Culturing Ulva

[Riddler05]

Hey,

It's a long story, but I have decided that I want to try and grow some Ulva in order to feed it to some of my picky tangs as well as using it to grow copepods. I don't have a refugium so the idea is that I would use a separate 10 gallon tank. Every week when I do a water change I will take the old water from my display tank and add it to the tank growing Ulva. As far as the set up i want to keep it simple so I am thinking just a heater and a couple of airline tubes to create flow.

My questions are:

1. Is this set up ok or do I have to include some kind of hang on filter? Also do I have to include a powerhead or will air bubbling produce enough flow on its own?
2. Is it best to glue the Ulva onto a support like rock or egg crate or should I just let it float around?
3. Has anyone ever grown Ulva in its own tank and if so what was your setup and how did the Ulva grow?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Keithcorals]

It will grow just fine like that and even better with some fertilizer. I've grown it with great results in a 5 gal bucket. No need for a rock or other filtration in the tank you want to grow it in. You will want a good amount of light but it's about that simple. I used a 5 gallon bucket to prevent algae buildup on the sides of the container. I had two buckets and would pour the water and algae from one into the other every 2-3 days this prevented any unwanted algae from growing on the sides. I had a small pump with a sponge on the intake for circulation but and airline should work just fine. If you want to use fertilizer find one that recommend for phytoplankton (green water)