planted marine tank advice

[xpertrifle]

Ok, so my 240gal FOWL is running. Since I can not have coral with these fish I'd like to make a planted tank. Does any one have any experience with this? I'm not sure where to get marine plants and if I need extra O2? Do I need an CO2 set up? Will my skimmer provide enough O2. Any advice would be appreciated. Also I'd buy plants if you've got em.

 

[Tucson Reef]

First, what kind of fish, trying to start a Macro tank with a bunch of Tangs and Foxface would be fun. Most Calerpa is easy, some plants need aged subtrate(1 year old tank set up). I only use CO2 on FW, its hard enough trying to keep pH above 7.7 without adding CO2, my tank is 7.7 in morn and 8.2 in evening after having doors open all day.

Sounds like there will be a few locals with plants soon, so we might get a plant/Frag auction going

 

[xpertrifle]

As for fish I'm keeping lions, triggers and puffers! Oh, my!
I may have calerpa. I'm looking at mermaids fans, Grasses, calcified plants, ect.
I need to make sure they will be ok at higher temps and I have 4 t-8 bulbs the length of the tank.
Don't really want to get MH.
Any one have a tank I can look at?

 

[Tucson Reef]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2083155

 

[scubabum1983]

there is a whole forum dedicated to macro and care on RC i would stay away from caulerpa, its cool in the beginning because it grows fast, the issue is it spawns and takes nutrients away from more desirable macros. co i didn't have an issue with for low to medium macro load, when you want it to start looking like a jungle you will need to balance the iron for the reds, the nitrogen for the reds and greens and co2, get one out of wack and things suffer, my advice for price if you are looking to stock is with live-plants.com, Russ the owner is very service oriented and his portions are 10x what other sites give you. his shipping is top notch and keep his bags, they are similar to dialysis bags and keep the ph from going crazy if you decide to ship your macros to another macro person. His stuff is seasonal, but sometimes you can call him and see what he has but hasn't listed, and you get something cool. sea grasses can be a pain the type i had the most success with is turtle grass but a deeper sand bed is needed. light is another big component. its like having a reef the better the lights the better the growth, i got good results from 10k i ran halides and vhos, if i were to do mine over again id do all ati 10k t5s. your tank would look stunning with their bulbs.

 

[Jmnazari]

Turbo snails are the DEVIL to quite a few macros! It seems like mine always don't eat what they should and chomp on what the shouldn't. Halimeda types never seem to be affected by snails. I have a damsel that will eat red grape calurpa. I have less intense lighting on my tank. LPS and macros thrive, but it would be a death sentence to SPS. I put some red gracilaria higher up in my tank, and it sort of bleached! So be prepared to move your plants and rock around a lot! I would also follow ANYthing Scubabum says/said. His macro tank was one of the best on RC!

 

[xpertrifle]

I appreciate the advice! I cant wait to get some plants in there!

 

[Jmnazari]

You are most welcome I find macros somewhat easier than SPS. There was going to be a group buy (live-plants.com,) I think, for macros but I guess it fizzed out. Codium is in stock, and that's one I really wish to have. I find that astrea and coraline margarita snails hardly attack macro! Good luck!