small alien
The fungus is among us.
I'm literally on my knees typing this. Begging for a FTS.
Macro macro pictures
- Thread starter tektite
- Start date
I'm literally on my knees typing this. Begging for a FTS.
tektite
I never finish anyth
Great thing about macro photography is that it focuses on a small area LOL! My FTS looks like cr@p right now
tektite
I never finish anyth
Absolutely not, its pointless in a macro tank. I highly doubt I'd even use it if I had something that gets nutrients from their roots.
Only things I dose are nitrate and phosphate.
Interesting about dosing with nitrate and phosphate. I dose with ammonia. I think phosphate comes in with the air.
Gorgeous pictures and gorgeous specimens.
Eight months ago, I received 800 lbs of diver collected rock from 30 miles west of Tarpon Springs in 30' of water. I had no idea of the biodiversity of this GOM rock. I do not know what half of this stuff is. If you travel to Austin, come visit my facility in Hays County close to Salt Lick BBQ. I am growing this stuff out under a greenhouse with a 60% shade cloth. I always enjoy visitors.
Regards,
Patrick
Gorgeous pictures and gorgeous specimens.
Eight months ago, I received 800 lbs of diver collected rock from 30 miles west of Tarpon Springs in 30' of water. I had no idea of the biodiversity of this GOM rock. I do not know what half of this stuff is. If you travel to Austin, come visit my facility in Hays County close to Salt Lick BBQ. I am growing this stuff out under a greenhouse with a 60% shade cloth. I always enjoy visitors.
Regards,
Patrick
Mudbeaver
New member
Ok I'm about to do a macro tank; and before I do I need a bit more info why you think its inappropriate to put mud in it, because you've attained a very good quality macro sample without so I'm very interested in your reasoning.
tektite
I never finish anyth
Mud helps when having things that need nutrients obtained through their roots. Very few kinds of macroalgae even have roots, non that I know of actually need them to get what they need to grow. If you're wanting something like seagrasses that's another thing entirely as they're not macroalgae but plants.
To keep it in place you would have to cover it with a good layer of sand. Macros LOVE flow, most kinds the more flow the better. Some need high flow to survive, others will live in low flow but never flourish. If macros do have roots (minus the caulerpa species, which with 2 exceptions you want to avoid like the plague in a macro tank) they're usually quite short, wouldn't even get through the sand to the mud.
If you want it because they say it'll release trace elements or whatnot, you can get that through water changes without having to deal with the mess. If you like what they say about it replacing a DSB, the primary purpose of a DSB is to have the anaerobic bacteria that complete, so to speak, the nitrifying cycle - by removing nitrates from the water. Not at all what you want with a macro tank, believe me! If you don't have a lot of fish and feed a lot, you will eventually have to find a way to increase nitrates in the aquarium for the macros as is.
And finally, the makers of it make so many varied, sweeping, and quite frankly incredible claims it makes it hard to consider any of them to actually be true. Reverse HLLE? Really? Add some miracle mud and no worries about the affected fish suffering from poor nutrition or brought on by something like carbon dust...Reminds me of ecoaqualizers...
To keep it in place you would have to cover it with a good layer of sand. Macros LOVE flow, most kinds the more flow the better. Some need high flow to survive, others will live in low flow but never flourish. If macros do have roots (minus the caulerpa species, which with 2 exceptions you want to avoid like the plague in a macro tank) they're usually quite short, wouldn't even get through the sand to the mud.
If you want it because they say it'll release trace elements or whatnot, you can get that through water changes without having to deal with the mess. If you like what they say about it replacing a DSB, the primary purpose of a DSB is to have the anaerobic bacteria that complete, so to speak, the nitrifying cycle - by removing nitrates from the water. Not at all what you want with a macro tank, believe me! If you don't have a lot of fish and feed a lot, you will eventually have to find a way to increase nitrates in the aquarium for the macros as is.
And finally, the makers of it make so many varied, sweeping, and quite frankly incredible claims it makes it hard to consider any of them to actually be true. Reverse HLLE? Really? Add some miracle mud and no worries about the affected fish suffering from poor nutrition or brought on by something like carbon dust...Reminds me of ecoaqualizers...
Mudbeaver
New member
You've just convinced me , I'll forget the mud, I was going to have a finer sand in my fuge however to be able to plant or stick some of them more easily in the substrate, what do you think about that, it would of covered the mud, that I'll no longer put in. Or should I use regular coarse aragonite?
tektite
I never finish anyth
Finer sand is ok if you want to use it, still helps increase some biodiversity without causing any problems. You won't want to plant or stick macros in sand though, they'll just die where covered, disintegrate, and the macro's off on a tank tour. Attach your macros to rocks, it's the best way for many species. Now how you attach them to rocks is the fun part lol, since many kinds will not do so on their own.
Keeping macroalgae takes a shift of thinking, they look so much like plants that most peole think of them as such. But their care can be quite different.
Keeping macroalgae takes a shift of thinking, they look so much like plants that most peole think of them as such. But their care can be quite different.
Mudbeaver
New member
What do you use then crazy glue, lol ?
tektite
I never finish anyth
Occasionally, but like in sand the macro can die off where covered. Ah, fun times
My favorite is small zip ties. The tiny black ones you hardly notice at all. Zip tie the base of the macro, snug but not where it puts any direct pressure on the macro itself, then superglue the zip tie wherever you want the macro to stay. Works better than rubberbands, especially for delicate super slick macros like halymenia (dragon's tongue). Rubberbands on a macro like that will just cut right through it over time.
My favorite is small zip ties. The tiny black ones you hardly notice at all. Zip tie the base of the macro, snug but not where it puts any direct pressure on the macro itself, then superglue the zip tie wherever you want the macro to stay. Works better than rubberbands, especially for delicate super slick macros like halymenia (dragon's tongue). Rubberbands on a macro like that will just cut right through it over time.
Mudbeaver
New member
Occasionally, but like in sand the macro can die off where covered. Ah, fun times
My favorite is small zip ties. The tiny black ones you hardly notice at all. Zip tie the base of the macro, snug but not where it puts any direct pressure on the macro itself, then superglue the zip tie wherever you want the macro to stay. Works better than rubberbands, especially for delicate super slick macros like halymenia (dragon's tongue). Rubberbands on a macro like that will just cut right through it over time.
Ok thanks much appreciated. happy reefing
tektite
I never finish anyth
A lot of my macros I find as hitchhikers in LFS. The dragon's tongue is pretty easy to find, there's a number of people selling it here on RC in the propagated coral and livestock forum. Those are the orange tipped variety. Gulf Coast Ecosystems has a pure red kind (scientific name is Halymenia) in stock right now too.
Plantbrain
Active member
Picky, I know, but Rhizoids, not Roots.
Mud will leach small amounts of ferts into the water column, as well as traces.
NH4 dosing is likely fine, as long as you dose smaller amounts.
NO3 works also and has a much wider range of dosing PPM.
With a decent fish load/feeding, you likely have little need for PO4 dosing.
It can running pretty limiting but can go up to about 0.2ppm just fine. At 0.4 ppm or over, I always got diatom blooms.
Do not get me started on ecoaqualizers
Excellent pictures BTW, as stated, FTS is needed.
When I grew fast growing Caulerpa, I found that iron could become the limiting nutrient and I have dosed with iron. One of the pros of miracle mud was that it was high in iron.
Since I have moved into the Texas Hill Country, I am blessed with ground water that is high in calcium, magnesium, sulphur and iron. Relying solely on evaporative cooling, make up water brings in major and minor nutrients as well as buffering minerals.
I noticed that most of the macro pictures look to be deep water species. They have adapted to blue just as the corals.
Since I have moved into the Texas Hill Country, I am blessed with ground water that is high in calcium, magnesium, sulphur and iron. Relying solely on evaporative cooling, make up water brings in major and minor nutrients as well as buffering minerals.
I noticed that most of the macro pictures look to be deep water species. They have adapted to blue just as the corals.
Bongo Shrimp
P. ceratophthalma
Do you have any idea where the purple branching one is found? I found a bunch of it on a new shipment at the LFS. I'm trying to I'd it.
