Various Macroalgae Questions for my Planted Tank

[Chriss Fishes]

Hey guys!

 

I just set up a 10 gallon planted tank, with some guppy fry and a few ghost shrimp (all acclimated to salt over a couple months or so), and got in a bunch of macros yesterday. I have some care questions, as information specific to species can be somewhat hard to come by.

 

 

1) I got some Sargassum from Gulf Coast Ecosystems - it's gorgeous. It IS a species with a holdfast at the base of the algae, so I assume it'll live happily attached to the rock, or in the sandbed, correct? I've currently got it in the sand, and if that'll kill it, I'll move it to the rock. Just haven't gotten a "yes" or "no" in my online research. Also, can Sargassum be propogated in the same way that most other macros are - by simply snipping off a decent chunk of the algae? Or does it have to throw out it's own offspring?

 

2) The flow in my tank is relatively low to help the guppies. High flow will make it difficult for them to swim, although I have been slowly increasing flow and hoping they build muscle mass and are able to deal with higher flow over time. Do I NEED higher flow for these algaes to thrive? If so, I may trade in my fancy guppies for some wild-type feeder guppies soon.

 

3) I have almost all red macros in my tank - should I dose anything for color? If so, what should I dose?

 

4) I have a bit of green hair algae growing on the rocks - I don't mind it in this tank. I think it looks nice in this setting (hence the "dirty" look to the tank). But, if it starts to grow over the macros, what should I do to combat that? I know I can't use peroxide, which would be my band-aid for GHA, and I also can't bring down nutrients too far, for obvious reasons. Will adding a fast grower like Caulerpa help? Or, should I just leave it as is and see how things progress?

 

5) My lighting is two 17W 5000K household LED bulbs rated at 1600 lumens - I know that's not really helpful to find PAR or PUR, but they are VERY, VERY bright. I've also got a Fluval Wing Nano on the tank at 100% as well, so I'd consider the tank to have relatively high light. I do plan to replace the lights on the tank with two floodlights (PAR-style bulbs) for a more directional light, but if what I have won't really cut it, I'll rush the upgrade.

[Clown79]

You might want to get some snails for the gha.

 

It can smother macro's.

 

Turkey basting the macro can help to remove buildup in them but I know that good flow helps them 

[Chriss Fishes]

I've got a ton of Nassarius and Dwarf Ceriths. I had heard that a lot of larger snails that tend to eat GHA also tend to snack on macros - is that true?

[Tamberav]

Small hermits do a really good job on cleaning macro (at least they did for me). They are nimble enough to climb into the branches. They could eat very delicate macros like ulva though. 

[Clown79]

3 hours ago, Tamberav said:

Small hermits do a really good job on cleaning macro (at least they did for me). They are nimble enough to climb into the branches. They could eat very delicate macros like ulva though. 

Ya, my scarlets love cleaning my dragons breath. I rarely see a snail in there.

[Chriss Fishes]

Good to know. I'll have to grab some up at my next LFS visit.

[cosmicbread]

I think the best approach may be sitting back and seeing if water changes can provide the nutrients you need, along with the fish waste. When things start really growing in, you'll likely want to dose magnesium, and possibly iodine. I'm still figuring this out for my own planted marine tank 😅

 

I have a piece of sargassum from GCE too. Aren't they lovely specimens??? They require high lighting and a bit of current to do well...I zip tied mine to an outflow so it can hang at the surface and get a lot of direct light and a lot of flow, and it is doing decently, growing new sprigs and putting length on. Not sure about propagation, I think that snipping would be fine but I really don't know. My plant has been throwing off little babies by itself (either that or they're breaking, but they grow well by themselves when I tie them to other places).

 

I've also heard that certain red macros seem to do best in high flow. From my own experience, it helps keep microalgae from growing too much on their branches and they really do take off when blasted with a current, but that might be species-specific. 

 

I love seeing macro tanks and yours is off to a great start!! Take care with the GHA. Blue-legged hermits, trochus, Cerith and dwarf Cerith snails will help. Stay away from Mithras crabs and urchins in a macro tank if you want to keep any of the green varieties (idk if reds would be on the menu). 

[DSA65PRO]

On 3/6/2020 at 10:06 PM, HarrisonAquatics said:

Good to know. I'll have to grab some up at my next LFS visit.

Blue leg are the only ones I trust for this. I have moved my Astraea Snails to my Macro Algae and they have done an excellent job cleaning it without eating the Macro. 

[This guy is extra salty]

I use cerith and trochus in my tanks and they don’t eat any of my macros