start macro tank

[jasonphantasm]

I am looking to start a macro tank, i have a 29g tank and am looking to get 20lbs of sand and 30lbs of live rock tomorrow. what exactly do i need to get this going and what kind of up-keep should i expect. I already have a 110 FOWLR and figuire that if i need water with high nitrates then that can be my source. here is what i figuired out i can do:
29 with rock and about 4" sandbed
2 small powerheads
1 heater
1 or 2 lights from HD that is in some thread on here
I am waiting on some turtle grass, manatee grass and red gracilaria i already have some chaeto
The rock and sand are coming from an established fuge/tank so i am expecting tons of life
Do i need anything else as far as filtration? Am i heading in the right direction?
I am also considering puting the tank in front of a window so as to get some natural light in there as well.
Eventually i would even consider a pipefish or something but that may require more filtration i believe. Any help would be great.

 

[moonpod]

I would increase the sand bed depth to 6". Not so much rock--leave a lot of open space for the grasses.

 

[reeferX777]

What else (if anything) do you plan on keeping in the tank??

 

[Samala]

From what I've been reading I would also increase the sand bed depth to 5 or 6".. as suggested. I was wondering what were the HD lights that you mentioned? I cant find a reference in another thread on this board. Must have missed it. I'm in the midst of setting up a seagrass/macro tank myself and I need to decide lighting.

All the academic papers say seagrass thrives in environments with 16-30% of natural sunlight reaching them in the water (I'm guessing that's like 1/3 to 1/6 the actual intensity reading at the surface.) So, I'm wondering what that means for actual wattage requirements.. if you look at this from the freshwater planted aquaria perspective they go by watts per gallon of 3-4 wpg at 6500K (usually the color temp recommended) being considered useful for high-light freshwater plants. I wonder what seagrasses would like to be under. Of course, I also wonder if CO2 will need to be supplemented at that intensity as is also used in freshwater planted aquaria. (Can you tell that most of my tanks are freshwater planteds?? )

Oh and moonpod, that avatar of the pelvic bone with the screws make me positively shiver/shudder! That must be what my right leg and left wrist look like.. I did a nice job of breaking both joints while stadium jumping horses.. lots of metal in my body.. its a wonder I dont set off airport security alarms (and actually, sometimes I do!)

>Sarah

 

[moonpod]

Off Topic: prior to 9/11 airport security rarely was sensitive enough to catch metal implants. Now is a different story...even implants such as total hip replacement which is really deep in the body sometimes sets it off.

 

[jasonphantasm]

My main focus in the tank will be the turtle grass and the manatee grass. I just saw maroonb and his tank, he had a 180g i believe dedicated to just fuge, no predators and the amount of life was amazing. my goal here is to replicate something like that an enviroment free of predators. if i do introduce a pipefish it wont be for a few months because i really want to establish a good critter population. the light i speak of can be found in this thread http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=313318
from what i have read many people use this light and have had very good growth on both grasses and macros. I am not heavily interested in anything that needs tons of calcium because i want this tank to be for the most part self sustaining and dont want to be constantly dosing it. the sand bed is one of two things i was considering i may be off with, and i probably will increase it to 6", the rock i have i got from maroonb and it already has turtle weed on it that grew wonderfully soo i will keep some of the rock with the idea of keeping left side of tank rock with turtle weed stacked high and right side and center being all sand and room for grasses to grow. i am also considering a hang on back filter to run carbon though because some threads i have read use it sucessfully. I was also considering going with some more intense lighting but i think the lighting from the window the tank is directly in front of will be the main source of light with the two HD lights really being the supplemental lighting but the truth will be told once the tank is up and running. thanks for the help so far, any other suggestions and comments would be helpful.