished product!

There are over a dozen different species in this tank. None of my prior macroalgae tanks have had this diverse a mix of colors and textures.

Also collected by hand various snails, hermit crabs, and a tiny goby.

Got a bunch of hitchhikers as well such as spaghetti worms, pods, flatworms, and even this really cool sea slug - Elysia tomentosa which eats caulerpa.

My plan when I first started this project was to return everything back to where I found them (minus the invasive species like Graciliaria salicornia), and just take down the tank. But the owner of Aquascapes reached out to me towards the end of my stay and offered to keep and maintain the tank at their shop. I returned the sea slug to where I found it since it needs a lot of caulpera to survive and this tank didn't have much caulerpa, then moved it over to their store. Look at how beautiful the Aquascapes store is! If you are on Oahu, go check it out!

Let me know what you think!

That black lava rock looks incredible in there!

 

[revhtree]

Welcome back and thank you for the gifts you brought us!

 

[Tigahboy]

Awesome!!

Thank you! It was so much fun to work on.

Have aquarium will travel lol!

I'll turn this thread into a new series where I go travel to different places and set up macroalgae tanks.

That black lava rock looks incredible in there!

Thanks! I wanted to find rocks that looked as close as possible to what I saw at the tide pools and this was pretty darn close.

Welcome back and thank you for the gifts you brought us!

Thank you! Glad to be back.

 

[Tigahboy]

Also, a fun update. I'll be working at the UNS booth at Reef-a-Palooza California in August. Will be setting up a macroalgae display tank and just hanging out. If anyone is attending, come say hi! UNS will be unveiling new products, including a reef system, and giving away a bunch of UNS nano tanks.

 

[Ryebreadiest]

A Uns Reef system?!

 

[Tigahboy]

A Uns Reef system?!

Yup! New AIO systems AND a full reef system with sump, plumbing, etc. I'm looking forward to checking them out in person when I fly down for RAP.

 

[Ryebreadiest]

Yup! New AIO systems AND a full reef system with sump, plumbing, etc. I'm looking forward to checking them out in person when I fly down for RAP.

Oh wow sounds great. I love my UNS tanks but the current AIOs leave something to be desired.

 

[Tigahboy]

It's been a really cool past few days! UNS flew me out to their HQ to scape a few macroalgae/marine planted tanks for their UNS booth at Reefapalooza in Anaheim. I set up three in total.

This particular one is a UNS 5T and I aquascaped it while being filmed (and under time pressure) which was a new experience for me.

Then we transported the tank to the UNS booth at RAP later that afternoon. Here's how it looked at the show.

I also hardscaped the two 30A cubes below (these are brand new AIO tanks) at UNS HQ then transported them to RAP as well.

I wanted to go yin-yang style with complementing tanks using contrasting colors. The left tank I used the same black lava rock I used for my Hawaii macroalgae tank and the right has some reef rock I found at the UNS offices.

Then I planted them at the show - the one on the right I planted in a live demo. I saw that Julian Sprung had a bunch of sea grass at his Two Little Fishies booth, so I pivoted from my plans and decided to set up a sea grass tank for the one on the left.

Also, the entire UNS booth was just simply stunning. With tons of beautiful aquascapes that were actually pretty mature before moving them over to RAP, and brand new products, including a full Reef System and Reef AIOs with accessories.

It was quite the experience that I will not soon forget! Let me know what you think!