Macro Algae in DT

[MugiwaraGrape]

Hello again everyone,

I am curious to start growing macro algae from the Algae Barn in my DT. Any suggestions on placement and what I should do? I am currently running a modified (less intense) saxby setting on an 3 prime reef 16.

Current inhabitants are:

Foxface lo
Clown fish x2
Sailfin
Scopas

Large 7 head hammer colony
Small Goni colony x2
Small branching duncan
Smalll Duncan colony
Polyp toadstool
Devils hand
Ricordea yuma
Rhodactis

Halloween urchin
Bunch of Mexican turbos and other snails

 

[JoJosReef]

Which macros do you like?

I think Botrycladia is one of the best DT macroalgaes. It will grow fine under an AI Prime 16. Place it lower so that it has room to grow upwards. Does not hold up well against snails and urchins. Trochus and astraeas like to climp up the stalks and break them sometimes. I made a DIY snail guard out of clear acylic tubing once.

Codium is also great both for form and function. It will grow anywhere, but it makes strong attachments to the rocks, so make sure it is in a place that you an easily reach for pruning. This one also holds up well against snails, even turbos once it is established and big enough. Urchins, I can only comment on my pencil and tux, and neither of them decimated my codium.

Pom pom gracilaria (Gracilaria hayi) looks great as a big bush, but it can be a bit unwieldy to trim. Pom pom and Botrycladia both suffer when there's a bubble algae infestation. Grows very well. Can place it in any spot.

Regular gracilaria, the stringy kind, has never worked in my tanks.

Blue hypnea has always been a desire, but it's never stayed in one place in my tank due to lots of inverts. Caulerpa grew too well in my tank.

Never had luck with Halimeda, but looks great if you can get it to root and start growing.

Bottle brush, pencil cap, mermaids fans and other deep sand bed macros look nice, but I've never been able to keep them for long.

 

[JoJosReef]

Sorry, didn't pay attention to your stocking. The tangs, foxface, urchin and turbos are going to cause problems for any red macro you get, I think. Codium would be my number one bet, along with any of the heavily calcified ones like Halimeda.

 

[MugiwaraGrape]

Which macros do you like?

I think Botrycladia is one of the best DT macroalgaes. It will grow fine under an AI Prime 16. Place it lower so that it has room to grow upwards. Does not hold up well against snails and urchins. Trochus and astraeas like to climp up the stalks and break them sometimes. I made a DIY snail guard out of clear acylic tubing once.

Codium is also great both for form and function. It will grow anywhere, but it makes strong attachments to the rocks, so make sure it is in a place that you an easily reach for pruning. This one also holds up well against snails, even turbos once it is established and big enough. Urchins, I can only comment on my pencil and tux, and neither of them decimated my codium.

Pom pom gracilaria (Gracilaria hayi) looks great as a big bush, but it can be a bit unwieldy to trim. Pom pom and Botrycladia both suffer when there's a bubble algae infestation. Grows very well. Can place it in any spot.

Regular gracilaria, the stringy kind, has never worked in my tanks.

Blue hypnea has always been a desire, but it's never stayed in one place in my tank due to lots of inverts. Caulerpa grew too well in my tank.

Never had luck with Halimeda, but looks great if you can get it to root and start growing.

Bottle brush, pencil cap, mermaids fans and other deep sand bed macros look nice, but I've never been able to keep them for long.

This is phenomenal information! Thank you so much!

 

[MugiwaraGrape]

How do you place them? Just plant into the substrate or stick to rock work?

 

[JoJosReef]

How do you place them? Just plant into the substrate or stick to rock work?

depends on which one you get. For Codium, I usually glue it to a very small rock or shell, then I glue that onto the main rock I want it to stick to. Too much hassle glueing the little branches to rocks in the tank, so I do that part on rubble outside the tank.

Another option I do is take a medium-small sized piece of rubble, bush of codium or pom pom, and I run a zip tie through the branches and zip tie it to the rubble. Then I place it on top of rocks (pom pom) or next to the rocks (codium) and let it grow in. Once it grows in, it will root onto the main rock on top (pom pom, where I prefer to have it) or side (codium, where I prefer to have it).

For stalks like Botrycladia, I use some reef putty and put glue on the bottom of the stalk, wrap the reef putty around the glued part, then glue the bottom of the reef putty and smash it onto the rock. Kind of like you do with the glue/putty method for coral.

Sand bed macros just get buried deep enough in the sand bed where I want them.

 

[formallydehyde]

My faves are definitely the calcified algae that root and stay in one place like Penicillus species, Halimeda, and Udotea (Mermaid's Fan). Padina is also pretty good.
Augophyllum wysorii is gorgeous and fluoresces under blue light, but it grows as a big semi-buoyant tumbleweed that likes to free itself from being glued anywhere and I'm constantly having to trim it and move it around the tank.