My Newest Tank- The Florida Macro Project

[johnmaloney]

This project started off as a contest between me and my brother to see who could build the better tank for under a $100. After his filter broke, (wal-mart filters can't withstand being run over by a car ), we decided to just use one tank. At first we added some corals, (zoos a couple of small frags), and another coral that I got off of Ebay. Then we decided to change it around and go with macro instead, although these corals still remain. In that way, this tank is similar to the "beach reefs" of Florida that have small amounts of coral and large amounts of macro. Because this was our $100 project, please don't laugh at the cheap equipment we are using.

The tank:
Birthdate: March 6, 2008
10 gallon kit at Wal-Mart
No liverock, but has about 3 lbs. of base rock that might have some life by now.
Seawater from a "beach reef" (Couldn't use Instant Ocean and stay under $100)
Mangroves for filtering
After cycling, 4 mangrove sprouts and some chaeto were added. Within days, parameters are near perfect, and we are now going to dose nitrates, silicates and phosphorous, to test growth rates and so forth. (To noobies: don't do this).
2 20watt 50/50 Coralife compact fluorescents keep everything growing.
1 outside light for the mangroves,
The tank was jump started with used filter media, and some live sand seed from an established tank.

The inhabitants:

2 Rock boring Urchins (Small)
3 Seargent Major Fry
1 Pinfish Fry
1 Wrasse Blenny Fry
1 Goby
1 Coral Banded Shrimp
2 Shore Shrimp
1 Sea Hare (Small)
1 Spotted Sea Hare (Very Small)
1 Thorny Oyster
3 Feather Dusters
2 Chitons
10 Dwarf Ceriths
5 Nerites (1 tesselated, 1 antillean, 1 four tooth, 1 bleeding tooth, 1 virgin- still need an emerald nerite)
2 Florida Ceriths
2 Stocky Ceriths
3 Fly Speckled Ceriths
5 Zig Zags
5 Planaxis Snails
1 Orange Encrusting Sponge
1 Crayfish

Before the fish police get on me, trust me I know each of these fish, and the sea hares will have to go into a larger tank which is setup and waiting for them. The urchins will go soon too. They are fed all the caulerpa they can handle. There is plenty of room for these inhabitants as I am keeping the middle and top of the tank largely unblocked.

Macros:
Halimeda Incrassata
Halimeda Monile
Bryothamnion triquetrum
Codium Isthmocladium
Codium Sp.
Penicillus Capitatus
Caulerpa prolifera (when it isn't wiped out by the sea hare)
Caulerpa mexicana (when it isn't wiped out by the sea hare)
Chaeto
Grape Caulerpa (when it isn't wiped out by the sea hare)
Sargassum
Scroll Algae
Dictyota ciliolata
Gracilaria verrucosa
Bostrychia montagnei
1 yet unidentified "red bush algae"
1 yet unidentified "red twisting kelp looking thing" algae
1 yet unidentified "light pink bushy stalk algae" it is my favorite red algae, a camera in my hands never picks up the detial of this beautiful macro.

There are also a few mangrove sin that tank for filtering. They do a great job, and the parameters are near perfect.

I will be adding Udotea spinulosa and turbinaria turbinata soon.

Here is a pic of the tank after the second round of aquascaping. We are planning a few more rounds before we are done.

[leebca]

Very attractive and well landscaped. I just don't see any room for things to grow.