[TheOldSalt]

Say it ain't so, TOS. Say it ain't so! You can't go nano. It just wouldn't be right!

Heh, heh.

Well, it's almost true, but not quite.
I've had a jbj 12-gallon cube sitting around empty for a few months in my kitchen, and I decided to make a new saltwater tank. This time I made a "plant tank" using marine macroalgaes. I had a marine plant tank several years ago which was a breathtaking beauty, so I figured I'd try it again.
I traded a buddy some local rare minnows for a nice selection of macros and a big wad of chaetomorpha, and yesterday they arrived in the mail.
Now I have a 12gallon nanocube with an inch of live sand on the bottom, filled about 1/3 up with 5 kinds of Caulerpa, so far all using a big brick of "cheeto" as an anchor. I'll add some reef rubble rock bits later this week if I can get them. The only animals are some amphipods and a bristleworm.

So far, so good. My friend sent just the right amount of algae for the best visual effect, which pretty much made this an "instant" tank, looking well established from day one. I'll be adding many more algae species as the tank matures, of course, so as to get some nice reds, blues, and browns in the mix. I'm not yet sure what kind of growth rate to expect in this setup since without fish there won't be as much food for the plants.

I'll post pics once the dust settles and things are a bit more where I want them.

The hood on this tank is the original standard hood from a few years ago, the one with no fans, no moonlights, and only a single 24 watt 10000k power compact bulb. I'll be upgrading to the reef version fairly soon, though. It's plenty bright for my current needs, but I'll probably want to add some more demanding species someday. I'll avoid fish in this one, I think, but might possibly add some small frags if things prove stable enough.
The water is running a bit too fresh at 1.021, but the evaporation rate of this tank should probably fix that within several days.
There's no skimmer, and no place to put one without some major hood modification, but I'm not going to bother with that. This plastic tank with the black plastic back panes is easily mod-able for adding a refugium, and I might add one if I think it needs it, but I don't think it will.

All in all, this tank model isn't a very good choice at all for making a reef due to it's many limitations, but it just might make a decent macroalgae garden tank. I guess I'll find out soon enough.