# Marine planted tank



## John_C (Dec 17, 2007)

Well Macro algae tank.. This was my first attempt at a marine, trying to make a "low tech" nature aquarium..

I let it sit for 3 -4 months allowing the macros to grow, and copepods populate before the pipefish were added

I didn't have the best of cameras back then.. It shows..>! lol

Damn I need to get a marine tank going again!
































































http://lushaquatics.wordpress.com/


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## df001 (Nov 13, 2007)

John, thanks for posting this tank it looks awesome!!

I love the look of it, and the idea!

@50seven if i ever go salt, this is SO what i'm doing!


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## Flexin5 (Nov 12, 2011)

That's really cool (to me) to see since most salties strive to not have any algae in the tank.


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## John_C (Dec 17, 2007)

*oh...*

Thanks for the compliments...

Basically all my freshwater tanks run on this method. Lot's of plants to aid in the natural filtration of the nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia being produced in the tank. I wanted to see how well it'd work in a Marine setup, so basically it's a large show refugium ..


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## wildexpressions (May 3, 2010)

well proven concept although not a popular one. 

You definitely should set up another one and post lots of pics.


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## noy (Nov 19, 2012)

This is a great concept which don't see a lot. Keep it up and give us regular updates. Love the pipefish, its a smart complement with the planted tank idea. 

If you don't mind me asking where did you get the red grape (Botryocladia botryoides) and the green grape (racemosa I believe) macro?


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## sig (Dec 13, 2010)

Sorry, but do not like it.

Many (not experts) on this forum tried to run "natural" sw tank and none succeeded. They were able to have dirty pond, but soon went with normal filtration.

you can not reproduce ocean in 100G closed tank

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## sig (Dec 13, 2010)

df001 said:


> John, thanks for posting this tank it looks awesome!!
> 
> I love the look of it, and the idea!
> 
> @50seven if i ever go salt, this is SO what i'm doing!


Probably something like this will be better in your living room

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## John_C (Dec 17, 2007)

*oh*

I purchased the red grape and red branching macro from "Coral Reef Aquariums" in Brampton, owned be Dee. and the Calurpa however you spell it from Big Al's Vaughan...

Oh... and Sig.. I did have a revolving powerhead to mimic ocean currents, and aquaclear 500 running in the tank. I should've cleared that up.. Just not all the bells and whistles of most Marine tank with the whole sump, calcium reactors etc...

The purpose of the tank was to create a biotope for the pipefish and seahorse, so a reef tank wasn't the goal in mind. When I take on this project again I well definitely incorporate a sump though to keep it cleaner.

Here's a pic of a more legit "Macro" tank off the web... In my opinion they can look just as stunning as a coral reef tank.


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## John_C (Dec 17, 2007)

*Oh*

Here's an even nicer example.. But you'd be hard pressed to find the variety of Macros you see in this aquarium...


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

There are quite a few problems with running macro algae tanks. First and foremost is keeping up the proper levels of nitrates and phosphates to encourage growth. If this is done by livestock then this puts a whole new twist on the tank since the sandbed could never be properly cleaned and like sig said...it will eventually become mud due to all the garbage that has collected in it. Eventually this tank would fail due to improper balances in chemistry. Either the macro would die due to starvation and then nuke the tank with dead foliage or the tank would get overgrown with macro then forcing the owner to trim back and having the tank nuke due to not having enough macro algae to keep up with the nitrates and phosphates.

As another reefer said, we fool ourselves by thinking our tanks are "stable" but they actually are always on the verge of crashing. This one is no different.

As for myself? macro's have their place, but not in a display tank. Gorg's would look so much better in a DT.


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## John_C (Dec 17, 2007)

*oh.*

yah no one said it would be easy, I just liek the challenge of trying to recreate a certain biotope, or niche environment, and seeing the challenges involved. I easily did it with a freshwater system, Marine is always a totally new ball game though...

But that's the goal to any type of aquarium we take on, the challenge of maintaining it as close to homeostasis as possible, and re-creating the nature in your own home.


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

Now that I totally disagree with. If you look at any reef tank or saltwater tank you will find that it isn't even close to what you would see in nature. 

Most people have fish from hawaii, coral from malaysia, and rock from Fiji or even the phillipines. We tend to put what we want or like into the tank to suite our needs. There are very few people that try to keep it as close to nature as possible. Even with a macro algae tank you should have some type of crabs or tangs to keep the growth down.

Either way, Looking forward to seeing how this turns out


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## fesso clown (Nov 15, 2011)

Leaving all the arguments out about what's natural let's go back to the OP's thread title "Marine Planted tank". I have read dozens of threads on various forums of successful "macro" or planted salted tanks. I think they are awesome. Not everybody likes the look but they really aren't that hard to set-up and maintain at all. Finding the variety of macros in different colors is the hard part. I personally like the look of your tank John and the others that you posted I have seen before.

Check out Julian Sprung's satelite filtration algae tank at about 4:30 in this video. He admits it's a challenge to keep looking good but certainly not a challenge to keep it alive. 





Again algae tanks are not for everyone in terms of attractiveness but neither are SPS dominate tanks.


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## noy (Nov 19, 2012)

John
thanks for the info on where to get the macro. I love the 2 examples you put on there (you really shouldn't feel the need to defend your concept though). I hope you don't get discouraged from some of the input from here. As you develop your tank you can work on some the aesthetics of it and keep collecting rare marine fauna. 

I don't agree that a system like yours cannot be stable in the long term. What I see is a system where what we think of as a refugium is integrated into the main display. What you are missing is some mechanical filtration for larger waste, surface skimming of waste and removal of dissolved material through the use of a skimmer. Because nitrates is not a concern you can achieve all this with a regular water change regiment. You may want to add some mechanical filtration with a simple HOB filter using filter floss. I don't think a sump is really necessary.

The choice of livestock (pipefish/seahorse) is smart because of the nature of the food they eat - high phosphate content. The fauna is great for fostering pods.

I have to say I've been collecting different macro with the purpose that I would setup something like your tank one day.


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## John_C (Dec 17, 2007)

*nononlol*

NO offense taken whatsoever 

THat's what the purpose of a forum is for, to get discussions going and seeing different people's opinions and approach to the hobby. But saying it's impossible is complete nonsense... At one point Hard corals were deemed impossible to propagate. It's just a matter of achieving homeostasis, and if some human intervention is needed just as we dose extra additives for our Nature planted aquariums then so be it.

It's a fun project trying something new, and depicting a particular biotope, sometimes no matter how many people say how something can't work, there's only one way to find out, try it out for yourself... I love reef tanks, I've had one before, but I've always love the flowing look of natural plants. But to each their own, there's a wide variety of aquatic life out there.

What if Takahashi Amano listened to the University Prof who told him that it was "impossible" to successfully grow aquatic plants.


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## J_T (Mar 25, 2011)

I see no reason this tank won't work. It is not unlike a full on SPS tank. It will have its challenges.

Prunning will be needed, no different than a FW planted tank. 

I think the biggest thing to consider is the sandbed. Get an army of nassarius snails, and one conch in there. Then a small squadren of Cerith snails to assist. 

Not everyone is going to like the look of a tank full of algae, but I think that you will have a very healthy pair of pipe fish.


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## 50seven (Feb 14, 2010)

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so to each his own. I think variety is the spice of life... 

Thanks for sharing your pics, John! This tank definitely has its status as a unique marine tank; I'm sure the pipefish loved it. And that one with the banggai's is pretty epic looking I gotta say, even though not my first choice of aquascape myself... 

@df001, any day you're ready, I'll give you the first bucket of RO water


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## John_C (Dec 17, 2007)

*Soon... soon...*

The bloody fireworms did a good job of aerating the sandbed !!! lol

Soon, soon... I'll be asking for some RO water... This tank lasted for about 3 yrs. It has since become a fully planted tank with grass guppy, and yellow Sakura shrimp...


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