Nitrate levels for planted tank

[Cody Ray]

If someone was wanting to set up an aquarium mainly for algaes, what sort of nitrate levels should one have? Would a wet/dry filter be more appropriate for such an application? Is a skimmer neccesary or even wanted on a planted aquarium? If there is any confusion, this is a saltwater aquarium.

 

[kmk2307]

Hey Cody,

If you want to grow macroalges, nitrates around 20ppm are probably optimal. As long as the nutritional requirements of the algae are met and they have enough light, you would probably be just fine with something providing water movement only. If you plan to have algae as the primary "filtration" for the aquarium, be sure that you don't skimp on lighting. Metal halide lighting is great for growing Caulerpa IME. You may want a hang-on canister filter or something along those lines (ex: HOT Magnum) so you can run carbon on occasion.

Kevin

 

[Samala]

Kevin - If we give our macro tanks high light and high nitrates.. does this mean we also need to pay attention to phosphate and potassium? Or any of the micronutrients (iron or iodine)? Or perhaps CO2 concentrations? How do people usually address these issues in marine tanks? Or, if you're growing macroalgae, since it is an algae, is it not as sensitive to these nutrient and dissolved gas needs? Do tanks with high light and high nitrates grow large beds of macroalgae? Or do they tend to foster microalgae?

Forgive my ignorance but I usually play the plant game mainly from the freshwater side... and I'm wondering if marine macro and seagrass cultivation is terribly different or not. So far I only have experience growing Vallisneria under extreme brackish (15-22ppt) conditions and I needed CO2 supplementation, iron source in the substrate and dosages of micronutrients to keep it going strong. Perhaps that was simply because I had pushed the plant to its extremes as far as salinity...

Thanks for any advice/ideas or references you can give, I appreciate the help for a marine plant newbie!

>Sarah

 

[Cody Ray]

What do you think about using a wet/dry filter? And what about skimming? Should or should you not skim?