- What's up coral people? My name is Remy.
This is part 3 of my macro algae display build series.
In this video, we're gonna do some fun stuff.
I'm gonna do a quick scape,
we're gonna set up the equipment,
and then we're gonna fire this bad boy up.
If you missed the last two parts in the series,
make sure to go back and check those out before you move on.
Part one is a basic overview on
why in the world anybody would want to grow algae
willing in a display tank.
And in part two, I talk about all the equipment
that I'm gonna be using during this build in depth.
I definitely go into further detail on why I chose
each one of these pieces for this macro algae display.
All right, it's time to get to the fun stuff.
Aside from my head blocking the "BRStv" logo
in all of my shots.
The studio is kind of coming together.
I got blinds. For those OG 'Bahama Llama Coral' viewers,
that's a huge deal, that's a big deal.
It's been like two years.
All right, enough about the blinds.
I have selected a spot for
the macro algae display tank to sit in the studio.
For me, on this build, I purchased a really cool
console table from a local wood worker,
who rehabs old wood from barns and things like that,
so it's gonna be a really cool spot.
I wanted to make this something special,
so that it was part of the interior decoration of
this room that we're sitting in.
I can't wait to show you the vision that I have in my head
when it's all set up and we've got everything fired up
and going, and macro algae is in the tank.
All right, let's go ahead and start with the scape.
I'm not gonna go too crazy with this.
I'm really looking for a minimalistic look.
I really want to let the macro algae
be the star of the show here.
Fill in a lot of that negative space.
So this is why you should visualize
what it's gonna look like in the future
when it's all grown in.
Remember, when you're working with the 'CaribSea Life Rock',
you can always bust it up into smaller pieces.
I tend to do this with the rock that doesn't really have
a unique shape or size.
'Rubble Rock' is perfect to fill in those little gaps,
and make sure that you give your scape a unique look.
Next, we'll go ahead and add the sand.
On one side of the aquarium,
I'm gonna go a little bit shallower.
And on the other side of the sand bed,
I'm gonna go a little bit deeper,
so we kind of have a sloping action
from one side of the aquarium to the other.
Not gonna lie, I took a little bit of inspiration
from a good friend, Dennis, @tigahboy.h20, on Instagram.
If you're looking for inspiration on your macro display,
make sure to cruise around Instagram.
There's some really, really, cool tanks out there.
And as these macro display tanks
become a little bit more popular,
there's gonna be more and more inspiration
that you can draw from a creative standpoint.
Let's go ahead and start with the light.
The 'AI Prime' has a variety of different mounting options.
I went ahead and I chose the gooseneck option for now.
But, ideally, when this is all done,
I really want to retrofit the 'Prime' into
some sort of floor lamp, so that it disguises
what's actually inside.
Or it might be cool to do like
a hanging pendant light from the ceiling.
For me, I like to get as much equipment off
of the tank as I possibly can,
but for now the gooseneck will work just fine.
Now, let's move to the hang on back filter.
We're gonna go ahead and mount this
on the back of the aquarium.
Normally, I like to go from either side
just to kind of get it out of the way and it's not
visually in the background,
but for this case, I'm gonna go ahead and put it on the back
of this tank.
I may decide to move it to the side once the gooseneck,
or the 'AI Prime' is out of the way,
but we'll see what happens.
That's part of the beauty when your tank is cycling,
you can kind of take note of what equipment goes best where,
what looks good aesthetically, and you can go ahead
and change that when nothing is in the tank.
Next, we'll place the heater and go ahead
and set the 'Inkbird'.
I'm just gonna keep this at 78 degrees.
That's kind of standard for that I keep all of my tanks at,
so we're gonna go ahead and stick with that 78.
And voila! Just like that we have the start of what is
going to be a very beautiful macro algae display tank.
From here, I am going to add a little bit of
'TurboStart' from Fritz to start the cycle.
Now some of you who may have kept macro algae in the past
know that you don't necessarily have to cycle the tank
to keep macro algae.
And that's totally true.
Some algae actually consume ammonia.
But for this tank,
I'd like to have some special inhabitants.
I'd like to have inverts and maybe even some
gorgonians or some cool leather coral down the road.
These special "inhabitants" that I just mentioned,
you may know them very well if you follow me on Instagram
@bahamallamacoral, or on my YouTube channel.
They have grown up quite a bit
and they are ready for a new tank.
From this point, I'm gonna go ahead and order the
macro algae from 'Algae Barn'.
They're gonna send me some stuff.
They also provided the 'TurboStart' for this build.
And once this bad boy is cycled, we're gonna go ahead
and add all of the plants to the tank.
That will be in the next episode.
It looks so much cleaner back here, doesn't it?
With the logo and the blinds.
I'm sure when people who have never met me before on
YouTube saw the cardboard on the windows they were like,
"Who did they hire?" "Where does this guy live?"
"Who is he?" "How does he keep reef tanks in his basement?"
I got that Labor Day sale on them blinds.
You just gotta procrastinate long enough.
You'll get a great deal.
Join me in macro mania with my display
refugium starter kit from the link right here.
We'll see you next time!
We'll see you next time.
That sounded weird the first time.
"We'll see you next time!" I don't know. That's weird.
Sorry.