Macro help

[legomaniac]

So I was walking along the beach after a storm the other day and there was a bunch of seaweed washed ashore as usual.  So I had the idea to check to see if there were any cool macros that I could add to my tank.  Anyway I brought home a few pieces.  Rinsed them in new salt water for 24 hours and put them in my tank.

 

Can anyone help me ID them?  I looked through the macro thread and I think I have an idea of what they are but want to ask anyway.  Are they good/bad?  Any special care?

 

Thanks for the help.

 

 

[billygoat]

Cool! I'll take a crack at IDing 'em. 😁

 

Top photo looks like a variety of Gracilaria. This macro is very hardy and should do well under a wide range of lighting/flow conditions. It may change color depending on the intensity of your lights, so don't be alarmed if it starts to look more or less red over time.

 

The next photo looks like Laurencia. A beautiful and somewhat hard to obtain macro! It can tolerate a range of light intensities, but needs quite a lot of flow to do well. It may be difficult to keep in the long term. Make sure it is firmly attached to the substrate, and then give it some good turbulent flow.

 

The one at bottom is probably a variety of Bryothamnion. Moderate to low light and moderate flow should be just fine for this one. Be advised that in my experience this alga is an epiphyte magnet, so don't be surprised if it ends up covered in hair algae and other encrustations. If things get out of hand you can put it in the dark for a few days to kill off the nuisance algae growing on it; it should tolerate this just fine.

 

That's so cool that you can just walk along the beach and get these amazing macros! I have to say that I am super jealous. 😂

[legomaniac]

Awesome!  Thank you for the detailed response.  There were so many other types of macros that I could have picked up, but I wanted to stick with the reds.  I'm glad to hear that I got some good ones.

[phobos2deimos]

+1 to what billygoat said, including about being jealous!