Grabbing Ulva Gracilaria for Tangs, from Mid Atlantic.. Problems?

[chazman113]

So I just got a blue eyed bristletooth tang and I'm getting conflicting reports on whether they will pick at Ulva and Gracilaria. If they won't eat it, conversation over. If they do, I have a huge supply this time of year at my local state park here in delaware. When the water gets warm ulva is everywhere and red gracilaria floats around in the current (as opposed to the real tough brown stuff that is around year round). I don't mind putting it in my display tank as I think it looks cool anyway. Should I be worried about introducing pests and are there any precautions I could take? The internet is saying an RO dip might kill ulva and to a lesser extend gracilaria. I've definentally done it with Chaeto with no ill effect, but that stuff is extremely tough.

 

[tbrown]

You could do a short freshwater dip to knock any potential pests off. Even just a quick rinse should help.

With that - I don't know much about sensitivity in Macros. I freshwater rinse my Gracilaria frequently to remove Dinos when my phosphates bottom out and have had no die off from the dips.

I'm not sure how much more sensitive Ulva would be but it's one of the hardier Macros.

 

[chazman113]

You could do a short freshwater dip to knock any potential pests off. Even just a quick rinse should help.

With that - I don't know much about sensitivity in Macros. I freshwater rinse my Gracilaria frequently to remove Dinos when my phosphates bottom out and have had no die off from the dips.

I'm not sure how much more sensitive Ulva would be but it's one of the hardier Macros.

Yea being that its free and I can just pull it out, I don't see the big risk.