What macroalgae?

[edraniam]

Hi, I would like to start a nanoreef with macroalgae and some soft coral.
Which kind of macroalga I recommend, something not difficult to handle.
Thanks bye

[sam_the_reefer]

Blue Hypnea /Ochtodes, Dragon's Breath

[Weetabix7]

The following would be good Macroalgaes to start off with:

 

Codium: https://www.live-plants.com/sponge.htm

 

Red Macroalgae Sampler: https://www.live-plants.com/redsampler.htm

 

These are all attractive and easy to care for, and won't take over. 

Great vendor as well.

[Han Solo]

On 7/26/2017 at 5:51 AM, Weetabix7 said:

The following would be good Macroalgaes to start off with:

 

Codium: https://www.live-plants.com/sponge.htm

 

Red Macroalgae Sampler: https://www.live-plants.com/redsampler.htm

 

These are all attractive and easy to care for, and won't take over. 

Great vendor as well.

I bought some Codium recently and they gave me a huge amount and it's pretty cool. But it's kind of getting covered in small amounts of  hair algae. 

[Weetabix7]

24 minutes ago, Han Solo said:

I bought some Codium recently and they gave me a huge amount and it's pretty cool. But it's kind of getting covered in small amounts of  hair algae. 

 

This tells me that your nutrients may be out of balance. 

It doesn't look like little hairs growing out of the plant itself does it? 

Cause sometimes Codium can look like that on the surface, so make sure it's hair algae and not part of the plant. 

[Han Solo]

14 minutes ago, Weetabix7 said:

 

This tells me that your nutrients may be out of balance. 

It doesn't look like little hairs growing out of the plant itself does it? 

Cause sometimes Codium can look like that on the surface, so make sure it's hair algae and not part of the plant. 

I definitely have a hair algae problem. For many many months, but the Codium specifically kind of grew it all over and it's just hard to try and get it all off the many stems. I have no idea why my tank has had this problem but I've kind of just dealt with it. I started up a better refugium with a nice plant grow LED and lots of chaeto in my sump like a week ago, so I'm hoping that will show improvements. Was going to start dosing Kent Magnesium to elevated levels because that worked for me years ago on another tank. 

 

But test levels have never been totally out of wack on any paramenter except possibly phosphate because my shitty test read zero and I know that's because it's not registering the right type and the algae's eating it all up. I think it's just so much everywhere it keeps coming back and I haven't been able to out compete it yet. 

 

To the OP I recommend looking into some sea grasses. Those seem pretty cool if you can get them to grow well in a sand bed. Also mangroves! Neither of which are macroalgaes actually, they are flowering plants. 

[edraniam]

Do you think you should do a dsb, or rather a little sand?
The intention is to put mainly macroalgae, some soft coral and fish.

[Han Solo]

I wouldn't do a deep sandbed, an inch is fine from what I've found. Unless you are going to have either animals or plants that need deep sand I wouldn't do it. One day I would like to make a tank for garden eels.

[Weetabix7]

I'm pretty sure you can't keep seagrasses in a shallow sandbed. 

I've never tried keeping them myself but friends have and it seems to be the accepted knowledge that you need a deeper sandbed for them. 

[Weetabix7]

On 7/28/2017 at 4:16 PM, Han Solo said:

I definitely have a hair algae problem. For many many months, but the Codium specifically kind of grew it all over and it's just hard to try and get it all off the many stems. I have no idea why my tank has had this problem but I've kind of just dealt with it. I started up a better refugium with a nice plant grow LED and lots of chaeto in my sump like a week ago, so I'm hoping that will show improvements. Was going to start dosing Kent Magnesium to elevated levels because that worked for me years ago on another tank. 

 

But test levels have never been totally out of wack on any paramenter except possibly phosphate because my shitty test read zero and I know that's because it's not registering the right type and the algae's eating it all up. I think it's just so much everywhere it keeps coming back and I haven't been able to out compete it yet. 

 

To the OP I recommend looking into some sea grasses. Those seem pretty cool if you can get them to grow well in a sand bed. Also mangroves! Neither of which are macroalgaes actually, they are flowering plants. 

 

The chaeto in a decent refugium setup can definitely help, cause it can suck up nutrients like crazy. 

I'd suggest doing a blackout on your main tank for a few days to help with this. 

This is bad, but I actually don't have a phosphate test at all. 

I recently had a very minor outbreak of what I thought were dinos in my new tank, which is the last thing I wanted in a new setup, and since I had no way to test phosphate I just mixed some carbon with GFO in a small fine mesh bag and tossed it in my HOB, and it worked. 

At any rate, Best of luck to you!!

[Weetabix7]

3 hours ago, edraniam said:

Do you think you should do a dsb, or rather a little sand?
The intention is to put mainly macroalgae, some soft coral and fish.

 

It's kinda up to you what you do for a sandbed. 

If you want seagrasses you need something deeper. 

I personally prefer a pretty shallow sandbed cause it's just easier to maintain. 

I just started up a 40 Breeder Experimental Macro tank, stop by the tank thread if you'd like to get a picture of what some of the different Macros can look like and different ways to set it up. 

It's the first tank thread linked in my Sig. 

[Han Solo]

35 minutes ago, Weetabix7 said:

 

The chaeto in a decent refugium setup can definitely help, cause it can suck up nutrients like crazy. 

I'd suggest doing a blackout on your main tank for a few days to help with this. 

This is bad, but I actually don't have a phosphate test at all. 

I recently had a very minor outbreak of what I thought were dinos in my new tank, which is the last thing I wanted in a new setup, and since I had no way to test phosphate I just mixed some carbon with GFO in a small fine mesh bag and tossed it in my HOB, and it worked. 

At any rate, Best of luck to you!!

Thanks for the reply, I think I'll start a new thread about this if I keep having trouble, but I'll try a blackout for three days. I have the tank next to a eastern window where I sit most of the day for work and the blinds are usually open :/ probably should work on my light problem. I have cheap marine orbit LEDs.

[Weetabix7]

40 minutes ago, Han Solo said:

Thanks for the reply, I think I'll start a new thread about this if I keep having trouble, but I'll try a blackout for three days. I have the tank next to a eastern window where I sit most of the day for work and the blinds are usually open :/ probably should work on my light problem. I have cheap marine orbit LEDs.

 

What you see as a light problem is the exact scenario I use as part of the light source on my tank, since it sits in a Sunroom with east facing windows that are wide open all day!! 

I'll be the first to admit that I tend to do things a little differently tho.