Macroalgae in main tank good or bad idea?

[Subsea]

Thank you for the kind words. No, I don't supplement the tank with anything. The copepods are really really small so I only surmised that that is what the scallop has been living on. I didn't actually know that is what it fed on. The tank is very mature, has been up since 2016 but the rock in it is from the 1990s. Maybe there are food webs that I don't know about that is feeding my scallop. Whatever it is I am thankful to have had my flame scallop so long. It's a cool creature.

Considering:
The microbial food web in your high nutrient system has pico plankton and that exudates from your macro algae are mostly carbohydrates which is a type of phytoplankton.

Bacteria may also be a part of scallop diet.

 

[Subsea]

Hey everyone. Trying to do some more research on filtration possibilities for my 30gallon tank. I just have a hang on back filter. I'm not sure I want to go the sump route... Is there any luck with having 1 or 2 species of macroalgae in the actual tank or is it best to have a refugium? I guess for example i've been looking at Mermaid's Tail/Fan and Caulerpa prolifera. It's honestly only my nitrates I am trying to bring down a little lower, they aren't super high just want them a little lower and done more in a natural approach than chemicals. My weekly water changes keep the nutrients at a manageable level but that is weekly water changes. I would like to go to biweekly water changes. Having refugiums or macroalgae in the tank help that? Any advice is appreciated I am still new here and learning everyday.

Good fortune in your journey. Marine Plants In The Aquarium: An online guide to the identification and care of marine plants and macroalgae in the aquarium. An online guide to the identification and care of marine plants and macroalgae in the aquarium. www.marineplantbook.com Marine Plants in The Aquarium" is an online resource for the identification and care of marine macroalgae and seagrasses in the saltwater aquarium. The guide features over 70 of the most commonly available species of marine plants with full color photographs, detailed descriptions and aquarium care. Many of the species included in the guide are available to purchase online from Gulf Coast Ecosystems. Click on each link below to begin the exploration.​ Table of Contents​ About The Author Introduction Marine Plants In The Aquarium The Refugium Substrates Selecting Quality Plants Aquascapes Lighting Reproductive Cycle Filtration Nutrients Maintenance Case For Caulerpa Green Macroalgae Red Macroalgae Brown Macroalgae Seagrass Mangroves References Glossary Online Articles

Copyright © 2011 GCE All rights reserved. No part of this online publication may be reproduced in any form by any means without the expressed permission of the author. All images are the property of Gulf Coast Ecosystems unless otherwise noted and should not be reproduced or distributed without permission.

​

 

[WheatToast]

Since that day, I have varied partial selective survival events with numerous seaweeds. From my experiences Caulerpa Paspoidies has shown to be the first to go sexual.

Caulerpa paspaloides has gone sexual on me before, though it did take a decent amount of overcrowding until it finally decided to do so. I am fairly certain that it, alongside Caulerpa prolifera and Caulerpa brachypus, are the most unlikely Caulerpa species to go sexual.
It is an absolutely gorgeous macroalgae and amphipods/micro brittle stars love to hide in its fronds, though it is a little more difficult to trim than Caulerpa prolifera due to the width of its stolon (pinch the stolon to prune).

 

[vlangel]

Considering:
The microbial food web in your high nutrient system has pico plankton and that exudates from your macro algae are mostly carbohydrates which is a type of phytoplankton.

Bacteria may also be a part of scallop diet.

Hi Patrick, as always nice to hear from you too. I am not as active here on R2R since Dave retired the end of July. We buddy around a lot and so not as much free time to spend on fish forums.
I appreciate your comment on pico plankton and bacteria. I don't understand such things fully but I do believe the maturity of my system has been beneficial to most of the creatures in it. Right now I have hundreds of the little feather duster worms and I have always liked them. I know that they are filter feeders so they may be living on some the same things as the scallop.
I do have some tree sponges and they are hanging in there but not as healthy as the scallop appears to be. I believe that I acquired both from KP Aquatics at the same time.

PS, Your new macroalgae tank appears to be doing well! Very nice!

 

[vlangel]

Caulerpa paspaloides has gone sexual on me before, though it did take a decent amount of overcrowding until it finally decided to do so. I am fairly certain that it, alongside Caulerpa prolifera and Caulerpa brachypus, are the most unlikely Caulerpa species to go sexual.
It is an absolutely gorgeous macroalgae and amphipods/micro brittle stars love to hide in its fronds, though it is a little more difficult to trim than Caulerpa prolifera due to the width of its stolon (pinch the stolon to prune).

I kept caulerpa prolifera when I had seahorses and as long as I pruned or trimmed it regularly, it did not go sexual. Once I think I got lax and waited too long and it did go sexual and I did what @Subsea recommended; continue to filter, add some carbon and the tank cleared on its own in a day or two.

 

[vlangel]

Awesome that’s what I wanted to hear. Any favorite Macroalgae for beginners? Yeah I’m having to do more of a 20-30% water change right at every 7 days to keep 1 of the 2 zoas happy. 1 zoa doesn’t care the nitrates get a little higher but the other one is more sensitive to it. Which that isn’t hard to do just would be nice to do it more every other week. Thank you for the info your tank looks awesome!

I find the reds to be a bit easier, although dragons breath has been tricky for me. However red grape caulerpa, red gracilaria and gracilaria hayi are all easy. The gracilaria hayi will adhere to rock, gorgonians and coral skeletons so can be a little challenging to keep as controlled as red gracilaria which doesn't seem to attach as readily.
In the greens, I find codium easier than a lot of other choices, especially the halimedas. They need more consistency than codium or caulerpa.
In general however, I run the nutrients quite high in my tank; usually NO3 is 30 ppm and PO 4 is .5 ppm. It's shocking to most reef keepers but I am sure my abundance of ornamental macros are what is keeping nuisance algae in check.
Also since I got LED lights I run a long light cycle starting with very low intensity blue at 6 am and working up to about 3 hours of white and blues at 75% and then ramping back down to very low intensity blue at 9 pm. I never ran the lights that long when I used T5s.

 

[JHSteepat]

I received some live rock recently, with Botryocladia (beautiful), some Caulerpa (mexicana??, small fronds), and some other red/brown algae I have yet to ID. All is growing well in holding tank. I would love to keep some of it in the dt, as I am having hair algae (ugly stage) issues.

I have a one spot foxface who is nibbling at the hair algae. If I add any of the macros to dt, would I just be feeding the fish? My chaeto in my refugium is losing badly to hair algae, should I just toss it and add the macroalgae to the fuge after hair algae is removed, and then feed the excess macro to the fish?

 

[Kmst80]

I received some live rock recently, with Botryocladia (beautiful), some Caulerpa (mexicana??, small fronds), and some other red/brown algae I have yet to ID. All is growing well in holding tank. I would love to keep some of it in the dt, as I am having hair algae (ugly stage) issues.

I have a one spot foxface who is nibbling at the hair algae. If I add any of the macros to dt, would I just be feeding the fish? My chaeto in my refugium is losing badly to hair algae, should I just toss it and add the macroalgae to the fuge after hair algae is removed, and then feed the excess macro to the fish?

I give the foxface a week and your macroalfae is completely gone. As well fish only eat the new shoots on hairalgae, so if you help them ripping the long stuff out they take care of the rest. If you want macro with foxface fuge it is. But you can use excess of macro to feed the foxy.