Looking to start macro algae refugium in a still maturing tank. Advice?

[Wasabiroot]

Hi,
I have a mixed reef with various softies, lps, and a few very chill SPS (pavona, cyphastrea). The tank is recently showing signs of finally being happy and stable. Corals that were receding are staying puffy again, and my torches have great polyp extension and my mandarin dragonet is still alive and very active 2 months in because of live rock I added.
I just recovered the tank from a salinity spike and phosphate stripping through unnecessary use of gfo. My phosphates are fine but my Nitrates are still above where I want them.
I am considering starting macro in my refugium, as I would like to provide food for my slate pencil urchin I banished to the sump and supplement an emerald crab that I plan on trying adding to assist me in finding any sprouted bubble algae.

I am worried the addition of algae will knock my nutrient levels too low again and make my corals mad. Right now I am dosing Redsea Ab+ and turning off my skimmer for the night, and broadcasting benepets.

I have a decent space for a refugium. The sump is a nano eshopps and it has a large vertical refugium space.

What would any experienced reefers with macro suggest is the best choice here? Something that might grow a bit slower? What would fit that bill and be palatable to my urchin? (I'm guessing any, he is an absolute pig) or an emerald crab?

Or, should I rule out anything macro related until my tank is fully mature?

Thanks for reading and your suggestions.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

What is the main purpose you are wanting to add macro?

 

[MaxTremors]

Start it?

 

[Wasabiroot]

I would like the natural growth aspect. I come from planted tanks. A natural solution to nutrient removal, like the idea of sump as second "space", pod space for my fish to eat.

 

[Wasabiroot]

My main question is, is switching to one of any concern or is it relatively painless of a transition

 

[Bigdaddy05]

Grow dragon's breath it's not too fast it's gorgeous and tangs and urchins love it!

 

[Wasabiroot]

Grow dragon's breath it's not too fast it's gorgeous and tangs and urchins love it!

Dragons breath looks neat. I was also considering red gracilis.

 

[DocRose]

My main question is, is switching to one of any concern or is it relatively painless of a transition

No it’s not a concern. Start with a small ball and let it grow. Don’t try to dump a watermelon sized ball in there because you don’t have enough nutrients to support it, it will die off and just reduce nutrients into the water. Starting small also let’s the macro adjust to what’s available. Instead of you having to worry about it not having enough. Obviously it goes without saying to cease the use of the GFO maybe a day before you introduce the macro.

 

[BeachWater2]

My suggestion is start inexpensive, and get a grow light. You don't know how it will like your tank, or how much your urchin will eat. I understand that more heavily calcified forms are generally less palatable than non-calcified, but they also grow more slowly. Get some chaeto grow and/or iron if it doesn't start growing, or if it grows for a bit and suddenly stops. Be careful though about adding fish to provide more nutrients because you can easily add too much.

 

[AlgaeBarn]

I would consider red ogo. It's not too fast of a grower like sea lettuce and could be easy to partition away from the urchin so he doesn't eat it all at once

 

[jt8791]

Gonna 2nd everyone else, Red Ogo or gracilaria and sea lettuce would be good cheap slow growing macros. If you're worried about nutrients don't do chaeto, it only seems to work for very heavy bioloads and even then it's easy to bottom out on nutrients if you aren't careful with light intensity and period.

I'm actually giving up on chaeto and gonna start growing red ogo and sea lettuce to feed my urchins myself as well. Should probably make sure you have some nutrients in the water before you add it. I went from a heavy bioload to a light-moderate and probably gonna add one last fish before turning my refugium back on.

 

[Wasabiroot]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I ended up going with Gracilaria. It's been doing well. My nutrients are almost exactly where I want them after a couple of weeks.

 

[Wasabiroot]

 

[Wasabiroot]

Couldn't figure out why the other macroalgae wasn't doing as well, turns out it was being eaten by a lettuce slug.

 

[Seek&Reef]

What kind of par are you putting on it? And how much did you put in there to begin with? Just ordered 2oz for my refugium.

 

[Wasabiroot]

Probably 200 or so, but it will do just fine with less if it's Gracilaria. Seems like it'll put up with whatever once it's acclimated

 

[Seek&Reef]

Probably 200 or so, but it will do just fine with less if it's Gracilaria. Seems like it'll put up with whatever once it's acclimated

what about flow? How much do you have on it?

 

[Wasabiroot]

Fairly low flow. I imagine you can adjust based on your nutrients. I have a tiny nano pump circulating. I would add more in retrospect