Halimeda

[acidlittle]

I think I have some Halimeda growing in my tank and I was wondering if anybody had any advice on how to make it stick around for awhile. Love the look of it, want it to spread...so if anybody has ideas that would be awesome! Thanks
Josh

 

[graveyardworm]

Decent lighting, maintain calcium, alkalinity, magnesium, good flow, and keep phosphates low.

 

[acidlittle]

What all are the benefits of Halimeda?

 

[Limbo]

It looks nice

It can provide some refuge for critters.

You can use it as a gauge of water quality, especially if you keep SPS.

Beware though, if it gets big it will have the requirements of SPS due to it's calcium uptake.

 

[acidlittle]

So your saying that if I have lots of t-5 lighting say 8x54w and that halmida is growing ok I should be able to keep some SPS? If so that's fantastic, I don't even add any kind of chemicals to my tank just water changes here and there and that is all...

Think it's time to try a small SPS frag....

 

[graveyardworm]

I'm not sure thats what Limbo said. How long has your tank been set up? SPS is a very broad term. What kinds of corals do you have experience with so far?

 

[Limbo]

Certainly not saying if you can do this, you can do that. I was just saying that some people keep it as an early warning for their SPS tanks. You didn't mention what was in your tank, what you planned to do with your tank etc.

SPS is a world away from keeping a piece of Halimeda.

Head over to the SPS forum and they can give you advice on what you would need to add/do to your tank to make it SPS friendly.

I considered doing SPS for the last tank I setup, but the amount of equipment recommended was too much for me. Yes you can setup an SPS tank with minimal investment, but long term I believe you need MH, calcium reactor, major skimmer, pH regulator, etc etc.... not a small task to setup and keep balanced. Not to mention the hit to the wallet

 

[acidlittle]

I figured it was, I was just saying that the parameters would be that in the same.

Actually I have a 75 gal not much in it, some anthelia and GSP in it. Couple of clowns, a PJ cardinal, lawnmower blenny, 3 b/g chromis'. And actually a small piece of orange cap that is doing fairly well, isn't dying but isn't growing madly....had if for about 3 months and had it break since then both pieces are more then doubled in size...have t-5's on it, not much for a skimmer and a sump with cheato and caulurpa in it........that's about all