Marine planted tank, no corals!

[plantbrain]

http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=999&gid=2810752&uid=1473668&members=1

I don't care if people do not think Marine tanks should be considered plant tanks or not. I think it's pretty clear that is a plant tank, there's no Coral, hydroids, sponges etc in this tank, it's either macro algae of seagrasses etc. I'm still taking photo's and tweaking this tank.

Main thing is to get the experience and be able to reproduce this type of aquascape using marine plants.
I'll tell you, this was not easy, but it can be done and I may find some ways/methods to make this easier as I progress.

This part of the hobby genre is in it's infancy

The methods and approaches to that of FW planted tanks are distinctly different.
Getting algae to attach in a certain place is not as simple as replanting/pruning!

I also needed more light than I had though to have good dense growth.
This tank gets fed a little and KNO3, iron, Mg, Kalk(for Ca and alkalinity) weekly.

I only hope that this tank will get better and better. Marine tanks tend to be less pruning, hassles, water changes but care is needed and patience. Generally after a year or more they settle in nicely.

I am certain to get a chiller later, this tank cannot go about 78F or so, the algae are temp sensitive, I figured this out quickly, some species are quite temp tolerant, most are not.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[gcvt]

That is so AWESOME!

 

[OrionGirl]

I agree--that is amazing. Thank you so much for sharing!

So you've collected all of those locally? Any chance of selling some of them? I would love to have some of the wonderful algaes in my tank--but any oceans in Wyoming are a bit dated.

 

[mogurnda]

Beautiful tank! I am certain that more people will try this.

A couple of questions.
1. How do you get macroalgae to anchor? I have never had any luck.
2. Are you excluding inverts so that you can say "look it's beautiful, and there are no corals," or would they make things more complicated?

 

[plantbrain]

A notion exist that Corals often do not like the exudates, the chemicals leaked out by macros in small closed systems.

If you do weekly water changes/large water changes, this might not be a problem.

I do large water changes on SW tanks, this is easier than measuring and testing on smaller tanks like this one.
Corals like this also but it may not be practical for some people.

The macro's attach to rocks, gravel etc, some are planted like Caulerpas, Udotea etc.

Some are attached to other macro's.

Generally, it's best to get the algae attached to a rock. Trying to attach it after it's grown is tough.

So patience is a big key.

If you want macro's, come on down to FL, I am hosting a plant fest for FW and then 3 days at FL Keys in June.

We will go all over and see many different marine ecosystems, reef, hard bottom, soft bottom, mangrove/sponge/macro forest and seagrass beds.

My LFS likes macros so I trade them here, generally they do not ship well.

If you take it back with you etc and some other tricks, you can get get good stuff back.

All these algae are collected in the Keys, so it's a biotope as well.

I would like to add some shrimps, clowns or/and blood shrimp and maybe get a different fish, damsels are plain mean.

There are small schooling fish from the grass beds I'd like to try.

I'm using allk plants to show that they are just as awesome as a reef SPS tank etc and can be done I truly believe at much less cost.


Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[beandip]

wow. wow. wow. This is super amazing. I'm so totally inspired to start a tank like yours now! Do u encounter problems with caleurpa going sexual? Would the different kinds of alga used have to be from the same general ocean/area? bearing in mind the temp differences of course. once again, SUPER DUPER amazing!

 

[Gealcath]

Thats also the best biological filter in the world, since nitrates, phosphates, and nitrites are plant food.

 

[tricksterpup]

Here is a silly question about this setup, Do you still need to use a Skimmer for a tank such as this?


jim

 

[Gealcath]

You dont need any filter or skimmer in a set up like this for the most part, in fact a skimmer isnt really required for FOWL and reef (although it does help)

 

[plantman1028]

planted marine tank

All i have to say is WOW!!That tank looks awsome.I ahve never seen a planted marine but that is just beautiful.I would love to do something like that,but being a noob i'll just get a bit more experience under my belt.Just one more...WOW!!!!!!