Jump to content
Innovative Marine Aquariums

Experimental Macroalgae Troubleshooting Thread


johnmaloney

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 557
  • Created
  • Last Reply
johnmaloney

how are they doing? The sponge looked grainier than it did here..Not sure if that was stress or magnification though.

Link to comment

These are the pieces that are still hanging in there:

 

IMG_1230.jpg

 

IMG_1227.jpg

 

IMG_1226.jpg

 

IMG_1225.jpg

 

IMG_1224.jpg

 

Even the zoas look like poo. I'm starting to wonder if the package maybe got really really hot during shipping. :/

Link to comment
johnmaloney

something happened for sure. the zoas weren't anything particularly colorful, but they weren't anything like that. THey should be blue. I would take them out of the shade and put them under some intense light, maybe they will get some color back...

 

....this sucks...I will find some good shippers and be back...

Link to comment

its not only you whos been having shipping problems, USPS screwed me with a few packages last week. I sent one priority to shy on a wed, and it took them 6 days to deliver it all f'd up and with stuff missing and lots of stuff dead. And on top of that they lost another 2 that i'd sent out a few days earlier!

Link to comment
johnmaloney

Well one was usps, the other ups. Got2envy had mentioned that heat was probably a cause, I should have sent a range of macros to test how bumpy the ride was in got2envys. (Will remember to do that next time, might be better than doing a local pick up, but email me about it got2envy).

 

Styrofoam doesn't really cut it if they leave it out, good for short periods...Ice pack would have been good, but if it stays in ac, and it does for the first 16 hours at least, it can be an issue. We lost more with ice packs and macros. The zoas would have done better with ice for sure, they aren't that bad with the cold. Just a matter of the treatment it gets and how long it sits on a truck. When you see that the tracking has it loaded 14 hours before delivery you get nervous.

 

Well, it happens, learned from it... now moving on! I think my conclusion from that round is:

Nemastoma is an ok overnight shipper and is relatively hardy when compared to other globular algae - it also tolerates a wide range of alkalinity

The coralline is a hardy shipper when fully submersed in water with little to no air. it seems to be hardy

orange encrusting sponge - lets see, i am going to ship some to markusha too, and then we will have more to compare it against. (I will also send you the coralline and a new coralline. I haven't collected it yet, but it is pretty easy to find. It will be loose so have glue on hand.)

 

bad news!

 

so this week marks the end of a season, meaning a new one should be beginning soon. Late summer is usually dominated by the calcifieds that the herbivores don't get too. Not that there aren't tons of parrotfish around these days, but with a smaller group of potential predators the calcifieds get the edge and tend to dominate the places I go to. Reds and greens, the reds are nice, ship well ( :) ) and are hardy. Same for the greens. They aren't all that uncommon though... .there is some oddballs, but not too many. So that is where we are at. Will see what I can find and we can go from there. Will head to some new locations and new environments and see what I can come up with.

 

My haly e doesn't look so hot. sciania is alive, not the best color, but still bushy. I left the lights on for 30 hours on accident and I think it took some color out.

Link to comment

What kind of calcifieds do you get now? Stuff that you don't usually list on your site?

 

I was thinking about adding sponges and gorgs to my pico, do they go well with macros?

Link to comment
Deleted User 6

john, i should be ordering some CUC members in the next couple weeks - maybe I could get in on this then.

Link to comment

Looking forward to seeing what you find John.

Very sorry to hear about the 30 hr. lighting accident. :(

Hope your Macros recover.

My Sciania broke up into a bunch of smaller pieces, kept some, tossed some.

Wanted to see if some of the smaller pieces would grow out from there, the color is still decent.

Also, looks like a very serious possibility that I will be switching my "big tank" from Coral Dominated to Macro Dominated. :)

Link to comment
Looking forward to seeing what you find John.

Very sorry to hear about the 30 hr. lighting accident. :(

Hope your Macros recover.

My Sciania broke up into a bunch of smaller pieces, kept some, tossed some.

Wanted to see if some of the smaller pieces would grow out from there, the color is still decent.

Also, looks like a very serious possibility that I will be switching my "big tank" from Coral Dominated to Macro Dominated. :)

 

shes joined the hoard. MWAHAHAHAHAHA

Link to comment
shes joined the hoard. MWAHAHAHAHAHA

 

Well, we're not a hoard yet, but we're working on it, amirite?

Link to comment
johnmaloney

hermits are a good choice i guess, it depends on the desirable algae. you can usually keep hair algae away in a macro tank fairly easily with time.

Link to comment

John what's this?

got in a trade from someone in Cali

P1010010.jpg

P1010005-1.jpg

 

also this

P1010011.jpg

P1010014-2.jpg

 

he sent these 2 day and the second one had bright orange tips from being in the dark I suppose but looks like it will be ok...have it in a soapdish away from the pods.

Link to comment
johnmaloney

botryocladia uvaria. got some for me? :) This is has been on my list for some time.

 

i should say, or a very similar species. sometimes there is a cell wall thickness issue that gets scientists all worked up and they name it as a new species after themselves. :)

Link to comment

Of course you can have some! :flower:

How about the second one? it is bubbly...kinda like the Halymenia elongata except red not pink

Link to comment
johnmaloney

okay cool!

 

sorry i dont have any books with me, i would have to look it up. i only know a few of the pacific species.

Link to comment
johnmaloney

good update today :

 

kallymenia westii is a hardy fast grower. :) Half of my initial piece is going to markusha today. I cut it the other day, no noticeable sign of any stress. Tie this one down markusha, no glue.

 

Also just some fun facts - the k. westii has holes in it like swiss cheese so it can catch on to things if set into drift. :) Pretty cool! It is kind of like the hooks that hypnea has, although I couldn't see that algae set loose, holdfast made out of iron it seems on that one....anyway, just wanted to share. :)

Link to comment

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recommended Discussions


×
×
  • Create New...