40g Long Naturally lit macro-algae tank

[CKS]

Happy New Year everyone. Here's a quick update of the tank in 2017. Lost most of the Caulerpa and the purple Ochtodes are coming back strong

 

[CKS]

March 2017 updates, the tank is going to reach 2-years mark in a month.

Its mostly dominated by C.Prolifera which managed to root themselve over half the sandbed now. The purple Ochtodes are back and bigger than before While the sump is mostly Ulva as filter. I'm constantly fighting to keep the NO3 above 10ppm to prevent the algae from dying.

The current living inhabitants in the display tank are

• pair of mandarin fishes
• clownfish
• regal tang
• Christmas tree worm
• lots of brittle starfishes, snails who are laying eggs everyweek?, sea cucumber

Harvested lots of baby brittle starfishes

Would anyone be able to identify the anemone in the middle of this photo?

[Jairus]

wow interesting tank bro. are the brittle starfish harmful? is that why you removed them?

[CKS]

Just now, Jairus said:

wow interesting tank bro. are the brittle starfish harmful? is that why you removed them?

Thanks bro! unlikely to be harmful at that size. I removed them to sell them off

[pcw]

I'm not certain what exactly that anemone is but coral farm has lot of them. They call them sand anemones or something along those lines. Can't remember precisely what already.

[CKS]

22 hours ago, pcw said:

I'm not certain what exactly that anemone is but coral farm has lot of them. They call them sand anemones or something along those lines. Can't remember precisely what already.

Thanks for the lead PCW, i've also gotten another suggestion that those are 'Majano', a kindof harmful anemones that strings coral, not like thats a problem in my tank though

[CKS]

And 2-months from the last updates, the C.Prolifera and the purple Ochtodes have grown quite abit.

The clownfish has also taken a liking for the C.Prolifera next to its nest (the glass bottle). It likes to stay motionless in that patch of C.Prolifera as if it is an anemone

No idea why some of the Ochtodes are 'browning' though

[Farhan]

Which lfs or farm do you go to acquire most of the macro algae in ur list ?

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[CKS]

4 hours ago, Farhan said:

Which lfs or farm do you go to acquire most of the macro algae in ur list ?

Sent from Singapore Reef Club mobile app
 

Mostly MarineLife (when they were still around), Fresh N Marine and T95

[CKS]

Look at how much the Ochtodes has recovered! woohooo

 

 

 

 

[Puncak82]

Nice setup

[CKS]

Thank u!

[CKS]

Here are whats new since June.

Added quite a number of Cerith snails and also a Starry blenny

 

The full tank shot in July

And the full tank shot in September (All the fishes are still alive, they went into hiding!!)

 

Transplanted lots of macros and mini sea-fan from the over-flow

 

And lots of inverts (fanworms, fireworm, pods, mini-stars) 'recovered' when I was cleaning up the sump. Almost discarded them if I did not inspect the overgrown macros carefully.

 

The main tank is still largely lighted by natural sunlight while the sump is on 24/7 plant light. Here's the kind of view the habitats in the tank get to enjoy.

 

[CKS]

Oct updates, gotten some more new greens from FreshNMarine

 

 

 

[Ingwe]

Great tank! Love the concept. Love the macro algae too, especially the Ochtodes. 

[CKS]

9 hours ago, Ingwe said:

Great tank! Love the concept. Love the macro algae too, especially the Ochtodes. 

Thank you for your kind words !

It is really hard to find someone who appreciates macro/seaweed aquarium

I am also planning to sell the Ochtodes soon

 

[stanleylimkl]

nice tank, really like the greens. can i check if you are running a chiller, and what capacity?

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[Naughtyfish]

The purple octhodes are beautiful ! Hopefully u will harvest some for sale in the future hehehehehe


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[CKS]

14 hours ago, stanleylimkl said:

nice tank, really like the greens. can i check if you are running a chiller, and what capacity?

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Thank you! No chiller, infact the tank is at the balcony and they get exposure to direct sun in certain hours of the day.

7 hours ago, Naughtyfish said:

The purple octhodes are beautiful ! Hopefully u will harvest some for sale in the future hehehehehe


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Soon!

[Ingwe]

19 hours ago, CKS said:

Thank you for your kind words !

It is really hard to find someone who appreciates macro/seaweed aquarium

I am also planning to sell the Ochtodes soon

 

Do PM me if you are selling the Ochtodes

[CKS]

6 hours ago, Ingwe said:

Do PM me if you are selling the Ochtodes

Ok!

[stanleylimkl]

Soon!

Wow... what temperature is your tank at?

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[CKS]

4 hours ago, stanleylimkl said:

Wow... what temperature is your tank at?

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Half the tank is in direct sun right now, super sunny day, great for the macros. And the water temperature is at 32 degreeC now

[CKS]

Photos of the tank inhabitants taken early in the morning before feeding time when the fishes are most active and visible.

One of the mandarin pair hunting for pods in the macros forest

 

Added an Koran Angelfish recently

 

The most elusive fish to photography, the starry blenny

 

 

[Komerider]

Wow I've been wanting to get this effect in a portion of my sump where I do and overflow and grow pods. But I just keep getting algae and any marine plants in getting 'strangled' by these algae. I run an led light meant for plants. Any tips? Zero no3,2 27-28 degree reef tank.

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