is Macroalgae necessary?

canadianeh

New member
to have a healthy tank? I have 40 gallon nano, and I am thinking whether is it really necessary to have macroalgae to remove nitrate and phosphate.

Can I not just chemipure blue?

What your thoughts?
 
Its not necessary.If you add a litle GFO for phosphates.But depends on what corals you plan to keep because somme can thrive in dirrtyer water that can have somme nitrates phosphates in it.LPS and soft corals like dirrtyer water while sps likes clean water.If you keep LPS soft corals and sps then somme cathegory will dissapear or will not do too well over time because of the water requirements(excepting the case in wich you have LPS corals in clean water along with sps but you feed them).
 
Growing macroalgae is only one form of nutrient export. No, it is not necessary, but they do provide benefits.

How long has your system been running and what are your phosphate and nitrate readings? What types of coral do you plan on keeping?
 
Your tank is just getting cycled, so while the readings are high, they're very much normal for where you're at. You don't need to set up any macroalgae yet, but it won't hurt.

If you're serious about eventually keeping SPS, you need to either stock lightly or find some way of nutrient export. Personally, I think the easiest way would be to skim heavily and dose carbon (NOPOX). Others use bio-pellets and GFO.

You can use macroalgae in either a turf scrubber or refugium. Turf scrubber would likely be better at nutrient export, but adding a refugium will give more space for 'pods to grow. I have a HOB refugium that works great for my 40 Breeder, I'm not sure if it'll fit on your 40 Nano.

There are many ways to make a reef tank work. You need to research the various options and pick out what works best for your budget, schedule and goals for the system. You don't need any macroalgae. But if you don't get nutrients under control by some other means, macroalgae (and other pests...) will likely fill up your tank regardless.
 
I'm a believer in macroalgae since I did see a difference in phosphates. If nothing else, its a nice treat for the tangs, when I had them.
 
You're running an IM 40? For a sumped setup, sure, consider a refugium. For an all-in-one tank, it's way more trouble than it's worth. Get one of their mini-max reactors and throw some GFO in it, don't look back.
 
Nope. Corals are the best for sequestering and esporting nutrients. (And just FYI the terms LPS and SPS have no relavance to a corals husbandry requirements.) This system was set up with a refugium and calurpa racemosa. Initially there was good growth with the calurpa but after a year and half it stopped growing and slowly receded as the corals took over:

GRJ 500 http://youtu.be/_Uf5IyXvajg

Green Slimer Timeline https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyM6Y39iQ8M

And some algae can be detrimental for corals:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23303369
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23882445

And you might find my thread here interesting:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2601390&highlight=skimmerless
 
You're running an IM 40? For a sumped setup, sure, consider a refugium. For an all-in-one tank, it's way more trouble than it's worth. Get one of their mini-max reactors and throw some GFO in it, don't look back.

care to elaborate why it is trouble to run refugium in AIO tank?
 
Nope. Corals are the best for sequestering and esporting nutrients. (And just FYI the terms LPS and SPS have no relavance to a corals husbandry requirements.) This system was set up with a refugium and calurpa racemosa. Initially there was good growth with the calurpa but after a year and half it stopped growing and slowly receded as the corals took over:

GRJ 500 http://youtu.be/_Uf5IyXvajg

Green Slimer Timeline https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyM6Y39iQ8M

And some algae can be detrimental for corals:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23303369
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23882445

And you might find my thread here interesting:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2601390&highlight=skimmerless


interesting take. Coral to remove nutrients.

I tell ya....everyone in this hobby have their own secret recipe lol

It can be confusing for newbies like me. We just have to choose which route to go. :)
 
Corals are ideal, for many reasons. But most people don't make that work; cost, etc. Observation will allow macro first, corals later.
 
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