Hypnea Tricks?

ichthyogeek · Jun 28, 2020

Does anybody have tricks for getting Hypnea to actually grow and turn blue? I've tried ordering it twice now (well, ordered once, got a refund, and got it again to fail yet again), and haven't gotten very good growth out of it.

The first time I ordered it, it smelled and looked like somebody shipped me dead and dying blackworms. So I can attribute its failure to thrive on it actually being dead. The second time I got it (as a refund for the first time), it lasted a little bit longer, but still ended up bleaching and melting away.

I'm very confused, since I can keep Ulva, Chaeto, Caulerpa prolifera, Dragon's Breath, Botryocladia, AND Gracilaria "Red Ogo" alive, but for some reason, I can't keep Hypnea (which is one of my dream species) alive.

Brokereefer603 · Jun 29, 2020

ichthyogeek said:
Does anybody have tricks for getting Hypnea to actually grow and turn blue? I've tried ordering it twice now (well, ordered once, got a refund, and got it again to fail yet again), and haven't gotten very good growth out of it.

The first time I ordered it, it smelled and looked like somebody shipped me dead and dying blackworms. So I can attribute its failure to thrive on it actually being dead. The second time I got it (as a refund for the first time), it lasted a little bit longer, but still ended up bleaching and melting away.

I'm very confused, since I can keep Ulva, Chaeto, Caulerpa prolifera, Dragon's Breath, Botryocladia, AND Gracilaria "Red Ogo" alive, but for some reason, I can't keep Hypnea (which is one of my dream species) alive.

What are your parameters for phosphate and nitrate. Also what type of light are you running

ichthyogeek · Jun 29, 2020

I didn’t measure phosphate/niteate, but because I fed relatively well (two cubes of frozen food a day), that shouldn’t be too much of an issue since there’s nothing in the way of filtration, just a water pump. I also don’t have test kits just yet. I’ll be changing things soon, and the first thing I’ll be getting is test kits.

I run an aquaneat full spectrum, it’s on a standard 29 gallon tank filled to 12” that’s functioning as a quarantine tank for now. Because the hypnea wasn’t attached to anything, I put it in a jar with some rocks on the bottom to get holdfasts growing first.

Brokereefer603 · Jun 29, 2020

ichthyogeek said:
I didn’t measure phosphate/niteate, but because I fed relatively well (two cubes of frozen food a day), that shouldn’t be too much of an issue since there’s nothing in the way of filtration, just a water pump. I also don’t have test kits just yet. I’ll be changing things soon, and the first thing I’ll be getting is test kits.

I run an aquaneat full spectrum, it’s on a standard 29 gallon tank filled to 12” that’s functioning as a quarantine tank for now. Because the hypnea wasn’t attached to anything, I put it in a jar with some rocks on the bottom to get holdfasts growing first.

You don't need to put it in a jar. Just super glue the bottom of it and attach to live rock. Also my hypnea likes medium light. I am running t5s. Maybe too much light. I have a question for you when you got the hypnea was it in a clump all attached to each other or was it all loose??

ichthyogeek · Jun 29, 2020

Both times it was in a clump, slightly like chaeto. It's never been "loose" when I've gotten it

Brokereefer603 · Jun 29, 2020

Well thats good. I did notice some of my macros melt away and lose color if I had traces of ammonia. I'm wondering if there is a level of detectable ammonia.

ichthyogeek · Jun 29, 2020

Hmmm....perhaps? I didn't see any signs of gill burn in any of the fish I had (firefish). I should really get some test kits in. I think the problem might be lighting...