My 40 gallon Macro/refugium Tank

[Gandolfe]

This is my macro/refugium tank I started back in June of this year. it has a 4 bulb 54 watt T-5 HO fixture that has 3 6700k daylight/plant gro bulbs and 1 actinic. It has a 1" sand bed, a few pieces of rock, some saltwater Ghost Shrimp( I put them in there when I had a couple of seahorses in the tank that didn't survive), various snails, 1 sea cucumber and a Coral banded Shrimp. There is a gorgonian too. The first pic was when I started it, the second when I added some Macro I bought online, and the last is a few minutes ago today. I've already traded a Gallon sized zip lock bag full of cheato and calurpa to a LFS a month ago

 

[Gandolfe]

wow 53 views and not one comment

 

[jarrod13]

Looks good! Is that a sponge in the second pic?

 

[Gandolfe]

yeah but it kinda shrunk down to not much left, it's in my mangrove tank now. I need to weed out some more calurpa again. Last time about a month ago I took out a gallon baggie filled to the brim, weighed a couple of pounds. guy at the LFS loved it, gave me like $10 store credit for it

 

[jarrod13]

I've got to do some serious trimming also, my main tank and fuge are overflowing with macros

 

[Gandolfe]

I have a 10 gallon mangrove tank also, has 12 plants in it but they don't grow very much, might have to add another light over them. The way I plumbed my macro/refugium tank has it dumping directly into my DT and the water supplied to it comes from my sump and goes through a UV sterilizer first.

 

[Bratyboy2]

That's insane the growth your getting! Do you dose nutrients or is it simple feeding of the fish?

 

[Gandolfe]

I don't dose anything in my tank except iodide or iodine and trace minerals. just the Kent kind. And only when I do a 45 gallons water change once a month. I have a 4 bulb T-5 set up with 3 6700 K plant grow bulbs, and one actinic. I mix my water from my well and use Phos buster when I mix my salt water up. No nitrates but about .08 phosphate. I have the same fixture on my freshwater tank and get the same results with no CO2 dosing

 

[radiata]

I don't dose anything in my tank except iodide or iodine and trace minerals. just the Kent kind. And only when I do a 45 gallons water change once a month. I have a 4 bulb T-5 set up with 3 6700 K plant grow bulbs, and one actinic. I mix my water from my well and use Phos buster when I mix my salt water up. No nitrates but about .08 phosphate. I have the same fixture on my freshwater tank and get the same results with no CO2 dosing

OK, a 45 gallons water change once a month... But what is the total volume volume of your system?

 

[Gandolfe]

I have a 125 gallon DT, a 40 gallon sump with about 30 gallons in it, a 10 gallon mangrove tank, and the 40 gallon fuge/macro tank, and it's a 65 gallon fresh water tank

 

[SBV]

Great looking fuge Gandolfe.

I would love to buy a bag of algae from ya if you would be willing to ship it to South Carolina. Let me know.

 

[Gandolfe]

you'd be better off looking for it online, I couldn't guarantee it being in good shape if I shipped it to you! I got my first bunch from an online place, but it cost me like $60 for 6 different types

 

[SBV]

Sounds good man

 

[Gandolfe]

I bought a macro selection and 2 things of pods and it was like $130 altogether. There were 8 different types of macro, 4 red, 4 green but the reds didn't last too long. They need iodine supplemented. The pods were either $20 or $40 each, I can't remember. Don't know if I can mention the company or not but it was Gulf Cost or something

 

[Gandolfe]

Funny, I used to have cyano in my Mangrove tank and efry little in my DT or Macro tank, now I have none in my mangrove and a lot in my macro tank but still very little in my DT. Weird. Gonna get red slime remover for my macro tank and hopefully wipe it all out

 

[drunkenmonk]

Looks good Gandolfe, macro tanks are one of my faves lol.