Fading Macro Algae
- Thread starter Jkraft136
- Start date
Green_fishy
New member
Are You dosing iron?
MikeandNicole
New member
A good friend of mine who grows a lot of macro algae had this same thing happen to him. He added a phoban and carbon reactor and his macros faded. He moved it over to a tank with a HOB filter and it colored back up. He was pulling out the nutrients faster than the macros could pull them up.
Plantbrain
Active member
Generally, folks go skimmerless for the refugues and find this works rather well.
As mentioned, pull too much out= nothing for them to grow with.
Too much one way(too little), or not enough relative to export goal(too much, but finding the balance is the key, so if you watch the NO3, and dose accordingly, say KNO3 or Ca(NO3)2, then they grow well.
You can add PO4, but adding just the NO3 drives the PO4 lower than any test kit can measure hobbyists might use.
If that is the goal...........no phos ban needed then.
You have to trim and prune the excess macro also, other wise it keeps demanding more and more.
Since PO4 is strongly limiting, you can now feed corals and fish more without worry.
Skimmers have their advantages, but so do macros and ATS's.
Regards,
Tom Barr
As mentioned, pull too much out= nothing for them to grow with.
Too much one way(too little), or not enough relative to export goal(too much, but finding the balance is the key, so if you watch the NO3, and dose accordingly, say KNO3 or Ca(NO3)2, then they grow well.
You can add PO4, but adding just the NO3 drives the PO4 lower than any test kit can measure hobbyists might use.
If that is the goal...........no phos ban needed then.
You have to trim and prune the excess macro also, other wise it keeps demanding more and more.
Since PO4 is strongly limiting, you can now feed corals and fish more without worry.
Skimmers have their advantages, but so do macros and ATS's.
Regards,
Tom Barr
Some of the Red Macros do better under lower lighting.
I have personally found that I have to keep Red Botrycladia in lower light or it will start to fade somewhat.
Some of the Nemastomas can be that way as well.
Specifically, what Red Macro do you have that is fading?
Do you have a more shaded area you can try it in?
I have personally found that I have to keep Red Botrycladia in lower light or it will start to fade somewhat.
Some of the Nemastomas can be that way as well.
Specifically, what Red Macro do you have that is fading?
Do you have a more shaded area you can try it in?
scubabum1983
New member
i run no skimmer and feed as much as i can on my 90, i have not enough nutrients going in and i have some die offs some times, and got 2 that red macro with the orange tips is crazy its doubled and then some in my tank, i do dose iron to keep the reds red.
