Can I Eat My Tank's Macroalgae?

[austibella]

Before reading your comment .
I was going to ask if a mouthful of tank water has ever made the op puke .
I’ve had skimmer sludge splash in my mouth once. .
I thought I was going to die after my stomach turned inside out .

Omg.i think we all have had tank water in our mouth when siphoning. After I gag i run to the closet to get peroxide to gargle with!!!

 

[rockdiver]

Omg why

 

[Rmckoy]

Omg.i think we all have had tank water in our mouth when siphoning. After I gag i run to the closet to get peroxide to gargle with!!!

Try skimmer gunk …
Even peroxide doesn’t help the psychological damage or memories of losing yesterday’s dinner

 

[WheatToast]

Well, I just ordered some more edible macroalgae varieties… with no intentions on eating them:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/w...-40-gallon-breeder.852228/page-5#post-9462424

List:
- Tang Heaven Red (Gracilaria parvispora)
- Tang Heaven Yellow (Gracilaria sp.)
- Tang Heaven Gold (Sargassum sp.)
- Tang Heaven Green (Ulva fasciata)
- Sea grapes (Caulerpa lentillifera)

 

[AlgaeBarn Verified Sponsor]

I'm sort of in this camp.

I have eaten Caulerpa racemosa and Gracilaria from my tank, in very small quantities (basically experimental). Those species of algae are eaten, I'm Asian and I like this stuff, so why not?

THAT SAID:

I did a search here on R2R years ago and remember a thread where @Randy Holmes-Farley specifically recommended you NOT do this; IIRC it had to do with elevated levels of bacteria and contaminants in a tank, but that's just IIRC.

Would appreciate any input from him, @AlgaeBarn , or anyone else who's done this commercially, to include in what respect commercial-scale macroalgae cultivation may differ from harvesting from your 'fuge.

I also did some googling (and will do more):

1. apparently at least commercially maricultured seaweed (wakame) is cultivated in the ocean (who knows what kinds of contaminants are in the local water). After harvest:



https://thefishsite.com/articles/how-to-farm-wakame-undaria-pinnatifida-seaweed
Which probably does a number on bacteria and the like.

or alternately:


https://pacificharvest.co.nz/seaweed-blog/about-seaweeds/about-wakame/
2. commercial aquaculture of tilapia (which is really a cichlid) apparently tastes better and cleaner than wild ones because they are raised and harvested in relatively clean water.


https://www.airtohawaii.com/the-tilapia-in-hawaii/
(as an aside, it is invasive in Hawaii and even can be found on some reefs as they are brackish fish and move out into the ocean. That said, i can't imagine they are very well suited to the open ocean)


ALL THAT SAID:

1. I'm not eating my-tank-grown macroalgae until I'm convinced it's safe.

2. I have a hard time ethically justifying the idea that if it's not safe for me that I'd subject my fish to the same conditions.

3. SO, something of interest to me is seeing what I could do to potentially make my fuge macroalgae (Gracilaria, C. racemosa, etc.) safe to eat, whether i actually do so or not.

Our input might be a little different since our macroalgae is grown in fishless system- therefore we have other methods to feel/fuel the macroalgae which has not been tested or recommended for human consumption. We wouldn't recommend eating the algae from your tank for the same reason -most likely reefers are going to be putting in chemicals not safe to eat and they would likely be at a higher concentration than that you would find in the ocean. We would be interested to know if they did taste different if someone did a taste test (please don't haha)

 

[VR28man]

Our input might be a little different since our macroalgae is grown in fishless system- therefore we have other methods to feel/fuel the macroalgae which has not been tested or recommended for human consumption. We wouldn't recommend eating the algae from your tank for the same reason -most likely reefers are going to be putting in chemicals not safe to eat and they would likely be at a higher concentration than that you would find in the ocean. We would be interested to know if they did taste different if someone sis a taste test (please don't haha)

Thanks! Yeah that's fair.

If someone cultured macroalgae only in a low nutrient system with as few other animals as possible, using "food" or "pharmaceutical grade" nitrogen and phosphorous input (whatever that might mean) then it might be certifiably safe for human consumption.

Cultivating macroalgae in an otherwise ULNS (via daily addition of phosphorous, nitrogen, and other trace elements - i'd imagine iron is an additional one at the bare minimum) is an interesting idea in and of itself; I might be tempted to try it sometime, save that I only have limited tank space.

 

[Subsea]

Esaladang lato

• 150 g lato or sea grapes, thoroughly rinsed
• 2 small sweet tomatoes, sliced
• 1 small white onion, thinly sliced
• 4 tbsp cane vinegar
• pinch of sugar
• 1 heaping tbsp fermented shrimp paste / bagoong
• 

Kudos to your artistic presentation of nutrition from the sea.

I have also eaten Bortacladia, Red Grapes, from the tank.

https://www.marineplantbook.com/marinebookbotryo.ht
Some 20 yrs ago when I found Red Ogo, Gracilaria Parvispora, at IndoPacific SeaFarm in Hawaii, I eat seaweed for the first time from my refugium. When I posted this on ReefCentral, a chef in Kansa City asked me about pods, I replied “free protein”. I heard his laugh from 1000 miles away.

 

[OrchidMiss]

I'm just here for the comments.
And boy, I was not disappointed!!!

 

[Subsea]

I'm just here for the comments.
And boy, I was not disappointed!!!

Pray tell. What entertains you the best? Inquiring minds wish to know!

As a Cajun/Aggie, I enjoy laughing and I provide a large target.

If in the Garden of Eden, Eve was a Cajun, she would have eaten the snake and not the apple.

 

[Subsea]

Well, I just ordered some more edible macroalgae varieties… with no intentions on eating them:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/w...-40-gallon-breeder.852228/page-5#post-9462424

List:
- Tang Heaven Red (Gracilaria parvispora)
- Tang Heaven Yellow (Gracilaria sp.)
- Tang Heaven Gold (Sargassum sp.)
- Tang Heaven Green (Ulva fasciata)
- Sea grapes (Caulerpa lentillifera)

If you get C. Lentilliferoa, I want some to cultivate for human consumption. In fact, if you are satisfied with the order, I will get a lb of Red Ogo & Green Grapes while pickings are good.

 

[WheatToast]

If you get C. Lentilliferoa, I want some to cultivate for human consumption. In fact, if you are satisfied with the order, I will get a lb of Red Ogo & Green Grapes while pickings are good.

Both are doing pretty well at the moment, though the Tang Heaven Red (Gracilaria parvispora) and Tang Heaven Yellow (Gracilaria sp.) fell apart without any structural support. The Sea grapes (Caulerpa lentillifera) has doubled in size since it was purchased. It is squeezed against the water’s surface in my refugium, about 5 inches underneath this:
Amazon product ASIN B093GQFVCH

 

[N.Sreefer]

Just thought of this, grow see purslane on a floating raft. The edible parts are all above the tank water that way

 

[JeepinReefer21]

And never look at your cereal under a microscope.

 

[Eienna]

I want to puke. Imagine eating copepods on the side of fish poop plants.

We get vegetable matter from land plants. The only things we eat from the ocean (plant wise) is nori. It’s been cleaned and dried. And even then it doesn’t really taste good in comparison to the real veggies we eat.

It’s a no for me personally!

We eat cow poop plants instead.

 

[Eienna]

If grown in natural sweater. I wouldn't mind. But, bucket salt? Ick

I mean....we use synthetic fertilizers, if memory serves...

 

[Miami Reef]

We eat cow poop plants instead.

This was an old thread. I was naive and dumb.

Now I omit the seawater plants and eat fish poop directly.

 

[Eienna]

This was an old thread. I was naive and dumb.

Now I omit the seawater plants and eat fish poop directly.

lol

 

[Eienna]

I'm thinking the right species of macro from our tanks could be OK, given a few rules: The tank must be well-maintained, with no medications used, and no corals known to be dangerous (such as zoas or palys.) Any fish introduced to the system must be properly quarantined and free from internal or external parasites. After that, it would need to be either cooked or thoroughly dried to kill any aquatic bacteria. After that, you're probably good.
I say probably because I haven't tried it.
I think I will try it, when I can.
Hydroponics often utilize live fish to feed the plants.

 

[Fish Styx]

Can you? Technically, yes. Should you? Oh, heck no!

 

[Eienna]

It also should be SERIOUSLY avoided if you have a red slime outbreak, BTW....