Algae for Nutrient Export and Fish Feeding

[rtolz]

This is my first post here, cause I'm just about to set up a refugium. This will be a CPR Aquafuge to hang on the side of a Precision Marine berlin-type sump, both of which are on their way to me now to replace my old Amiracle wet/dry.

I think I understand from my research here and elsewhere that Chaeto seems to be the preferred macro for nutrient export, and Caulerpa seems to have more potential for danger than it's worth. I've also seen references to people using Ulva and Gracilleria.

I guess I believe in multi-tasking and multiple uses. I do have some herbivores in my tank (Foxface, yellow tang, hippo tang) and thought it would be really neat if I could meet their nutrient needs at the same time that I'm taking care of reducing my pollutants.

So, I'm looking to choose macros for my refugium that will take care of both nutrient export and fish feeding.

I gather that the chaeto is too tuff for most fish to be attracted to.

Is Ulva the way to go? Should I be looking at something else?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give!

[aquaboy620]

gracilaria is a good way to go to feed those fish and chaeto works fine for feeding tangs cause mine destroy it as soon as it hits the water. as for growing them is a different story. i grow gracilaria, chaeto, caulerpa prolifera, and Caulerpa taxifolia. i use 4 T6 bulbs on my ref. 2 actinics, 2 daylite 10000k. the chaeto just stays the same size grows really slow for me but everything else grows fast. mainly the caulerpa prolifera and caulerpa taxifolia, they grow like weeds and your fish will love it. nice to look at it as well. can't grow ulva for some reason maybe i keep getting a bad speciman. it happens. make sure the piece you are going to start off with is coming from a healthy batch cause you can get some stuff online and it looks gopod for a bit then dies off quick. good luck hope this helps

[rtolz]

Thank you.

I called up the guy at http://www.inlandaquatics.com yesterday, and he recommended his Caulerpa sampler kit. He said this grows best and works best for nutrient removal.

He recommended the Caulerpa, rather than the "prettier" species of macro, because it fits my utilitarian needs. My fuge is going to be under my tank and behind closed doors.

I can attest to the fact that my tangs like to eat this stuff. I brought home some Xenia from my LFS a couple of months ago, attached to some grape caulerpa. Within a day, the caulerpa was gone, and my Xenia was seeded (now flourishing in my nitrate rich environment) all over the tank. I now have quite a few Xenia colonies, the largest of which is beginning to dwarf my giant bubble tip anemone.

You obviously are OK with growing Caulerpa and are not phased by the warnings I've seen about the dangers. The guy at Inland Aquatics also thought the warnings were way overblown.

He runs his lighting on a reverse cycle (I've read that some people light their Caulerpa 24 hours to avoid a sexual event) without a problem. He says that if you ignore the Caulerpa and don't harvest it, you have a much greater risk of a crash.

What's your experience been?

[natan]

Different caulerpas have different potential to go sexual, and some safer species are also perfect feed for the fish. Gracilaria and other read algae are not nearly as effective at nutrient export. Caulerpa brachypus is my favorite, the speed of growth is unbeleavable (so it is a good nutrient exporter) and fish love it. most of it gets dumped though, because so much more is produced than my fish can eat.
Cheto works for some, but fails for otheres, there is no perfect algae (of anything else) in this imperfect world.

[Plantbrain]

I disagree that Caulerpas are the way to go.
Cheato is good for most purposes with macro species.
Algae turf scrubbers are much easier to run, add to a system and keep if export is all you are after.

If you want to feed some of the growth to tangs etc, then macros are better suited or if you like growing macros like me.

There are trade offs for Caulpera, Cheato and the smaller micro algae on scrubbers with the progression of ease of care going from harder/more sensitive to changes to much less..........

I think a nice linkage between and macro algae tank and a main reef is a good plan and a nice looking display, rather than sticking the Refugium down below hiding it.

This way even your "filter" looks nice and is worthy of a display.

Regards,
Tom Barr

[rtolz]

"I think a nice linkage between and macro algae tank and a main reef is a good plan and a nice looking display, rather than sticking the Refugium down below hiding it."

"This way even your "filter" looks nice and is worthy of a display."

Thanks for the observations, but I don't have space (or spousal permission) for a refugium display. So it goes underneath, behind closed doors.

Nutrient removal and food production are in. Ornamental display is out.

[Plantbrain]

Then given those trade offs, go with an algae scrubber, you get more export and less issues/energy consumption with that, less space etc.

SantaMonica(user name) has a lot of DIY methods/pics etc.


Regards,
Tom Barr

[gildorph]

I'm in a similar boat in that I'm thinking about adding some macro to my established fuge with chaeto for the purposes of fish feeding. Have a tang, foxface and angel group that are all voracious algae eaters.

Should their be some concern about re-introducing the nutrients we are exporting by feeding it to the fish? I didn't know if this is overblown or inconsequential in a side by side situation with something not intended to be fed to the fish (chaeto) that is faster growing and more efficient at exporting nutrients.