Fertilizers and lights? Salinity too...

[ichthyogeek]

So with what I think to be Gracilaria growing well in my DT, I'm thinking of creating a pico planted tank to grow out some live food inverts too. Just a few questions:
Lighting: Reefs concentrate on the blue end of the spectrum, while freshwater planteds focus more on the warmer end of the spectrum. What's the best for algae? I've heard that the red end is best, but what about my red Gracilaria?Would white light be best because it's has al light colors in it?
Fertilizers: What do y'all use? Guillard's F/2? Miracle-Gro? Seachem liquid ferts?
Water movement: Do I need to provide a lot? Or do I treat it like a FW planted tank and try to minimize water movement?
fauna: obviously no major algae eaters, but what about snails for microalgae? copepods? amphipods? Brine shrimp are safe because they're filter feeders. People use earthworms for their gardens to help aerate the soil, can we use polychaetes to do the same for rooted macroalgaes like C. prolifera?
substrate: How deep should this be?

I'm mostly guessing off of planted tanks here, but please feel free to correct any misconceptions I have.

 

[ichthyogeek]

nobody?

 

[saltwater sam]

Hey there, quite a bit to cover here so I'll just take a swing at some of it.
Light spectrums for macroalgae are pretty much the same as fw plants, more light the better. You do not need to fertilize your tank, just feeding your fish is all you need to do. Some people do micronutrients like iron and calcium, but I have not found it necessary in my tank. I'd also like to point out to you that Caulpera does not have roots, but rhizoids. These do not absorb nutrients, just act as anchors for the algae. The algae absorbs nutrients from the water, not the substrate.
You want moderate water flow, enough to make sure there is no stagnation.
Inverts can vary, but live rock is necessary to introduce microfauna populations.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

What Sam said. As for inverts, the more variety the better. Assorted pods are great. Cerith snails eat algae and lay eggs in your tank. Nassarius snails clean up excess fish food. Spaghetti worms work the sandbed. Plus there's micro brittle stars, fighting conches, cucumbers to name a few.