Experimental Macroalgae Troubleshooting Thread

[johnmaloney]

you can shade too....I got to get ninjabum over here, he had some high lighting issues he solved with just some placement and moving the algae....

 

well anyway, if you have a glass lid sliding the light back can cause some shadow areas, overhangs have shadows...coralline can grow there off of just the light reflected off the sand. That is how I find some of it, there will be a ledge and it is underneath it upside down only getting light from the sand.

 

another cool coralline genus another reefer on reefmonkey, is growing is titanoderma. I forget the species name off the top of my head, but really cool designs and what not.

[NinjaBum]

Thanks guys. I'm sure I made it look better in pictures than it does in real life. I still have a long way to go with it but I'll get there. I have some thick branched gracillaria that I had to basically stuff in a dark cave to recouperate cause it was very touchy with the light. There are a few more that I have hidden away making a comeback too. All the pics of everyones tanks before mine are way cooler looking = )

[johnmaloney]

oh I should refresh the page more often. Thanks for posting! I owe you some grape caulerpa for sure. That on the other hand does better with higher lighting, and like high flow. You get the tallest "grape strands: that way. Iron is also important, and the algae will begin to get pale if it isn't present.

 

Our "grape caulerpa" by the way isnt grape caulerpa, it is a variation of our cactus caulerpa believe it or not. Looks nothing like it, but they are the same species, just different variations.

[johnmaloney]

are all of yours glued down ninja?

[johnmaloney]

Yeah yeah find me something I love to be surprised.

 

Also, those corallines are cool, I looked some of them up. Lithophyllum seems to be the one I have had in my tank for a while, always reminded me of the monti caps. I think I had spoken to you about it a while back.

 

 

there was a lot of this when we did the "liverock specimen contest", I think that is what you were referring too. it would have been nice to have followed up on this at the time...

 

sbcaes - didnt go well with gluing? what species?

 

ninjabum - you glued the sciania complanata and the halymenia pseudofloressei right? I think those are what I see in both pics

 

dhaut - sounds good let me know

 

got3envy - I had two of those 150w spiral compacts that were pretty yellow 2 feet over a rubbermaid stock tank with the pink birdsnest coralline I mentioned ^ and it did really well. The 10g stock kit at Wal-Mart with the 2 incandescent 15w bulbs is a great all around macro tank setup. You can keep just about anything in that, maybe not the coralline though that we are going to try, but certainly any other algae I have sold. Nice yellow light on that too.....that is what I kept this one in:

 

[johnmaloney]

that is liagora on the bottom right of what I think is Sciania hallae in the center of the picture. The algae on the bottom right of the Sciania hallae is Tricleocarpa cylindrica, then to the right of that is a Liagora species barely visible, and some mermaid's wineglass just behind that, but you have to really look to find it.

 

that was the ill fated pay it forward tank, the walmart 10gallon kit, I kept tons of stuff in there...I am probably going to set one up again here, give me some time, and use that as a base point to see how algae behaves, because it seems that setup is very accessible b/c they have a wal-mart every 20 feet and it is $30

 

I have a old light for a 10g I could set it up and plumb it into my main system hmm. LMK what you have that would work under a 74 watt PC.

 

over a 10? Caulerpa would probably be your best bet. With that kind of strong lighting padina species as well, as some others. I used to be able to find sargassum with holdfasts and no air bladders, that used to be easy and would work in your setup, but Sbcaes put it on his wishlist and it disappeared from the water to spite him, so that won't be around again.

[Jacobnano]

Don't glue macros, well at least CW ones, it just kinda disappears overnight, sometimes a little longer, but better to just wedge them somewhere...

[johnmaloney]

Really? I like free float myself for the most part because I am lazy, but I have always done well with glue. Better than with line, and much better than with wedging. What kind of glue, how much (measure the height in pieces of paper)

[NinjaBum]

I glue everything except the halymenia floridana and ulva type species. I have way to much flow to just try to wedge most stuff in there. I use chaeto as a kind of potting soil with the gracillaria and whatever else happens to break up and float around. works really well. I'm thinking of taking a powerhead out of there cause its pretty turbulent.

 

I get pretty hands on with the gluing though, I dont just stick em in the glue and wait. I get a lot of glue on my fingers cause I press them to the glue for a while and make sure its dry as possible otherwise you're right, the glue can work pretty poorly. I will experiment with fishing line but with the flow I have it makes even stuff I rubberband down rip off around the banding.

[Jacobnano]

I need a good way to hook macro down, my urchins got them unhooked and ate all of it lol.

 

Ummm the Gel Loctite (I think?) kind. The stuff you use for coral, and basically a couple water droplet sized dabs. Umm 5-10 pieces of paper in height lol?

[johnmaloney]

i have used the loctite before, i use 1 drop, but I thin it...I usually just use super glue to be honest b/c it is cheaper, you get 4 for $1 at the dollar store. Small amount, maybe that is it? I don't know about that...I am still in glue's corner.

 

i get glue on my hands as well, and feet and clothing. i dont think it is a hands on thing as much as a clumsy one.

[Jacobnano]

No it isn't always Loctite, it is usually dollar store glue, but my point is, it is Gel haha. Oh maybe I should use less then.

[johnmaloney]

or try the liquid stuff and less?? What species again... let me see if you posted it

 

anyway, enough talking, I can be out there getting stuff, you guys talk I will dive and we will meet up at midnight. cya

[Jacobnano]

It is a CW species, name unknown haha!

 

Get to it John!

[got2envy]

dive! dive! dive!!

 

I hope u find some cool schtuff! I will be back on tonight

 

I do have a incandescent set up from the rimless 10g I had...I am going to try a 20H with 2x 24w T5...superactinic and blue plus bulbs...should be pretty low lighting with the blue plus giving a bit of PAR.

I also have an extra fiji purple and some 10k and 460 nm bulbs I can try...also forgot to mention I use NSW.

[SbCaes]

all of the hollow ones. ie nemastoma broke in half where i glued it. and the sciana just went kaboom the others did fine.

[JoeD]

John, interested in the coraline project as well as macros... still need to get my mangroves and vines from you.... I'll be in touch soon.

[Shyla8]

Half of my Sciania is still light pink, the larger half seems to be turning more white on the upper top half. The lower bottom half of that side still seems to be pinkish. I may be losing half of it I am not sure.

 

Weet, how is your Sciania doin, still good? Yours came in looking the best I think.

[NinjaBum]

dive! dive! dive!!

 

I hope u find some cool schtuff! I will be back on tonight

 

I do have a incandescent set up from the rimless 10g I had...I am going to try a 20H with 2x 24w T5...superactinic and blue plus bulbs...should be pretty low lighting with the blue plus giving a bit of PAR.

I also have an extra fiji purple and some 10k and 460 nm bulbs I can try...also forgot to mention I use NSW.

Hmm, let me know how that works. I would think that it wouldnt have enough spectrum to get good growth from the macros. I dont know for sure though. I could swap one of my 6500k's in a few weeks after trying this setup for a fiji purple and see how it does

[johnmaloney]

John, interested in the coraline project as well as macros... still need to get my mangroves and vines from you.... I'll be in touch soon.

 

ok cool

[NinjaBum]

Well, now I'm running 2x54w on the tank, 1 6500k and 1 Blue+. I still noticed some brightening of the reds in the open with the 3 lamps. This whole lighting thing is a lot more complicated since there is such a difference between 50w of t5 HO and 50w of CF or T12. I cant really go lower than this unless I throw on my old 1 bulb t8 fixture so I'll see how things go with this setup. Luckily the macro areas are pretty dark now and the center where all my zoas and leathers are is still decently bright.

[got2envy]

NinjaBum I can imagine how hard it is to do in a tank with corals that do need light

 

I went to petsmart guys and gals and they have the 10g kit with incandescent light and HOB for $24.99 if anyone is interested...I measured yesterday when I got home from work and there is no way I can fit a 20H under the stand because there is a brace that goes all around the bottom... even a 10g would teeter on the edges :/

I am going with a 5.5g and a 15w Marine-Glo T8 flourescent bulb and see how this works

[Weetabix7]

Half of my Sciania is still light pink, the larger half seems to be turning more white on the upper top half. The lower bottom half of that side still seems to be pinkish. I may be losing half of it I am not sure.

 

Weet, how is your Sciania doin, still good? Yours came in looking the best I think.

 

I got 2 bunches of Sciania, and as far as I can tell, both are still doing good.

One bunch got put in my little Contest Pico tank that has all the Macros in it.

It's a 10" cube with an 18w PC Perchlight over it.

The other bunch got put in my 30g tank, in a large soapdish at the top of the tank, under 4x39w T5HO.

The T5 setup prolly is putting out less PAR than most similar T5 setups tho, cause 2 of the bulbs are really old (i.e. less PAR) and one of the bulbs is a UVL Super Actinic which is known for it's low PAR.

That bunch still looked okay 2 days ago.

I didn't see it yesterday cause I was at a Frag Swap all day, and the lights haven't come on yet today.

Shyla (and others), I'm happy to trade some Sciania once I'm sure it's totally stable and well-adjusted.

[johnmaloney]

picked up a really nice piece of nemastoma today, and a few samples of a bright orange encrusting sponge, and some more common algae sheets. They look cool, but you have also seen them in aquaria. Definitely some of the nicer coralline species. Most are smaller pieces, it was a pain to find pieces that stuck off the rock. I forgot to get samples of that blue sponge Sbcaes had, and I was right there too...next time. I will get some more and take some pics.

 

 

Hey noobs! Feel free to jump in on this, your tanks are probably best suited anyway b/c there isn't dominate coralline in there probably anyway yet.

[NinjaBum]

NinjaBum I can imagine how hard it is to do in a tank with corals that do need light

 

I went to petsmart guys and gals and they have the 10g kit with incandescent light and HOB for $24.99 if anyone is interested...I measured yesterday when I got home from work and there is no way I can fit a 20H under the stand because there is a brace that goes all around the bottom... even a 10g would teeter on the edges :/

I am going with a 5.5g and a 15w Marine-Glo T8 flourescent bulb and see how this works

 

Yeah it's a pain haha the zoas and leathers still seem to be fine, only things that will probably be pissed eventually are the PomPom xenias in there but I have them towards the top of the wall. I figure somehow I still have a lot of light in certain areas as my cabbage leather is still loving it and its at the bottom of the tank. I think I may go grab the little 10g for my office. I can experiment and have something to look at while I'm working =)