Keeping marine plants

[MARINECRITTERS]

I am planning on turning my 200 gallon aquarium into a marine planted tank, could use some guidance.
I am planning on filling my 75 gallon refugium with chaeto, and filling the DT with mangroves and some other form of nice looking plants.

I am only planning on keeping a pair of seahorse and maybe a pipefish so bioload will be very light, do I need to add fertilizer like micro algae grow or some other product, or are water changes enough.

Also do I need any form of specialized filtration to keep a thriving planted aquarium.
thanks.

 

[tektite]

Just plants? Most common ones are seagrasses, they require specialized care you should look into in depth.

If you mean macroalgae in general, then there's plenty of options out there. Seahorses will require lower flow and will limit the species of macros you can have as many prefer/need higher flow, but there's still a ton of macros that would work for you. In such a large planted/macro tank, the main thing will be keeping your nutrients high enough for all the plants/macros. Especially with a light bioload. Water changes help with things like iodine and iron that macros utilize, but they also work against macros in that they remove nutrients from the water. Remember to re-dose nutrients after a waterchange to keep them at the levels you need.

You'll need to dose nutrients, nitrates and phosphates. Its very helpful to have a reliable phosphate test kit as many aren't so accurate. Overdosing phosphates can cause issues with microalgae/cyano very easily, but you need some phosphates for the macros.

In a macro specific tank, chaeto in the sump serves no purpose, and I would not do that. It just uses up nutrients that more delicate macros could use. Macros in the DT will be more than enough shelter for pods if that's what you want it for. In fact, with only a few seahorses and a pipefish in such a large tank, pods such as amphipods could become a problem as they get big and begin to consume the more delicate macros.

A planted/macroalgae tank takes a shift from normal saltwater aquarium guidelines. You have a lot of research in front of you But its an awesome type of tank, I wouldn't trade mine for anything

 

[pitmindi]

hi, I tried that last spring. I have a 125 gallon tank that i had as a planted freshwater tank but i kept getting nuisance algae like black beard algae that i couldn't get rid of and it killed many of my plants. I gave my fish away and now I have a closed system 125 gallon planted saltwater tank. For the first 6 months or so it did great, you can see some of my pics in other threads, but the last 6 months or so it hasn't worked and I dont know why. Heres what I learned. Blue ocho is great as a base to stick the red plants in, otherwise it is hard to have them stick to the rocks, especially dragons breath. For me red bush hayi (red dictyota) grows the quickest. I have a 34 gallon seahorse planted tank that is beautiful and all the plants thrive. If you have questions I will try to help

 

[Subsea]

Your bio load would be very light. Most macro algae nutrient uptake nitrogen to phosphate at a ratio of 100:1. Assume nitrogen/phosphate is equal in the food input. In order to prevent high phosphate concentrations, use another source for nitrate input. Calcium nitrate would be a safe source of nitrate addition.
Patrick