Macros

Desert Fox

Pulling -6 to 9+ G's
Hi Anthony!

I'm adding a refugium to my trigger/agressive tank and wanted your opinion on a couple things. The tank is a 180 with a 20 gallon sump, and the new refugium is 41 gallons (tall tank). Here are the questions:

1. I'm not a big fan of caulerpa, but unfortunately i'm pretty ignorant to every other species of macro. The macros i was looking at getting are the following (from IPSF): Gracilaria parvispora, Ulva sp., and another Gracilaria sp. The nitrates are currently a little less than 20. I can't really find too much info on these. What is your opinion on these and do you think these will work well in the system?

2. If you think these are ok, what kind of lighting requirements are they going to need? The current hood i have for the tank is a PoS with a little 20w light, which i'm going to replace regardless (the hood, not nec. the light). I know many macros can survive/grow with this little of light, but i want to "upgrade" to either compact flourescents (up to 130w) or VHO's (up to 300w) for more temperature/color choices.

3. Are there other better macros for this application that would be available, and where could i get them? I hear/read of you talking about other sea grasses but also read they are tough to find.

I think that's it for now. If you want any other info on the tank just let me know. Thanks so much for your time you've contributed!

Blue skies,
~Fox~
 
Hi Anthony!

"Cheers, my friend :) "

I'm adding a refugium to my trigger/agressive tank and wanted your opinion on a couple things. The tank is a 180 with a 20 gallon sump, and the new refugium is 41 gallons (tall tank). Here are the questions:


" I'm curious too if the refugium is upstream or downstream. A minor difference, but I prefer upstream whenever possible (and not for much concern about impeller sheer either... rather the direct overflow of epiphytic material without relying on dynamic sump flow)"


1. I'm not a big fan of caulerpa, but unfortunately i'm pretty ignorant to every other species of macro. The macros i was looking at getting are the following (from IPSF): Gracilaria parvispora, Ulva sp., and another Gracilaria sp. The nitrates are currently a little less than 20. I can't really find too much info on these. What is your opinion on these and do you think these will work well in the system?


"Both are excellent and will grow reasonably to very fast with much less concern about delterious side effects as with Caulerpa culture. Please also consider Chaetomorph as well"


2. If you think these are ok, what kind of lighting requirements are they going to need? The current hood i have for the tank is a PoS with a little 20w light, which i'm going to replace regardless (the hood, not nec. the light). I know many macros can survive/grow with this little of light, but i want to "upgrade" to either compact flourescents (up to 130w) or VHO's (up to 300w) for more temperature/color choices.


"brighter is indeed better here for fast growth and reliable harvest/nutrient export. Quite frankly... I believe a single 150 watt 6500K metal halide will serve you better than most any rig and deliver the most bang for your buck for this specific application. Mount at about 6 inches off water surface"


3. Are there other better macros for this application that would be available, and where could i get them?


"your choice really depends on your intent and preference. If you want the truly best nutrient export vehicle... its turf algae on algae screens! But if aesthetics is a big enough concern, some experimentation will be necessary. A lot of research has been done on Caulerpa, Mangroves, turf algae species and seagrasses... but little on other macros."


I hear/read of you talking about other sea grasses but also read they are tough to find.


"yes... many long-term benefits to Thalassia, Syringodium and Zostera (true vascular plants), but they are slow to establish and likely too big for your 41 gallon 'fuge (Syringodium and Zostera at least are with certainty). Inland Aquatics gets them on occasion. Many Florida divers will collect them for you... they are tricky to transplant though. They need sand a minimum of 6 inches deep, they need to be sunk a min of 3 inches down... and collected in a relatively deep and undisturbed wide plug. Tricky at first"


I think that's it for now. If you want any other info on the tank just let me know. Thanks so much for your time you've contributed!


"Fox... thank you for caring to know my opinion, my friend. Always feel welcome to call on me. Best regards. Anthony"
 
Thanks as always for your help, and sorry for the delay in this reply. It has, however, given me time to order and receive the Chaetomorpha, Gracillaria Red and (dark) Green, and the Ulva. Hopefully all will grow well in the time to come.

Another quick question: Assuming the macros begin to grow well for me, I'd like to start to culture more of it in a spare 10 gallon I have lying around. I was planning on using some water from water changes out of one or more of the tanks to cycle through the 10 gallon and hopefully provide enough nutrients. Main question is how much water flow from a powerhead should i be looking for, assuming some water circulation will be necessary?

Cooling down a case of XX Special Lager for a future AZ trip for ya,
Blue Skies,
~Fox~
 
Cheers, Fox...

Using the aged aquarium water for nutrients/recycling with the plant/macro culture I think is a fine idea. Just be sure to buffer it as necessary. Indeed... don't take "plant" hardiness for granted regarding water chemistry (test the recycled water and maintain reasonable norms).

In a ten gallon you will need to harvest regularly to balance growth and prevent crashes with most any of these planst (assuming they are growing well enough as we'd like).

Water circulation will be key. In fact, a fairly good/moderate turnover is recommended. Its a shame that the Eco-system methodolgy and marketing has popularized scary slow flow in refugiums... does far more harm then good. Very few 'fuge critters targeted for culture need or tolerate this. In turn, most peoples refugiumd are not that productive.

As with most applications, you need to avoid singularly laminar flow from a powerhead. My advice is to have two medium sized powerheads converge on each other to make a random turbulent flow in the tank. Keep that macro churning. Especially the Ogo (red Gracilaria).

Hmmm... now about that tasty Lager :)

How far are you from Tulsa OK? Pretty far huh? Heehee...my next closest trip near you (April 03). Ahhh... its the thought that counts.

Thanks kindly, my friend. Be chatting soon :)

Anthony
 
Great... will take all into consideration. Nothing of what you suggested will be any kind of problem.

As for OK, unfortunately I doubt I'll be making it out there in April. Work prevails. Damn, all that Dos Equis all to myself. What will I do?!? Yup- drink it all and buy some more! Mmmmm... Beer. You know, i think I've got a drinking problem. Two hands and only one mouth.

Hope all is well with you and your family this holiday season. Happy Thanksgiving.

Blue Skies,
~Fox~
 
Dear Anthony

Dear Anthony

In your first anwer in this post you write there has been a lot of research on growing seagrass.

I havenÃ"šÃ‚´t seen that. IÃ"šÃ‚´ve tried to establish Zostera marina several times with no succes.

Do you have any references/advice regarding type and depth of substrate, lighting requirements and waterflow. How tall should a seagrass tank be?

kind regards

Torben WB, DK
 
Cheers, Torben

I'm glad to hear you are experimenting with the fascinating true vasular plants!

Its true that there is not much practical information on their husbandry in hobby literature... it is mostly in Academic literature.

I wrote briefly about establishing seagrasses in my Book of Coral Propagation... but wrote much more in my new book, Reef Invertebrates in the chpaters on Plants and Refugiums. I'll check with my editor to see if I can pull an excerpt before the book release for you/all. (book release March/April).

I can still proffer advice in the meantime :) !

One of the problems is that Zostera is often collected in temperate or cooler waters. Do you know where yours hails from?

Also, it requires that the sand depth be a minimum of 6" (15cm) and that the crown of the plant be very gently planted at 3" (75mm) or deeper. No exceptions here.

Seagrasses are very sensitive to damage in collection too. How do the plants arrive? Plugs? (hopefully) or bare root (Ughhh!)

Even once you get a good one, know that the original leaves will die back in 3 months (usually) and sprout anew to match new physical parameters (light, water flow etc).

Also... how mature is your substrate? DSB at least 1 year old? Else some mild fertilization may be necessary.

Bets regards, my friend.

Anthony
 
ID

ID

Anthony,

This came in as a hitchhiker on a piece of LR, and has grown quite a bit. Any ideas as to the species of it?
mac2.JPG


The refugium i set up a while ago is doing great. Thanks for all your help on it!

~Fox~
 
Without poking, prodding, feeling or touching them... they sure look like Zoanthids to me :D

See if they will take occasional feedings from you of very finely minced ocean meats or mysis/gammurus shrimp. They will grow much faster for it.

Very glad to hear the refugium/tank is doing well, my friend. Heehee... wait until you see the refugium chapter in my new book with Fenner :p

My original chapter was 30 pages without pictures (!) before Bob took his shot at it. Ha! The original algae chapter was 60 pages! The editor had to hack some of it of course, but we tried to proffer very thorough coverage of the subject. I do hope you/all like it. We projected the first volume at 300 pages for March delivery. It has turned out to be 384 pages and April delivery. Same price though. I hope no one minds :P


Kind regards,

Anthony:p
 
Seemingly endless questions for you my friend, sorry about that. But, not sorry enough to give you another one. The chaetomorpha in our refugium has been disappearing. It hadn't appeared to be dying, just disappearing. So, i turned on the lights and saw the turbo snails that had been added recently slurping up the spaghetti strings. The chaetomorpha isn't keeping up with the snails, so they're gonna go (in another tank). Anyway, my question is about stomatella varia. We have quite a few (and an ever increasing population as i'm sure you know well) in the refugium and i was wondering if they will also eat the macro algae along with the micro, and they could be another culprit in my disappearing macros.

Hope all is well with you and yours.

Blue skies,
~Fox~
 
Cheers, my friend

The Stomatella are mostly credited with eating diatoms... but admitedly, they will eat filamentous algae as well. Thats usually a good thing <G>. In this case, the herbivores were a bit early... or if the chaetomorph isn't growing fast enough, consider if its getting enough light or water movement.

Kindly, Anthony
 
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