Kick starting a Macroalgae tank

[rivoth]

I'm just about ready to pull the trigger on starting up my first aquarium, which will primarily be a Macroalgae display with lots of bio diversity.

The tank will be a 70 gallon 36" x 18" x 25" oceanics. It will have a 6" deep fine sand bed and about 50 lbs of live rock. There will be no sump or skimmer so the bio load needs to be kept fairly low.

It occurs to me that once the tank has completed cycling, there will very little in the way of existing nutrient source for the Macroalgae and the sand ecosystem to thrive upon. I hadn't really planned on regular marine fish, but maybe I do need something that just eats and poops to get things rolling?

Anybody else have experiences to share on getting their Macroalgae tanks started off? I like the other Macroalgae tanks I've seen in this thread, but they tend to have a lot more fish than I was planning on. Ideally I'd only like to add coral and critters that can live off of what food the tank grows without overgrazing. With only a 70 gallon tank that might turn out to be a very short list.

Thanks for any constructive input,
Frank

[cereberus]

Yeah me to right now I am in the process of pimping out my 37 gallon ditching the wrought iron stand which to me is my most prized possession well that and my 90 gallon which I got for free
from my brother after red slime took hold in his tank and he quit the hobby the only thing I would change about the tank would be the a diy Mh canopy. But right now I am just working on this tank
until I have my own place,car liscense,furniture,and a better job.
When the stand is done I am thinking of turning it into a macro algea tank with Chaetomorpha,Red smooth leaf kelp, a cluster of feather dusters,1 Yellow tree gorgonian,1Red tree gorgonian,black sun coral,bright yelow/red fountain head feather duster,1 clarks clown fish,1 six line wrasse,1 hector's goby.

[cereberus]

got a little of topic Keep an eye on your calcium levels, phosphorus to maybe try supplements.

[lancer99]

My 29G seagrass/macro tank, which I set up last September, had no fish until a couple of days ago. A couple of times a week, I fed the anemones, and the other days, I just threw in a bit of fish food...kept everything going nicely.

HTH,
-R

[MatthewAD]

You can fertilze regularly if you want to avoid fish, a good source would probably reading up on planted freshwater tanks, where they have spent more time on what and when and things for fertalizing.