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Cultivated Reef

Trying to get opinions of which macro works best.


Nemo22

Top refugium macro algae?  

14 members have voted

  1. 1. What type of macro works best for you in the refuge?

    • Chaeto
    • Caulerpa racemosa (looks like grapes)
    • Penicillas (shaving brush)
      0
    • Udotea (fan type)
      0
    • Mixed
    • Other
  2. 2. Refuge clean up crew?



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Do you use a mix of macro algae in your refuge or are you satisfied with a particular species? Which species do you rank as the best for nitrate and phosphate removal as well as pod haven?

 

I currently run with Caulerpa rosemosa, but I'm considering mixing in some Chaeto.

 

I have a few pieces of LR and an Emerald crab in there. Also have to amphipods.

 

Any discussion would help.

 

Thanks guys/gals :)

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I use a mix of macro, (feather caulerpa, cheato, dragons breath and red grape caulerpa)in my fuge. I have live rock and some leathers and mushrooms too. I plan to add a remote deep sand bed with mineral mud or something comprable to the top of it. Originally I did not want a clean up crew in my fuge except maybe snails once I got a substrate but my feeder ghost shrimp went over the overflow and now some reside in the fuge. I am hoping they are not devouring all my pods. My priority for the fuge is for nutrient export but I would like it to grow pods as well for my seahorses.

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Thanks for the reply vlangel. Sounds like you have similar goals with your refuge as me, minus the deep sand bed/mud. I may be convinced yet, but the sand bed seems to make clean up during water changes a pain in the @$$. You have leaned me towards a mixed macro refuge though...I'll start by adding a ball of chaeto to my Caulerpa rosemosa. Surprised nobody else is chiming in. I'm assuming there must be a previous post or two regarding this, I just had trouble finding the answers.

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I did some reading up on which types of macros to have in a fuge and here's what I thought helpful FWIW:

 

Having a mix of continuous uptake macros like racemosa (and caulerpas in general), chaeto etc. is good along with some that don't need a continuous uptake of nutrients to thrive such as red grape, gracillaria, hayi, etc. And then you have those that can actually store nutrients but will suck up nutrients if you have a dieback from the higher uptake macros like codium, sargassum, etc.. Anyway, I found a lot of good information on chucksaddiction.com but just looked and their site is down!!! Here's a link to the Reef Cleaners' site:

 

http://www.reefcleaners.org/stocking-the-sump-refugium

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Thanks for the reply vlangel. Sounds like you have similar goals with your refuge as me, minus the deep sand bed/mud. I may be convinced yet, but the sand bed seems to make clean up during water changes a pain in the @$$. You have leaned me towards a mixed macro refuge though...I'll start by adding a ball of chaeto to my Caulerpa rosemosa. Surprised nobody else is chiming in. I'm assuming there must be a previous post or two regarding this, I just had trouble finding the answers.

 

Since I am swaying you towards a mixed macro fuge, I should warn you that once the algaes start to really take off and grow, your magnesium usage will go up so be sure to watch for that. If your system is low in magnesium then your coral can't utilize the calcium as well.

I did some reading up on which types of macros to have in a fuge and here's what I thought helpful FWIW:

 

Having a mix of continuous uptake macros like racemosa (and caulerpas in general), chaeto etc. is good along with some that don't need a continuous uptake of nutrients to thrive such as red grape, gracillaria, hayi, etc. And then you have those that can actually store nutrients but will suck up nutrients if you have a dieback from the higher uptake macros like codium, sargassum, etc.. Anyway, I found a lot of good information on chucksaddiction.com but just looked and their site is down!!! Here's a link to the Reef Cleaners' site:

 

http://www.reefcleaners.org/stocking-the-sump-refugium

Thanks stella, I will be interested in that as well.
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Since I am swaying you towards a mixed macro fuge, I should warn you that once the algaes start to really take off and grow, your magnesium usage will go up so be sure to watch for that. If your system is low in magnesium then your coral can't utilize the calcium as well.

Thanks stella, I will be interested in that as well.

 

Thanks man, the magnesium absorption by the macro has definitely been an oversight. The caulerpa has really shown fast growth. I will focus on that immediately. I've been adding Tropic Marine bio-calcium but have overlooked the importance of magnesium. Wonder if that's why my larger white hammer coral has looked down lately. Thanks again.

Thanks Stellablue for the link and info....looks like some interesting reads. I didn't realize some macro didn't need a continuous uptake of nutrients. Gives me something to do tomorrow! Cheers.

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I don't have a refuge but I can tell you my dragon's breath (Halymenia) most likely absorbs a lot and grows fast in high flow. It doesn't root and is easily managed. It also doesn't go sexual.

It's also super pretty in actinics if you get them to grow flame tips :)

post-90071-0-15773000-1454124014_thumb.jpg

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Not a refugium expert but I've had great success with chaeto mixed with caulerpa. I like caulerpa prolifera though. It roots, but that's kind of cool if you have sand in your refugium. It also looks awesome if you have a display refugium. Finally it is rumored to not "go sexual" at the drop of a hat like racemosa can. I actually had it go sexual last time I had it.

 

I'm trying to diversify a bit as well - I have a sprig of "red grape" that actually grows pretty slow and I am trading a guy for some halymenia tomorrow (though he says it has a little hair algae on it - so I'm not completely sure I'm going to put it right into the tank).

 

I don't use a CUC. I figure if the point of the fuge is to cultivate pods and algae I probably don't need animals that eat algae or pods. I do have a 2-3" mantis shrimp in there - I suppose he may take out some pods though they're freaking everywhere still...

 

Here's 1 month of chaeto growth. It's time to harvest again :)

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/369004-chaeto-1-month-growth/

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I don't have a refuge but I can tell you my dragon's breath (Halymenia) most likely absorbs a lot and grows fast in high flow. It doesn't root and is easily managed. It also doesn't go sexual.

It's also super pretty in actinics if you get them to grow flame tips :)

Thanks man, that dragons breath looks awesome.

 

Ajmckay, amazing growth on your chaeto, I've got a reefer who's gonna cut me a ball for $10 this week. Gonna mix it with my Caulerpa. I don't have as much flow as it looks like yours has. I'm only getting the drain flow from display tank. I'm reading that chaeto is best tumbled? The Caulerpa needs to be trimmed back and is continuing to flourish.

 

Do you guys use actinic over Refugium?

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Sold out noob!

 

 

Yep, I'm thinking it's possible they make some more

 

:D

 

I like this guy, Nemo :lol:

This looks promising! Does this bulb (US E26) fit a standard light bulb socket?

THAT I do not know. It's the size of a spotlight... I use it with a gooseneck clamp but not sure if it would work with something else. I mean, yeah, I'm sure it would but just not sure which types :)

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The coral compulsion stuff looks great, but honestly +1 to regular fluorescent bulbs...

 

I've used LED before - and I didn't have much success with macros (then again for a time I used fluorescent also and stuff died also)... Definitely doesn't have to be high tech though - people have been using a regular compact fluorescent with success for quite some time! I'm using old out-of-spectrum T5 bulbs and getting great results.

 

I think that having good lighting combined with the right mix of nutrients and the ability to establish itself is key to a successful refugium.

 

By ability to establish itself I mean that adding macro to an area that's infested with hair algae or cyano will prevent a macro from being able to out-compete the nuisance algae... It sucks when hair algae is growing on your macro.

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Some type of Caulerpa for nitrate/phosphate removal. Something dense like blue ochtodes or cheato for pods.

 

I use snails and hermits for cuc.

 

I have grown them using t5 or led, both with success. The led I used was a fuge par30 from coral compulsion and I had a 20g hex that grew macro like nobodies business using reefbreeders value LED. For t5 bulbs I use one ATI blue plus and one geisman 6500k.

 

I did not like the CFL daylight bulbs from home depot, they grew a lot of GHA.

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  • 1 month later...
Imprezadude

on the topic of refuge algae when do you want to add it to the refuge. I took down my 27g cube but keep the water, and the rock with a heater and power head in a rubber maid tub bin. I set it back up and wondering when I should add the algae. got sea grapes, cheatomorph, and some feather type of looking stuff.

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Didn't see caulerpa serrulata mentioned, but I'm in love with this stuff.

Roots (but not as long/deep as prolifera), isn't as fragile as racemosa, hasn't gone sexual for me in the two years I've kept it, grows in a nice, fluffy carpet in my fuge, and get's a pretty teal color under some blues. SO super easy to pull off rocks too, that I've kept it in my displays and just as easily taken it off without it coming back.


Imprezadude, I've added macro as soon as I see nitrates during the cycle and never had issues as far as I can tell.

 

I don't like Caupalera- pain in the but, it's so fragile and floats super easily. Chaeto is easy

Switch those two around! Chaeto always melts on me and what strings do live, get everywhere.

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Didn't see caulerpa serrulata mentioned, but I'm in love with this stuff.

 

Roots (but not as long/deep as prolifera), isn't as fragile as racemosa, hasn't gone sexual for me in the two years I've kept it, grows in a nice, fluffy carpet in my fuge, and get's a pretty teal color under some blues. SO super easy to pull off rocks too, that I've kept it in my displays and just as easily taken it off without it coming back.

 

 

Imprezadude, I've added macro as soon as I see nitrates during the cycle and never had issues as far as I can tell.

 

Switch those two around! Chaeto always melts on me and what strings do live, get everywhere.

 

The caulerpa serrulata looks interesting - post some pics? I personally have never had luck with c. racemosa - doesn't look that great and always died on me. c. Prolifera on the other hand is the shizz. It grows well, and when it covers an area it looks like a seagrass bed. Likes a lot of flow though and at least in my system tends to get outcompeted by the chaeto. The roots are a pain in the butt - they grow pretty large and pulling them up takes a ton of sand and they tend to wrap all around rocks as well.

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How dense do you recommend maintaining your macroalgae? I think I've been letting it grow out to the point of restricting the necessary gas exchanges to take place in the Refugium. But how much much macro is enough in your opinion? Currently my Refugium is more than 3/4 full of Caulerpa and Chaeto. Pic was too large to upload, will try later.

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