Does Gracilaria uptake iron?

[garyinco]

Adding some Gracilaria to my sump tomorrow. I've had Caulerpa prolifera in the sump and it seems to like iron added to my water to reach .15ppm. The Caulerpa kinda overtakes anything else I put into the sump. Guess thats why its called prolifera I'm going to prune it way back.

Anywho, I'd like the Gracilaria to have some growing room and wondering if the iron additions will provide any benefit to it.

Thanks.

 

[Subsea]

Adding some Gracilaria to my sump tomorrow. I've had Caulerpa prolifera in the sump and it seems to like iron added to my water to reach .15ppm. The Caulerpa kinda overtakes anything else I put into the sump. Guess thats why its called prolifera I'm going to prune it way back.

Anywho, I'd like the Gracilaria to have some growing room and wondering if the iron additions will provide any benefit to it.

Thanks.

Everything uptakes iron. Depending on which Gracilaria, you may need a lot more light to grow the same amount of Prolifio

 

[garyinco]

Thanks Patrick.

 

[BlueCat1949]

Few macros can compete with Caulerpa prolifera for fast growth so you will have to keep cutting it back to make room for other algae. The plus side is that you should be able to find people who want your excess prolifera. The pruning will also make it less likely that your caulerpa will go sexual.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

I saw gracilaria color up with iron additions, so yes.

 

[g_langley]

How do you supplement iron, what's available please?

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Buy an iron supplement from your local fish store or an online store. Be sure to get the salt water specific variety.

 

[g_langley]

Thanks, is there any particular reef safe additive for iron you can recommend? A link to a product would be great and I can take it from there.

 

[g_langley]

Michael, btw I have been following your setup and it is blowout awesome, the Grammas are just out there.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

I happened to stumble upon one in the sale box at my LFS. It's my first bottle of the stuff, so I don't have anything to compare it to, but I was very pleased with the results. My red macros got redder and my my caulerpa racemosa peltata started growing too fast to keep up with.

Continuum Aquatics Reef-Basis Iron Concentrated Liquid Supplement

MarineDepot.com sells it. I don't know if they ship to the UK. I would guess that any of the larger e-tailers would stock it.

Thanks, g_langley, for the kind words! I never really cared that much for the royal grammas, until I got a harem of them. They are just stunning! I guess it's it's sort of like neon tetras - one is no big deal, but a school of twenty is gorgeous! I'm really looking forward to spawning behavior, when they grow up a little.

Love your cat avatar! I had a cat just like that. He was such a proficient hunter, he altered the ecosystem around my house!

 

[g_langley]

Thank you! Thomas (the cat) is still going strong at 18, that pic was taken recently.

Your advice led me to this UK product which I am going to try out;

http://www.marineaquatics.co.uk/shop/the-reef-iron-buffer.html

 

[Michael Hoaster]

That looks like the stuff! Interesting that it said not to dose with anything else within an hour. I think I'll incorporate that info into my dosing scheme.

Let us know how it works for you. Be sure to get 'before' and 'after' pics. I think you'll be pleased!

 

[g_langley]

Let us know how it works for you. Be sure to get 'before' and 'after' pics. I think you'll be pleased!

Will do. I have Halimeda and Halymena so looking forward to good results for both and will report back.

 

[sixpackgarage]

I have some prodigious gracilaria growth in my fuge.. It just seems to like whatever is in my water.. The only thing I dose somewhat regularly at 1/3 recommended dose is reef plus, which does have some trace of iron