ACBlinky
Premium Member
I recently sold my old sumpless/fugeless/badly lit 65g tank and started over with a 90g and some new equipment. After making some mistakes and trying a few different things, I've decided that I'd like to make this a more natural-feeling tank than anything I've had in the past. Right now there I've got a few small zoa colonies, some rics and shrooms, Xenia and a cabbage leather in the tank, and I'll be adding more leathers and zoas as time goes on. I kept my three favourite fish: an ocellaris clown, a South Seas damsel (C. taupou) and a Talbot's damsel (C. talboti). I'm in no rush to add more (I've had my fill of overstocking and nutrient issues), but if/when I do they'll likely be small reef-safe non-vegetarians.
I've had most of my live rock for nearly two years, but there have always been dwarf angels, snails, crabs, chitons or urchins around that kept the rockwork pristine. I'm pleasantly surprised to see that now with just the pincushion urchin (who eats only coralline/film algae) and a couple snails here and there, macro is starting to spring up. I've tentatively identified Sargassum, Halimeda and (my favourite) Botryocladia so far. There's also some Valonia, but it's not new, I've always seen a few bubbles here and there.
My question is what's the best way to encourage these beautiful algaes to hang around? I had a gorgeous red algae once that looked a little like inflatable antlers, but it disappeared. My Caulerpa verticillata also seemed to come and go at random, one day there would be loads, then POOF! it would disintigrate overnight and slowly grow back. Now it's gone all together and I hope it returns; it was such a pretty little plant. I'd love the look of some plantlife intermingled with the softies, if it's feasable. I'm doing some research, but I guess I'd like to know if any supplementation or special care is needed, beyond good water parameters and light. I'd also like to know if it's a bad idea to encourage its growth -- I don't want to create a monster and choke out the corals.
Here's a little information, in case it helps out...
Current parameters:
NH3, NO2 0ppm
NO3 <5ppm
alk 9dKH
Ca 440ppm
PO4 <0.25ppm
pH at lights-on 8.1
Temp averages 78F
Everything was in bins for weeks while I transferred tanks; the 90g is newly set up and still settling in; I expect NO3 and PO4 will zero out fairly soon.
Specs:
Tank - RR 90g
Sump - 30g sump/fuge, runs about half full
There's a soccer ball sized mass of Chaetomorpha in the fuge, along with some sugar-sized aragonite, LR rubble and a few stray yellow polyps
Lighting - 2x54W 450nm HO T5 actinics (12h/d), 2x400W 10K MH (5h/d right now, still acclimating corals from the old PCs)
Fuge is lit 24/7 w/ 2x14W T5
Skimmer - AquaC Remora, runs from 11pm-11am daily
Tsunami AT1 auto-topoff
Mag 9.5 return (~600gph after head loss)
Seio 820 & Seio 1500 PHs in the display (around 30x turnover in all)
125lbs LR (mix of Fiji, Tonga Kaelini, Indo & Pohnpei)
Thanks for any ideas, I'd love to hang onto the beautiful plant life that's emerging. Before switching to SW I kept planted FW tanks and I miss my water gardens
Here's a pic of the red algae I think may be Botryocladia pseudodichotoma. It looks like small clubs all tied together at the base, and is a bright pomegranet red. Forgive the quality, it's late and the tank lights are out, this is the best I could do with the flash.
I've had most of my live rock for nearly two years, but there have always been dwarf angels, snails, crabs, chitons or urchins around that kept the rockwork pristine. I'm pleasantly surprised to see that now with just the pincushion urchin (who eats only coralline/film algae) and a couple snails here and there, macro is starting to spring up. I've tentatively identified Sargassum, Halimeda and (my favourite) Botryocladia so far. There's also some Valonia, but it's not new, I've always seen a few bubbles here and there.
My question is what's the best way to encourage these beautiful algaes to hang around? I had a gorgeous red algae once that looked a little like inflatable antlers, but it disappeared. My Caulerpa verticillata also seemed to come and go at random, one day there would be loads, then POOF! it would disintigrate overnight and slowly grow back. Now it's gone all together and I hope it returns; it was such a pretty little plant. I'd love the look of some plantlife intermingled with the softies, if it's feasable. I'm doing some research, but I guess I'd like to know if any supplementation or special care is needed, beyond good water parameters and light. I'd also like to know if it's a bad idea to encourage its growth -- I don't want to create a monster and choke out the corals.
Here's a little information, in case it helps out...
Current parameters:
NH3, NO2 0ppm
NO3 <5ppm
alk 9dKH
Ca 440ppm
PO4 <0.25ppm
pH at lights-on 8.1
Temp averages 78F
Everything was in bins for weeks while I transferred tanks; the 90g is newly set up and still settling in; I expect NO3 and PO4 will zero out fairly soon.
Specs:
Tank - RR 90g
Sump - 30g sump/fuge, runs about half full
There's a soccer ball sized mass of Chaetomorpha in the fuge, along with some sugar-sized aragonite, LR rubble and a few stray yellow polyps
Lighting - 2x54W 450nm HO T5 actinics (12h/d), 2x400W 10K MH (5h/d right now, still acclimating corals from the old PCs)
Fuge is lit 24/7 w/ 2x14W T5
Skimmer - AquaC Remora, runs from 11pm-11am daily
Tsunami AT1 auto-topoff
Mag 9.5 return (~600gph after head loss)
Seio 820 & Seio 1500 PHs in the display (around 30x turnover in all)
125lbs LR (mix of Fiji, Tonga Kaelini, Indo & Pohnpei)
Thanks for any ideas, I'd love to hang onto the beautiful plant life that's emerging. Before switching to SW I kept planted FW tanks and I miss my water gardens
Here's a pic of the red algae I think may be Botryocladia pseudodichotoma. It looks like small clubs all tied together at the base, and is a bright pomegranet red. Forgive the quality, it's late and the tank lights are out, this is the best I could do with the flash.
