Survey of Algae

[Samper]

I'm doing a project for a biology laboratory and basically I'm surveying the various types of alga found in the captive marine environment. If you guys would take some time and log the age of your system, all the types of alga that you can name found in the system and which ones were manually added and which occured natually in the LR or substrate that you used. This would help me out tremendously. Please do a thorough inspection and let me know what you're dealing with. Naturally good LR and a very mature system should have more species than a newly setup system. Cyanobacteria can also be included in this study. I'm particularly interested in comparing newly setup or less than year old systems to very mature systems so everyone please chime in.
Thank you for your help.

 

[graveyardworm]

My live rock is anywhere from 6 months to 3 years old. So far the only algae to appear from the 6 month old rock is Neomeris. The older rock has several types of caulerpa, and some other unidentified red and green turf. Most of the alga became visible within 6 months of adding the rock. I can try to add more detail if needed.

 

[Samala]

My algae/rock dominated system, which is probably the most suited for your use, is about nine months of age, counting from the start of the cycle. It consists of just seven pounds of live rock. Macroalgae with asterisks were added in January of this year, all others were volunteers.

Sargassum hystrix
Neomeris annulata
Dictyota
Gelidium
Gracilaria*
Acanthophora spicifera*
Agardhiella*
Caulerpa prolifera*

There are also at least three species of coralline algae, a purple, a red and a pink which are vying for space at the moment. I do not have a way to distinguish these based on appearance alone even down to the genus level.

If you have the time or interest, it might be interesting to compare systems with lots of herbivores, to systems with no herbivores when it comes to logging algae diversity and abundance across the age of a tank.

For instance, my tank has only Astrae snails as herbivores.

>Sarah

 

[Samper]

Thank you guys so much for your replies. Genus and species is important so any that are known please include that information. Sarah that's a very good idea to compare systems and if anyone out there has one setup with no herbivores or all herbivores please chime in. I need to compare about 10 systems and have 2 weeks to do so and produce a 10 page report on my findings.

 

[piercho]

Macro algae that were incidentally introduced with rock rubble of Indo-Pacific origin:

I. Persistent:
1. Mesophyllum sp. (multiple)
2. Caulerpa serrulata
3. Ventricaria ventricosa
4. Halimeda opuntia
5. like Wrangelia
6. like Hypnea
7. Titanoderma
8. Ceramium

II Intermittent (appear for limited time periods):
1. Asparagopsis taxiformis
2. Bryopsis sp.
3. Derbesia sp.
4. Valonia sp.

III Not persistent (appeared for a limited duration but eventually disappeared):
1. Sargassum sp. (faded > 1year)
2. Aceturbularia sp. (faded < 1 month)
3. like Gelidium (grazed out by Diadema)
4. Dictyoshoeria cavernosa (grazed out by Diadema)

Macro algae that were purposely introduced:

I. Persistent:
1. Acanthophora spicefera
2. Caulerpa racemosa/peltata
3. Halimeda like tuna

II. Not persistent:
1. Chaetomorpha like crassa (faded < 6 months)
2. Caulerpa like cupressoides (eliminated by hand)
3. Caulerpa like taxafolia (sporolated within 1 week)
4. Gracilaria sp. (faded < 1 year)
5. Udotea like flabellum (grazed out by Diadema)
6. Penicillius (faded > 1 year)

 

[Samper]

Howard, that was extremely helpful and thank you very much. What is the age of the system?

 

[piercho]

5.5 years.

 

[Samper]

Alright. Thanks a ton.

Anyone else?

 

[H20Sidhe]

Age of 'system' 11 years. Moved from 55g to 90g tank 1 year ago. At that time, added some L.R. from another established tank (unknown age) and subtracted some live rock. Rearranged aquascaping (some rocks turned upside down changing light levels on some surfaces) 6 months ago.

Herbivores: nerites, cerith snails, urchin, yellow tang, hermit crabs

Not deliberately added, and grew where herbivores can reach:
Coralline algae - pink, purple, red and green
Neomeris sp. - new in the last couple of months
Asparagopsis (I think) AKA nightmare red cotton macro - I remove as I see it
Valonia sp. - removed as I saw it
Gracillaria sp. (I think)
Not added, grew only where herbivores couldn't reach:
Botryocladia
Halymenia

Added deliberately:
Halimeda, 2 sp.
Codium taylori
Chaetomorpha
Added, but devoured by tang: Ulva