Algea from Florida in a reef

[Zoa_Fanatic]

My dad just got back from florida with around 5-6 lbs of Gracilia Marco algea. If I quarantine this stuff and only use a small piece is it ok to use in my reef tanks and to pass along to friends? I’ve never taken anything from the ocean before.

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

Photo of the algea I’m talking about

 

[Subsea]

I see some green mixed in with the red. I keep macro algae in all of my systems, some utilitarian & some ornamental.

Check out this guide on Florida/Caribbean seaweeds. Then tell us what you got.

Marine Plants In The Aquarium: An online guide to the identification and care of marine plants and macroalgae in the aquarium.

An online guide to the identification and care of marine plants and macroalgae in the aquarium.

www.marineplantbook.com

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

I see some green mixed in with the red. I keep macro algae in all of my systems, some utilitarian & some ornamental.

Check out this guide on Florida/Caribbean seaweeds. Then tell us what you got.

Marine Plants In The Aquarium: An online guide to the identification and care of marine plants and macroalgae in the aquarium.

An online guide to the identification and care of marine plants and macroalgae in the aquarium.

www.marineplantbook.com

Looks like I have caulpera ash. , gracilaria p. , and geldium sp. is any of that dangerous?

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Whatever is legally collected can be shared, but not sold.

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

Whatever is legally collected can be shared, but not sold.

I wasn’t even planning on sharing until I know what it is and if it can cause harm to anything in my friends tanks.

 

[WheatToast]

Looks like I have caulpera ash. , gracilaria p. , and geldium sp. is any of that dangerous?

Looks like you also have Codium, a slow-growing, decorative algae.
I haven't tried Caulerpa asmeadii, though I've read it's a more manageable species of Caulerpa.
https://www.marineplantbook.com/marinebookashmeadii.htm
As for the rest, I never had any issues with them (growing too fast, etc.), but Gelidium is said to be very difficult to remove once established. Do you have any pictures of this specific algae?
Did you mean Gracilaria parvispora? This species is not found in the Atlantic.

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

Looks like you also have Codium, a slow-growing, decorative algae.
I haven't tried Caulerpa asmeadii, though I've read it's a more manageable species of Caulerpa.
https://www.marineplantbook.com/marinebookashmeadii.htm
As for the rest, I never had any issues with them (growing too fast, etc.), but Gelidium is said to be very difficult to remove once established. Do you have any pictures of this specific algae?
Did you mean Gracilaria parvispora? This species is not found in the Atlantic.

I’m honestly not sure. Even with the guide they look super similar to me. It looks like two different gracilaria to me so I’m not sure which it is. There’s 2-3 species of red algea in there and a caulpera but I’m worried about the caulpera going sexual and over growing everything

 

[vetteguy53081]

Looks nice and rich. When I brought some back, it did not make it and the ones I brought back in August was devoured by my tangs

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Looks like others have you covered on the macroalgae part of your question, so to answer the other part: if you want to be absolutely safe with it, then yes, you’d want to quarantine it.

For clarification here, the odds of macroalgae bringing diseases into a tank are very slim, so the QT is less for disease and more for pests that might be hitching a ride. So, basically you run it fallow for a minimum of 45 days at 81F (many people suggest 76 days to be safe on the disease front), and observe it to see if there are any hitchhikers you’d want to remove before adding it to your tank or giving it to your friends.

 

[Subsea]

If you are worried about pest, instead of quarantine, try sanitizing with a 5 minute fresh water dip.

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

Thanks all. I’m setting up a 2.5G macro tank on my desk with some of it here in the next few days.

 

[WheatToast]

I’m honestly not sure. Even with the guide they look super similar to me. It looks like two different gracilaria to me so I’m not sure which it is. There’s 2-3 species of red algea in there and a caulpera but I’m worried about the caulpera going sexual and over growing everything

Sorry about the late response.
The red algae might also be Agardhiella subulata; I don't know how to differentiate this from the Atlantic Gracilaria tikvahiae. Both are edible to herbivores.
I never had any issues with Caulerpa with regular pruning. Water changes and carbon can be used when Caulerpa goes sexual.

 

[GARRIGA]

I see some green mixed in with the red. I keep macro algae in all of my systems, some utilitarian & some ornamental.

Check out this guide on Florida/Caribbean seaweeds. Then tell us what you got.

Marine Plants In The Aquarium: An online guide to the identification and care of marine plants and macroalgae in the aquarium.

An online guide to the identification and care of marine plants and macroalgae in the aquarium.

www.marineplantbook.com

Been wanting to setup a seaweed refugium since the 80s. Planning a trip to the keys to collect and considering picking up some weed but now I’m intrigued by this thread and might take a different approach.

My intent was purely for nutrient control and CO2 removal but using caulerpa might make for a more attractive refugium/display system attached to main.

Perhaps a recommendation on which are fastest growing although I’ll try grabbing a few and testing it out. I’ll check out the guide you posted but anything specific you recommend I’d focus on?

 

[Subsea]

“My intent was purely for nutrient control and CO2 removal but using caulerpa might make for a more attractive refugium/display system attached to main.”

@GARRIGA
Most fast growing seaweeds go sexual when nutrients bottom out and light intensity is high. I like Caulerpa Prolifera. I use Grape Caulerpa to feed herbivore fish.

This tank has Bortacladia, Red Grapes, and some Dragons Breath that came in on Gulf Live Rock. Also in this tank is red macro grab bag from Live Plants, Gulf Coast EcoSystems.

 

[jabberwock]

Been wanting to setup a seaweed refugium since the 80s. Planning a trip to the keys to collect and considering picking up some weed...

Ask for Vinnie.

 

[jabberwock]

“My intent was purely for nutrient control and CO2 removal but using caulerpa might make for a more attractive refugium/display system attached to main.”

@GARRIGA
Most fast growing seaweeds go sexual when nutrients bottom out and light intensity is high. I like Caulerpa Prolifera. I use Grape Caulerpa to feed herbivore fish.

This tank has Bortacladia, Red Grapes, and some Dragons Breath that came in on Gulf Live Rock. Also in this tank is red macro grab bag from Live Plants, Gulf Coast EcoSystems.

What are your lights and schedule? They look great!

 

[Subsea]

What are your lights and schedule? They look great!

Lights on 12 hours. Chinese light bar at 10K color rendition. My lights are low intensity. I would guesstimate at less than 50 PAR.

 

[GARRIGA]

Most fast growing seaweeds go sexual when nutrients bottom out and light intensity is high.

I'm inferring that in heavily fed and nutrient balanced tank where light intensity can be adjusted that seaweed would potentially make a viable alternative. Easiest for me to source and always plentiful. Plus wouldn't they give clues of going sexual? I believe other macro algae start to turn white and I think you or another on this thread mentioned that could be solved with carbon. I also plan to incorporate ozone, assuming I can get comfortable with a safe implementation.

Having a seaweed filter has intrigued me since first learning about algal turf scrubbers as those were $400 plus and didn't last long as a retail item once focus turned to commercial applications.

 

[Subsea]

@GARRIGA
The post on using activated carbon addressed cleaning up water after seaweed went sexual.

I don’t see ozone preventing sexual events with seaweed. Please explain how ozone helps.

I have used seaweed in my reef tanks for many years and have seen a dozen seaweed survival events. Different seaweeds respond differrently: red grapes lose flotation balls, some fast growing Caulerpa show white instead on growth tips. I have had both Caulerpa Parvispora & Caulerpa Prolifera go sexual during lights out with no obvious indicators.

Once, in a different system with lights on, Caulerpa Parvispora oozed a white substance from cylindrical stems that had doubled in diameter. I removed that runner and immediately dosed 20ml of ammonia into a 55G tank.