Algal Choice for Optimium Nutrient Absorption for HOTB Refugium?

[LiquidShaneo]

OK...I'm getting to work on my HOTB algal refugium this weekend for my FOWLR tank and I should have the entire thing done by the end of next week and ready to go. See http://www.reefcentral.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/005269.html for further details. After that, I will need to decide what type of macro to grow in this refugium for nutrient export. Growing gracilaria is a given as my tang thinks it's yummy stuff. What other macro's would you add to a refugium for optimum nutrient export? I would like to add algaes that absorb phosphates and nitrates at high rates and I would like to minimize any of the algaes "going sexual" on me. I could run my lighting 24/7 if there is no other way around my macro's going sexual. I plan to run 40 watts of PC light over this HOTB algal refugium and I will have about 1" of oolitic sand in the bottom along with some rubble for hiding places for various critters. I'll probably throw in 1 or 2 snails to keep the hair algae down in there as well...

Any good recommenations out there?

TIA!

Liquid

[Brad Ward]

Thallasia sp. turtle grasses are exceptional at nutrient uptake. Much more than Caulerpa sp. are I think. Eric B. has a write up on his turtle grass system on the Houstons club site (MARSH). I have some stalks growing back after a Diadema sp. urchin decided it was tasty. It is fairly hardy and likes silty type sand, bright light, and a moderate current.

That said, Caulerpa sp. are fast growers and might be better for you as far as availibility goes. I have real good growth rates with C. racemosa and C. sertulariodes, and would recomend either. As far as asexual reproduction goes, you might try the 24/7 on lighting, but I have never done it and therefore no experience to draw on. I just heep mine pruned and have no problem really.

hth,

Brad

[Snailman]

The best uptake is done by the turf algae that is used in ATS. IA might be able to help you with some because they used to sell ATS. I use Caulerpa prolifera and it did a great job on nutrients but did not do much for the phosphates. I believe that truf algae uptakes almost everything. You can read all about it in Dr Adey's book Dynamic Aquaria.

[Larry M]

This came up a while back and Charles DeVito as well as some others had some interesting comments. If I get a chance later I'll search for the thread.

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Larry M

Visit Reef Stores.com The liaison between hobbyists and on-line retailers.

See my tanks at Northern Reef

[LiquidShaneo]

If you could find any old posts on this I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

Liquid

[Brad Ward]

Liquid,

I will give you some refrences for you to research if you are serious about learning about this topic. Your closest College Library should be able to order these for you . I would recommend all the Int. Coral Reef Symposium Texts highly. If I were you though, I would stick with Caulerpa sp. due to availability as well as the ease of care.

Capone, Douglas. 1977. N2(C2H2) fixation by macroalgal epiphytes. Proc. 3rd Int. Coral Reef Symp. pp. 337-41.

Delgado, O., and B.E. Lapointe. 1994. Nutrient-limited productivity of calcareous versus fleshy macroalgae in a eutrophic, carbonate-rich tropical marine environment. Coral Reefs. 13: 151-9.

Froelich, Alina Szmant. 1985. Functional aspects of nutrient cycling on coral reefs. The Ecology of Coral Reefs: Symp. Ser. for Undersea Research, NOAA. 3: 133-9.

Moriarty, D.J.W., et. al. 1985. Microbial Biomass and productivity in seagrass beds. Geomicrobiology J. 4(1): 21-51.

Ogden, John C., and J.C. Zieman. 1977. Ecological aspects of coral reef- seagrass bed contacts in the Caribbean. Proc. 3rd Int. Coral Reef Symp. pp. 377-82.

Regards,

Brad

[LiquidShaneo]

WHOA! Looks like I've got some reading to do....

liquid