Tek this is an awesome macro build! By far the nicest 90 I've looked at in the past few days and that's dozens of them. My wife decided she needed a tank in our store and I was able to find an Oceanic, canopy and stand on CL for nothing. She wants seahorses so I'm going to do a macro tank and have been looking scape ideas, found your's today and am so glad I did! I really like the rockwork, how many pounds is that? I'm guessing right around 100. Kudos to you on a build to be proud of and thanks for giving me some ideas to make my 90 look super sweet!
Tek's 90 gallon macro tank!
- Thread starter tektite
- Start date
tektite
Active Member
Glad I could give you ideas, thanks! Not sure exactly how much rock is in there, probably around 70 lbs. Its hard to tell in the picture but the rock is stacked with a lot of space between each rock, kinda 'airy' I guess. I'll see if I have some other pics that show that better.
I'm glad that I finally have a tank I can be proud of
Its turned out better than I could have imagined, I can't wait for my seahorses!
I'm glad that I finally have a tank I can be proud of
Its turned out better than I could have imagined, I can't wait for my seahorses!
DanSReef
Member
All I can muster is WOW! Your tank is simply incredible. It certainly is an inspiration for me and the 29 Oceanic I have that I recently cleaned up after five years.... I removed all the old sand...cleaned up some rock...tossed a bunch of rubble.... purchased new lights and fans.... it has been basically re-cycling now for the last two weeks....My wife wants a seahorse tank and the macros in your tank are simply incredible.....
Well...now I have a reason to go visiting LFS in the area. We have a few...and I guess I needed a reason to go visit them... I think the mission will be to find macro with color and let the tank just grow out. Very cool!
Thanks for sharing.... I will look forward to seeing more pictures!!!!
Well...now I have a reason to go visiting LFS in the area. We have a few...and I guess I needed a reason to go visit them... I think the mission will be to find macro with color and let the tank just grow out. Very cool!
Thanks for sharing.... I will look forward to seeing more pictures!!!!
Frogmanx82
Member
Yep, very nice. I'm interested to see how the seahorses do. So I also have a 90 and since I don't have a sump, I've been mixing in some macros as well. I have the caulerpa prolifica, a little chaeto, some halymenia, botryocladia, and gracilaria that came in a red mix pack from gulf coast aquatics. I wouldn't mind adding a few more. Your tank is certainly an inspiration to go further down the path with macros. How much trimming is involved and do you worry about anything going sexual?
tektite
Active Member
I trim the macros maybe once a month, which I don't mind because then I sell the trimmings It's nice to get a little money back in this hobby! The only macro that would go sexual is the Caulerpa, and I'll keep it trimmed to a small area. I don't want it taking over the tank anyway. That way, if it does go sexual, it won't be an issue.
It's nice to get a little money back in this hobby! The only macro that would go sexual is the Caulerpa, and I'll keep it trimmed to a small area. I don't want it taking over the tank anyway. That way, if it does go sexual, it won't be an issue.Frogmanx82
Member
So you when you trim then your not cutting it like a hedge, you would have to snip some branches off closer to the base so you have a decent cutting. I find everyone is out of stock this time of year. Where to you like to get your macros from?
tektite
Active Member
I usually take maybe 1/2 of the longer branches off, that way I have nice sized cuttings to sell and the macro still looks good. Next time I trim I cut off the branches I left long the last time. You can't tell that I trim the macros, that keeps them very natural looking. So far, I haven't actually purchased any macros. The only one I got from someone else was the Caulerpa prolifera and a little lobophora, the rest of the macros grew straight out of my TBS liverock. Places I've heard good things about getting macros from have been reefcleaners, lareefs, and gulf coast ecosystems. But in the winter macro pickings are usually pretty slim from suppliers.
tektite
Active Member
Still getting a little dieoff in some of the macros. Didn't see much change with the CO2 unfortunately. Nitrates are reading fairly high so that's not the issue. I had stopped ammonia dosing (was doing that because the tank is never fed and it keeps the cycle going keeping nitrates up) in favor of physically dosing nitrates, but right about the time I did that was when the macros started taking a downturn. So I've restarted dosing small amounts of ammonia, and to balance out the high nitrates I started dosing phosphates. That was a couple days ago and I can see some change in the macros already. The codium out of nowhere has put out a ton of small new branches, where a week ago it was starting to disintegrate on the tips. The red macros had been getting rather pink, they've all regained a deep red color which is awesome. The only macro not responding well yet is the botryocladia, but I'm starting to think that its in too high of light at this point. No adverse reaction in the corals, the clove polyps actually even look a little better than before.
Here you can see the new codium tips and how red the Halymenia's become:
Here you can see the new codium tips and how red the Halymenia's become:
tektite
Active Member
I'm really excited to see the progress my tank has taken since I've begun phosphate dosing! I can't believe the difference in the macros. A number of the soft corals and a couple of the LPS are also looking better than before surprisingly.
These two FTS are 5 days apart. Notice in the second one the growth evident in the macro that crosses in front of the elegance (I moved a couple others so they're not good indicators). Also see how very VIVD red the macros are becoming. Most of them have been a deep pink since being in the tank, but these past couple days they've taken on this wonderful red color.
1/17/11
1/22/11
I had to desaturate some of the pics below the red was so vivid! I'm so happy that I'm finally getting a tank that I can be really proud of, after the past year and a half of extremely slow progress as I built up equipment. Enjoy!
Baby elegance, Scinaia (I think), Caulerpa prolifera, Halymenia:
Closer up to the (maybe) Scinaia (behind the Caulerpa), my hardest macro to keep. Its been coming back lately after nearly being eaten alive by amphipods. Its really delicate, the branches are almost jelly-like:
Caulerpa prolifera, blade gorgonian, Halymenia:
Blade gorgonian and Halymenia, with pagoda cup, elegance coral, Codium, and more Halymenia in the background:
Codium and Halymenia with their little cleaner:
Palys and Halymenia:
A different kind of frag rack It getting rather full of macros. The koralia is a good spot for that Gracilaria to grow on too:
These two FTS are 5 days apart. Notice in the second one the growth evident in the macro that crosses in front of the elegance (I moved a couple others so they're not good indicators). Also see how very VIVD red the macros are becoming. Most of them have been a deep pink since being in the tank, but these past couple days they've taken on this wonderful red color.
1/17/11
1/22/11
I had to desaturate some of the pics below the red was so vivid! I'm so happy that I'm finally getting a tank that I can be really proud of, after the past year and a half of extremely slow progress as I built up equipment. Enjoy!
Baby elegance, Scinaia (I think), Caulerpa prolifera, Halymenia:
Closer up to the (maybe) Scinaia (behind the Caulerpa), my hardest macro to keep. Its been coming back lately after nearly being eaten alive by amphipods. Its really delicate, the branches are almost jelly-like:
Caulerpa prolifera, blade gorgonian, Halymenia:
Blade gorgonian and Halymenia, with pagoda cup, elegance coral, Codium, and more Halymenia in the background:
Codium and Halymenia with their little cleaner:
Palys and Halymenia:
A different kind of frag rack
It getting rather full of macros. The koralia is a good spot for that Gracilaria to grow on too:
DesertOrchid
Active Member
Wow!! Awesome photos and the red macro is just beautiful! thanks for the great photos to share!
bwhit1406
Member
Great tank love the macro. What A huge variety you have. I tried some of the more colorful macro in my fuge but could not keep them alive, great job. One question earlier in the thread you posted a room pic of the stand without the tank. Can you post a room shot with the tank on the stand? It seems like it would look really nice and I was curious.
tektite
Active Member
Someone asked about my dosing regimen, this is all experimental now as I figure out what the tank likes:
I still have the one DIY 2 liter bottle CO2 running during the daytime but I don't think that's really doing much.
Alk/Cal -- Bulk Reef Supply's 2 part recipe 1: ~45 ml of both solutions per day holds them steady.
Iron and iodide -- Kent's supplements: the 8 drops per 50 gal per day recommended on the bottle. Not sure how beneficial they are though.
Ammonia -- Ace hardware's janitorial strength formula (the only brand I've found that's true pure ammonia, all the others have had some sort of surfectants added): 1.5ml per day
**note on this, this is because the tank is completely fishless and isn't fed at all. Adding the pure ammonia substitutes for that and keeps the cycle going producing nitrates. It took a couple weeks of very close monitoring and slowly adding more ammonia to make sure my bacterial base could handle it. This is one of those don't try this at home things
I'm going to cease ammonia dosing soon in favor of dosing nitrates directly. I'll be adding seahorses soon so I won't need to dose it anyway.
Nitrates -- Pure potassium nitrate from Ebay:
Haven't started dosing it yet so I'll need to figure out what to add later. This also gives the tank some potassium which the macros use, along with the nitrates I need.
Phosphates -- Monobasic + dibasic sodium phosphate (Fleet Enema Extra from a pharmacy): Currently dosing enough to raise my tank 0.7 ppm per day. For my tank that's 1.7ml/day. I've just started dosing this so this'll change.
My nitrates were reading really high and phosphates 0. Normal for phosphates to be undetectable, but the ratio for nitrates and phosphates should be ~10:1 so adding phosphates has helped fix the huge imbalance in my tank which has improved the macros tremendously. I'll need to keep an eye on the nitrates and make sure they don't drop too fast since adding phosphates will do that.
I still have the one DIY 2 liter bottle CO2 running during the daytime but I don't think that's really doing much.
Alk/Cal -- Bulk Reef Supply's 2 part recipe 1: ~45 ml of both solutions per day holds them steady.
Iron and iodide -- Kent's supplements: the 8 drops per 50 gal per day recommended on the bottle. Not sure how beneficial they are though.
Ammonia -- Ace hardware's janitorial strength formula (the only brand I've found that's true pure ammonia, all the others have had some sort of surfectants added): 1.5ml per day
**note on this, this is because the tank is completely fishless and isn't fed at all. Adding the pure ammonia substitutes for that and keeps the cycle going producing nitrates. It took a couple weeks of very close monitoring and slowly adding more ammonia to make sure my bacterial base could handle it. This is one of those don't try this at home things
I'm going to cease ammonia dosing soon in favor of dosing nitrates directly. I'll be adding seahorses soon so I won't need to dose it anyway.
Nitrates -- Pure potassium nitrate from Ebay:
Haven't started dosing it yet so I'll need to figure out what to add later. This also gives the tank some potassium which the macros use, along with the nitrates I need.
Phosphates -- Monobasic + dibasic sodium phosphate (Fleet Enema Extra from a pharmacy): Currently dosing enough to raise my tank 0.7 ppm per day. For my tank that's 1.7ml/day. I've just started dosing this so this'll change.
My nitrates were reading really high and phosphates 0. Normal for phosphates to be undetectable, but the ratio for nitrates and phosphates should be ~10:1 so adding phosphates has helped fix the huge imbalance in my tank which has improved the macros tremendously. I'll need to keep an eye on the nitrates and make sure they don't drop too fast since adding phosphates will do that.
mightyreefer 0
Member
wow! Ithat is one of the best tanks ive seen!
do you know how to get rid of hydroids? I have huge colonys of them, about 50 hydroids in each colony. What i do is put kalk paste on top of the colony. some may still be alive after the kalk paste dissolves but other then that it works great.
do you know how to get rid of hydroids? I have huge colonys of them, about 50 hydroids in each colony. What i do is put kalk paste on top of the colony. some may still be alive after the kalk paste dissolves but other then that it works great.
tektite
Active Member
The whole fishroom is a mess right now
I'm waiting to get the windows replaced then I can frame them out and decide how I want to skin the stands. I'm in the middle of a whole lot of house renovation projects right now so progress is slow...bwhit: I'm not really concerned about the hydroids. They're here and there in the tank but don't bother me. I've heard of a couple ways to get rid of them, I might start going after some when I get the seahorses though.
Tank is looking amazing! And congrats on your new fish!
What is your CUC? I ask because I was growing out some macro's in my system at home while my 90 gallon was being built/cycling and my CUC or pods or both found a lot of the frags I had to be delicious. I busted one blue leg munching on some red fern algae. Maybe if I copy your crew I can still have at least a few crabs.
What is your CUC? I ask because I was growing out some macro's in my system at home while my 90 gallon was being built/cycling and my CUC or pods or both found a lot of the frags I had to be delicious. I busted one blue leg munching on some red fern algae. Maybe if I copy your crew I can still have at least a few crabs.
tektite
Active Member
Tank is looking amazing! And congrats on your new fish!
What is your CUC? I ask because I was growing out some macro's in my system at home while my 90 gallon was being built/cycling and my CUC or pods or both found a lot of the frags I had to be delicious. I busted one blue leg munching on some red fern algae. Maybe if I copy your crew I can still have at least a few crabs.
Thanks all!
My CUC consists of a few ceriths and nassarius, along with a lot of DIBS turbos (great little snails!), and little guys like colonista snails and a small army of mini brittle stars. I do have a handful of hermits in the tank, and I do see them sometimes eating some macros. The amphipods have been the worst though, eating through all the delicate macros, I'm sure the mandarins will help with that problem
I've kept the hermits in because though they sometimes nibble on macros, they also keep them clean. Especially the harder ones like codium that don't move in the current, they tend to collect detritus and the hermits clean them off.
tektite
Active Member
I will be removing the hermits this summer though. When it gets warmer I'll be able to catch shrimp in Galveston, they also do good at keeping macros clean while being a little less destructive around the reef (if you get the right types). Probably get mostly Sargassum shrimp, they're not as pretty as some others but I like them. Ghost shrimp too but they're even less pretty, lol. I'm leary of the peppermint shrimp, I've heard too many stories of them developing a taste for corals.
GlassMunky
Active Member
GREAT update. +1 for being weary of peppermmints......mine killed and ate my acan