slurik
04/18/2011, 11:43 AM
Hi folks, I've had this macro in my system for almost a year, and ive been propagating it here and there and have ended up with 4 balls of this stuff about the size of a grapefruit or larger.
I looked in the ID pages listed in the sticky, but was unable to confortably say it was any of them. Through google searches ive found that "Red Titan" looks quite similar, but not as lettuce-y as mine seems to be.
I also found one called Gracilaria curtissae, which seems to follow the branching structure much more accurately, however it looks to be far more pink than mine is. I would appreciate if anyone could confirm if it would be Gracilaria curtissae or not, as im sure that the lumps of these algaes can differ through photos, and since ive only ever seen that which I have on hand, perhaps someone with experience can vouch for a name.
I've uploaded a photo, unfortunately it is with my mobile phone, so the photo is somewhat grainy and for this i apologize, however its all i have to work with.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=4300&pictureid=29531
I will do my best to describe this as noted in the sticky.
This mop of macroalgae is approx 9" long, and 4" wide in this photo. I lifted it up from the substrate to get a well lit photo of it, on the substrate it was about the size of a grapefruit, then stretched out as i lifted it, as it easily connects to rocks on the substrate. This algae also seems to grow into a spherical shape as a single mass, instead of spreading outwards like others do.
I would definitely call this a non-invasive algae also, as its taken a year for it to get to a state where i have no room for it and am considering discarding some.
Have you ever accidentally irritated a discosoma and seen them push out their guts in a strange ribbon which seems to be layed out as a series of paralelle structures? This macroalgae seems to follow a similar geometrical shape as it grows, it seems to fold in on itself, which is what would leave it growing as a mass rather than reaching out.
Even in the photo, the algae looks much brighter than it is due to holding it up to light. My previous photos which had it on the substrate left it unnoticable and with absolutely no detail. I say this to emphasize that it is infact a deep deep red, you may even call it more of a redish purple. Most algaes that seem to .. look.. like this one appear far more pink, and less red.
I know these are horrible analogies, but I dont want to find my friends and other hobbiests bummed out saying things like "Oh man i would have loved some of that in my system!". About 3 months ago I stripped my system of about 250 stalks of Neomeris annulata, i thought they were pretty dumb looking...oops >_< seems they're rather sought after out here...
Any help would be appreciated, if the photograph is inadequate i can try to take more for you, or if any description that could help which i may have missed is needed please just ask..
Thanks in advance for any help identifying this, and more importantly determining its value to other aquarists.
Cheers
*EDIT* I've taken in a piece of this to my LFS, the best answer i was given was "Some kind of kelp", so I've tried reaching out to people in my local area for this.
I looked in the ID pages listed in the sticky, but was unable to confortably say it was any of them. Through google searches ive found that "Red Titan" looks quite similar, but not as lettuce-y as mine seems to be.
I also found one called Gracilaria curtissae, which seems to follow the branching structure much more accurately, however it looks to be far more pink than mine is. I would appreciate if anyone could confirm if it would be Gracilaria curtissae or not, as im sure that the lumps of these algaes can differ through photos, and since ive only ever seen that which I have on hand, perhaps someone with experience can vouch for a name.
I've uploaded a photo, unfortunately it is with my mobile phone, so the photo is somewhat grainy and for this i apologize, however its all i have to work with.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=4300&pictureid=29531
I will do my best to describe this as noted in the sticky.
This mop of macroalgae is approx 9" long, and 4" wide in this photo. I lifted it up from the substrate to get a well lit photo of it, on the substrate it was about the size of a grapefruit, then stretched out as i lifted it, as it easily connects to rocks on the substrate. This algae also seems to grow into a spherical shape as a single mass, instead of spreading outwards like others do.
I would definitely call this a non-invasive algae also, as its taken a year for it to get to a state where i have no room for it and am considering discarding some.
Have you ever accidentally irritated a discosoma and seen them push out their guts in a strange ribbon which seems to be layed out as a series of paralelle structures? This macroalgae seems to follow a similar geometrical shape as it grows, it seems to fold in on itself, which is what would leave it growing as a mass rather than reaching out.
Even in the photo, the algae looks much brighter than it is due to holding it up to light. My previous photos which had it on the substrate left it unnoticable and with absolutely no detail. I say this to emphasize that it is infact a deep deep red, you may even call it more of a redish purple. Most algaes that seem to .. look.. like this one appear far more pink, and less red.
I know these are horrible analogies, but I dont want to find my friends and other hobbiests bummed out saying things like "Oh man i would have loved some of that in my system!". About 3 months ago I stripped my system of about 250 stalks of Neomeris annulata, i thought they were pretty dumb looking...oops >_< seems they're rather sought after out here...
Any help would be appreciated, if the photograph is inadequate i can try to take more for you, or if any description that could help which i may have missed is needed please just ask..
Thanks in advance for any help identifying this, and more importantly determining its value to other aquarists.
Cheers
*EDIT* I've taken in a piece of this to my LFS, the best answer i was given was "Some kind of kelp", so I've tried reaching out to people in my local area for this.