Best MacroAlgae for REfugium

[ryz]

What is the best Macro algae to use for a refugium? In terms of efficiency in exporting nutrients and safety(chance of it going sexual etc)

Where will I be able to obtain a considerable amount of it at a rather cheap price?? Please advise a location preferably in the north... Thanks..

I'm currently using 'Caulerpa taxifolia' and 'Ulva fasciata'(sea lettuce)

Is it advisable to use these two species?

[terryansimon]

caulerpa racemosa. aka grapes if I am not wrong. its overgrowing everything I have in my refug. can spare you some if you want. let me know.

[patrick123]

what does it mean when one say the macro algae is going asexual? Sorry, didn't study biology. hehehe

[terryansimon]

asexual = reproduction without the union of male and female gametes in the process of binary fission or budding for example.

sexual = the process of the release of gametes by the organism itself, usually leading in binary fission.

[patrick123]

Wah...very chim. So is asexual bad? Why is it? Sounds like reproduction is a natural thing and it means they are growing right?

[alanseah]

yes and it will also mean polluting your water and having them growning every where in your sump and main tank....

[strat]

caulerpa racemosa. aka grapes if I am not wrong. its overgrowing everything I have in my refug. can spare you some if you want. let me know.

Wow, do you think you can spare some for me?

[ryz]

hey terry, yea I would like some... where do u live?

[Michaeleu]

Check this ( Is this good ? )

http://species.fishindex.com/species_2754c...e_caulerpa.html

Caulerpa racemosa----great macroalgae. sops up excess nutrients,nice to look at, and a good food for herbivores. but beware!! if you discover one day that your tank is kind of cloudy, almost milky, watch the cualerpa closely. when it comes time for reproduction, the cualerpa gives off the milky white substance, then dies within a day or two. it will first lose all of it's color, then completely disintegrate, anf make a mess of your water quality.

[ryz]

terry got some to spare?

[loonz]

got loads of caulerpa and other macroalgae growing in my tank as well...i think one has to keep trimming and harvesting them in order to prevent them from going asexual...??

[bum]

different people have different success with caulerpa,

get the one that works for you.

i'm using racemosa myself on reverse lighting,

works for me.

here's a link to last month's reefkeeping magazine on

caulerpa going sexual and how to spot the symptoms.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/nftt/index.htm

[terryansimon]

lets see how much I can trim up over the weekend. I'll keep you guys informed again. (=

collection will be at Bishan St 13...

[blueheaven]

read that if you keep 24hr lighting and regular trimming, the risk if it going sexual is greatly reduced

[strat]

lets see how much I can trim up over the weekend. I'll keep you guys informed again. (=

collection will be at Bishan St 13...

No problem!!

Thanks in advance!!!!

[SBS_Transit]

read that if you keep 24hr lighting and regular trimming, the risk if it going sexual is greatly reduced

does this goes for all types of macro algae ?

[DragonGoby]

I'm growing racemosa too without much problems (knock on wood!). Strange, but it seems hardier than the feather type for me.

[tivoli]

Hi all,

actually I read that the caulerpa is not a good species becasue it actually release chemicals into the water causing the water to turn green and may affect corals in larger quantities.

Anothony Calfo and Bob Fenner and all the guru from reef central and wetwebmedia all suggested using other algae is a better choice.

I have currently four different types of algae .... they are all very stable, does not turn asexual, grow fast and it actually effective in reducing diatom in my main tank.

They are red gracia algae, red bandoo, chaemo spagetti algae and some unidentfied brown algae which I harvested from east coast beach

I have the picture of the four different species in my tank thread :

http://www.sgreefclub.com/forum/index.php?...pic=16812&st=45

I will probably start havesting them and give them away say one month later.

Cheers

[tivoli]

On yeah one more thing,

when I was keeping the caulerpa (both feather and grape) species and I was harvesting it ... when i cut the leaves , the broken branches actually releases some milky sap into the water .

The milky stuff I think is toxic in large quatities. It all depends on your skimmer to skim it off.

Cheers

[ryz]

Currently have 4 different types in my ref.. just bought two rocks of culerpa racemosa and one rock of red bamboo for 10 bucks! and as previously mentioned I also have Ulva fasciata and Caulerpa taxifolia.. Do you all think the racemosa is too overgrown already? should I trim it? I think I will use the harvested MAcro as food for my tangs.. is there any way to make them grow on a piece of rock?

[terryansimon]

that amount chemical which is released by the algae upon pruning is negligible if I'm not mistaken. I know Rumor prunes it in water and he told me that it doesn't affect his corals permanently. oh well (=