LOTS to ID

[ladyfsu]

Hi all! I came here first because I know most of you here know this plant stuff a LOT more than I do. I have not done the proper research to identify these things, and I plan to tomorrow. I'm hoping some of you can do that right off the bat though.

I have about 25 tanks at school. Except for 2-3 donated macro's, I've had a BUNCH of reds grow off of some Gulf live rock that was donated. Not much grew at first until we accidently started putting "bad" water in the tanks. These algaes are awesome and it seems everytime I look in the tanks, there is a new type. Unfortunately, hair algae went crazy in a couple of tanks as well but I'll work on that later.

If you wouldn't mind, I'd like you to look at this site. I've numbered every picture so you can tell me which algae you're talking about. My plan is to have students/parents click on the picture where I will have listed the common name, species name and then random information about it. If you know any of that for the algaes here, I'd really appreciate it.

Sorry for asking this without researching it much, but I've been working on this for the last few hours and I need to go to bed, lol. Hopefully those of you who know this stuff can help me out. Thanks!

http://www.reefrascals.org/classtanks/themacros.html

 

[Samala]

Well, knowing all the caveats for identifying algae, especially the reds, lets dive in.

[Caveats are that many of the fine distinctions between genera and species are at a level we cannot see with the typical photograph. Plus, I'm not a phycologist. If you are looking to build a truly solid and well identified resource I would definitely get in touch with the good folks at AlgaeBase.]

Greens
2/4. Caulerpa prolifera
3. Caulerpa sp., possibly C. peltata, but definitely looks like its within the C. racemosa complex (there are several that belong)
5. Could be a form of Enteromorpha or Ulva, but hard to tell, could also easily be hair algae

Reds
11/12/13. You will hear Botryocladia most likely, which is possible, but there are other genera which have this bubbled appearance. Its a good place to start.
14. Maybe a Scinaia species
16. Similar to Fauchea.. is it stiff out of water, or does it flop over?
18. Looks like Halymenia, maybe H. floresii, 19 and 20 are also candidates for this ID.

Browns
22. Dictyota species
23. Sargassum certainly, perhaps S. hystrix considering the midribs

 

[ladyfsu]

WOW heck of a start! Thank you...and yes, I will try to contact them.

 

[piercho]

I'd give the same IDs as Sarah for 2, 3, 4, 22, and 23. Those ones are pretty common and pretty easy to identify. I'd also guess Halymenia on 18, 19, and 20 but just because its flat and red.

5 looks filamented to me but the picture isn't much help. Can you get out a filament or two and shoot a macro picture showing details? Try to put it in a glass dish with a little water to float it and a white background under it. Illuminating the white background from below might work even better.

1 appears to be Chaetomorpha. Once again, shooting a macro shot of one or two filaments would be better than a shot of the whole wad.

The reds are hard. Are 6 and 9 the same thing? On appearances, maybe Hypnea? Are 9 and 15 the same thing? Try tearing 6 and 9 apart to see how tough they are. Some filamented reds are very tough for their diameter, kind of like thread. 21 looks crisp and easily torn apart. Does anyone else think maybe Gracilaria? For all these, a macro shot of individual filaments/branches might help.

 

[ladyfsu]

OK we'll do that tomorrow...THANKS! I'll also try to get a couple little videos where you can see it in the tank, coming out of the tank, it being moved around etc.

6 and 9 are definately NOT the same thing. As I was "weeding" I found 9 buried in some stuff. It's very "fluffy" where 6 is not (the new pics tomorrow will show it better). I also found some crazy looking pieces today that I need to upload. That red nori-type stuff grows so fast, I didn't even know new macros were under there. I either need to feed my tang a LOT, flush this stuff, give to locals or LFS...or become a very creative chef!