has anyone ever created a planted saltwater tank?

[seecrabrun]

I'm thinking if turning my FOWLR into a planted saltwater tank. It won't have coral, just the macro algae.

I'm curious if anyone here has done it and if so, can you give me any pointers?

I'm also looking for a light. My research says macro grows better closer to the 6500K scale, which is what the freshwater lights use. So would a freshwater light be the best? Or do I still need a marine setup, even though there will be no coral?
Looking for LEDs specifically.

 

[flower]

Hello,

There is a difference between keeping decorative macroalgae, and a planted saltwater tank. I have done both. I love macroalgae, it keep the tanks water pristine.

Now for the planted tank story:
To have a planted tank, I needed a deep sand bed, and I used miracle layered under the sand to feed the turtle grass (I had seahorses, and they love turtle grass) otherwise the turtle grass would starve. It looked awesome, for nearly a year, until I had a power outage, to shorten the story... I had to open the drapes for light so the seahorses could eat. Hair algae developed within a day, and it was out hand by the end of that day. Once the power returned 3 days later, it was like a wild fire of green hair. I did water changes EVERYDAY... I raised the magnesium (per instruction from somebody on the site who knew what to do to get rid of hair algae) trying to disrupt the algae growth, nothing worked, I had nightmares of hair algae climbing out of tank and choking me in my sleep. Yes it was that bad, I couldn't see the surface of anything in the entire tank, nothing slowed the growth down. I broke the entire tank down and restarted.

It was the miracle mud, it had so many wonderful for plant nutrients that nothing I did could combat the problem. Do you know what plant nutrients are? Phosphates, and nitrates. Yes, miracle mud will make your plants, and nuisance algae grow! However without those nutrients, sea plants like turtle grass can't live for long.

In the end, there is a beautiful macroalgae called Caulerpa Prolifera... it looks like turtle grass, but it doesn't require a deep sand bed, or food. It feeds on the phosphates and nitrates already in the tank, and as I pruned the extra out, I exported the PO4 and NO3 out of my tank.

Now to be honest, seahorses are very messy eaters, if you don't overfeed your regular fish, you most likely wouldn't have my problem. The hair algae was no doubt on the cusp of rearing it's ugly head...the power being out, natural sunlight, and the miracle mud all played a role. All that being said, I still would never do another planted saltwater tank. Decorative macros are beautiful, and they actually help the tank water, making it pristine. Check out "GOLF COAST ECOSYSTEMS" If a macro you like is out of season, wait for it to be in...They have the widest variety of macros I have ever found. Golds, reds and greens, they have them all.

 

[seecrabrun]

I have 2 fish in the tank currently and won't have any more. I have absolutely no algae problems, never have, and I only use natural filtration in the form of a DSB and live rock, no skimmer even. The tank would be crystal clear if I added a mechanical filter, but I haven't.

I didn't plan to do full on planted, but more of a garden. A few different nice macros that filled the tank up without giving the appearance of being tangled in full height algaes.

I'm trying to start with getting a decent light.

 

[flower]

I have 2 fish in the tank currently and won't have any more. I have absolutely no algae problems, never have, and I only use natural filtration in the form of a DSB and live rock, no skimmer even. The tank would be crystal clear if I added a mechanical filter, but I haven't.

I didn't plan to do full on planted, but more of a garden. A few different nice macros that filled the tank up without giving the appearance of being tangled in full height algaes.

I'm trying to start with getting a decent light.

Hi,

Unlike corals, macros don't need fancy lighting, a T5HO would do nicely. They do grow, and if you don't prune and remove them, (called harvesting) they will overgrow the tank. The red macros seem to me to grow the slowest. They feed on nitrates and phosphates (ammonia and nitrite too), the more nasty stuff in the water you have the faster it grows. When you harvest the growth to keep it pruned down, you are exporting the nasty stuff out. So besides being beautiful and full of color, they are helpful to your tank.

 

[pegasus]

Halemida and Mermaid's fan are a couple of calcareous macros that grow slowly, and fish won't bother them. Shaving brushes and pine cones are a couple more ornamental macros. Tender macros like tea cups and gracilaria tend to end up as fish food, but it all depends on the fish.

Flower... Bryopsis plumosa and Derbesia are two hair-type algae that are often confused, as they are very similar in appearance. Bryopsis can be killed with elevated levels of Magnesium... Kent Tech M is the only Magnesium that has been proven to be effective. It has zero effect on Derbesia, which was probably the strain in your tank. I elevated my Mag to 2000ppm for two weeks, and it didn't phase the hair algae in my tank, which means I have Derbesia. Ultra low nutrients have slowed it's growth, but it still persists even with heavy, manual removal. Tearing down my tank isn't really an option. It's not overly invasive, and as long as I can contain it, I will continue to battle it. My hope is that one day it will consume whatever is feeding it, and then die. Looks like I'm in for a long fight...

 

[seecrabrun]

I'm looking for LED though, and preferably something with a timer as it varies daily when I come and go and I don't want to have to worry about the lights.

 

[flower]

Halemida and Mermaid's fan are a couple of calcareous macros that grow slowly, and fish won't bother them. Shaving brushes and pine cones are a couple more ornamental macros. Tender macros like tea cups and gracilaria tend to end up as fish food, but it all depends on the fish.

Flower... Bryopsis plumosa and Derbesia are two hair-type algae that are often confused, as they are very similar in appearance. Bryopsis can be killed with elevated levels of Magnesium... Kent Tech M is the only Magnesium that has been proven to be effective. It has zero effect on Derbesia, which was probably the strain in your tank. I elevated my Mag to 2000ppm for two weeks, and it didn't phase the hair algae in my tank, which means I have Derbesia. Ultra low nutrients have slowed it's growth, but it still persists even with heavy, manual removal. Tearing down my tank isn't really an option. It's not overly invasive, and as long as I can contain it, I will continue to battle it. My hope is that one day it will consume whatever is feeding it, and then die. Looks like I'm in for a long fight...

That tank is long gone, I replaced it with the 56g years ago. The hairy crap I had in my tank was fed by the miracle mud, I will never put that in my tank again. Keeping low nutrients is the only way to fight it, but if you have that miracle mud junk in the tank, it has all the food it will ever need, and then some. Have you ever checked out that site? Golf Coast Ecosystems has so many beautiful macros, and you're right...it all depends on the fish you keep, but then that's why we check and make sure a fish is "reef" safe, so they won't eat our corals...it really isn't any different than making sure you don't get veggie eaters around certain macros.

 

[pegasus]

I'm thinking if turning my FOWLR into a planted saltwater tank. It won't have coral, just the macro algae.

I'm curious if anyone here has done it and if so, can you give me any pointers?

I'm also looking for a light. My research says macro grows better closer to the 6500K scale, which is what the freshwater lights use. So would a freshwater light be the best? Or do I still need a marine setup, even though there will be no coral?
Looking for LEDs specifically.

It just so happens that I bought a couple of 23W 6500K (spiral, daylight) fluorescent bulbs earlier today, as the one in the reflector lamp over my refugium had died. These bulbs grow macro algae really well, and obviously coralline algae if my fuge is any indication... lol! I can't vouch for LED's for macros. I have a 6500K LED refugium lamp that didn't grow anything. After buying two balls of Chaeto, I realized it was time to go to plan B. This meant a trip to the local hardware store for a reflector lamp and daylight FL bulb. I have had great success with this setup, so the LED is sitting on a shelf collecting dust. That was a $75 dollar mistake...

 

[seecrabrun]

Maybe needed a little more RGB? I've been reading up on the lights available and the really popular ones in the planted freshwater tanks have extra individual reds/greens/blues. Similar to how our marine lights having extra blues.

I've got a compact florescent right now on my QT and I get a lot of brown algae despite the nutrients being low from the lack of actual life in the QT.

The closer up on the rock you go to the light, the more concentrated the growth.

 

[lmforbis]

I ordered a custom fuge in December. In January I ordered a ball of chaeto but hadn't gotten the fuge yet so I threw it in my DT where it grew fast. When the fuge came I moved the chaeto (now twice the size it was) into it. I put a marineland reef capable led I wasn't using over it an the chaeto stopped growing then began to shrink. I switched to the 23W fluorescent bulb last week. Can't say for sure the shrinking chaeto ball was caused by the lighting or other things I did to my tank. I feel the wavelengths produced by the LED I had weren't optimal for photosynthesis. Time will tell me if that is true. My DT also uses only LEDs and it grew well but that has red, green, purple and warm white mixed in with the blue and bright white bulbs.

 

[pegasus]

I ordered a custom fuge in December. In January I ordered a ball of chaeto but hadn't gotten the fuge yet so I threw it in my DT where it grew fast. When the fuge came I moved the chaeto (now twice the size it was) into it. I put a marineland reef capable led I wasn't using over it an the chaeto stopped growing then began to shrink. I switched to the 23W fluorescent bulb last week. Can't say for sure the shrinking chaeto ball was caused by the lighting or other things I did to my tank. I feel the wavelengths produced by the LED I had weren't optimal for photosynthesis. Time will tell me if that is true. My DT also uses only LEDs and it grew well but that has red, green, purple and warm white mixed in with the blue and bright white bulbs.

I have one of those lamps (24-36") sitting on a shelf in a closet. It bleached my live rocks, and grew nothing but nuisance algae. It was horrible! 10K and a few Actinics proved to be a disaster for my tank, and even the 6500K refugium lamp would not grow Chaeto. Neither lamp did what it claimed. Needless to say, I am highly disappointed in LED so far. I have good growth now that I'm using a 23W fluorescent daylight in 6500K in my Chaeto and coralline algae.

 

[seecrabrun]

I ordered a custom fuge in December. In January I ordered a ball of chaeto but hadn't gotten the fuge yet so I threw it in my DT where it grew fast. When the fuge came I moved the chaeto (now twice the size it was) into it. I put a marineland reef capable led I wasn't using over it an the chaeto stopped growing then began to shrink. I switched to the 23W fluorescent bulb last week. Can't say for sure the shrinking chaeto ball was caused by the lighting or other things I did to my tank. I feel the wavelengths produced by the LED I had weren't optimal for photosynthesis. Time will tell me if that is true. My DT also uses only LEDs and it grew well but that has red, green, purple and warm white mixed in with the blue and bright white bulbs.

What is the brand of the light on your DT?

 

[lmforbis]

Aquastar. It is one of the 165W cheap Chinese LEDs. I've had good results with it. I have 2 on my 55, which is way to much light but I am upgrading to a 125 in a couple weeks and it should work well for that.

 

[lmforbis]

I have one of those lamps (24-36") sitting on a shelf in a closet. It bleached my live rocks, and grew nothing but nuisance algae. It was horrible! 10K and a few Actinics proved to be a disaster for my tank, and even the 6500K refugium lamp would not grow Chaeto. Neither lamp did what it claimed. Needless to say, I am highly disappointed in LED so far. I have good growth now that I'm using a 23W fluorescent daylight in 6500K in my Chaeto and coralline algae.

It was a horrible light for what it is supposed to do. I have it on my QT tank now. Works fine for that.

 

[pegasus]

It was a horrible light for what it is supposed to do. I have it on my QT tank now. Works fine for that.

It's good for "light", but there's nothing "reef" about it. A light that kills coralline algae is anything but reef capable...

 

[Bryce E]

I've always had the most success with regular florescent lighting for most macros I've had. Especially shaving brush. And if it's a fish only tank you don't need anything fancy. For a lot of them just a plain old plant and aquarium bulb will do just fine.

 

[pegasus]

I've always had the most success with regular florescent lighting for most macros I've had. Especially shaving brush. And if it's a fish only tank you don't need anything fancy. For a lot of them just a plain old plant and aquarium bulb will do just fine.

+1.

 

[snakeblitz33]

Here comes beaslbob in 5, 4, 3,....

 

[beaslbob]

Here comes beaslbob in 5, 4, 3,....

LOL

Suzy had a saltwater planted tank that was tank of the month a few years back.

I think she has a face book page "saltwater planted tank"

my .02

 

[beaslbob]

FWIW picture of one of Suzy's tanks.