Best algae for scrubber
Mark Lawrence Storch
wondering if anyone knew if one type of algae was better or worse than
another. The local store has a few types of Calerpa (feather, grape,
etc.) I wanted to know if one grows fater, is more hardy, etc. It's my
first time with macroalgaes so any help is appreciated.
Mark Storch
Carnegie Mellon Univeristy
James Perkins
name....race-mosa!
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JamesP
Mark Lawrence Storch wrote in message ...
T. Hink
Loveland. Although the book is chiefly about ecosystem modeling, the authors
go into great detail about using "turf" algaes for nutrient scrubbing. Since
it is a scientific work, the book might be available at your university
library. In the book, Adey and Loveland argue that turf alages (baiscally
hair algae) do not go into sexual reproduction and die off like macroalgaes,
grow faster and are more efficient at removing nutrients.
Of course if the main purpose of your scrubber is to grow macroalgae, then
the above won't make any difference to you. The benefits and drawbacks of
algae and turf scrubbers have been discussed at legnth on this newsgroup and
the reef FAQ includes some of the arguements.
Steve Wolfe
> Loveland. Although the book is chiefly about ecosystem modeling, the authors
> go into great detail about using "turf" algaes for nutrient scrubbing. Since
> it is a scientific work, the book might be available at your university
> library. In the book, Adey and Loveland argue that turf alages (baiscally
> hair algae) do not go into sexual reproduction and die off like macroalgaes,
> grow faster and are more efficient at removing nutrients.
I think it's funny that so many people seem to have so many problems
with macros dying off... I can't get mine to die off if I want to. : )
I don't get any appreciable amount of nuisance algae in my main tank,
other than having to wipe he inner glass once a week or so, but that's
about it. I think a lot of people that have that problem are using
lighting much less intense than that of the main tank, and good, bright
light would go a long way toward eliminating it.
BTW, the only time I've ever seen caulerpa go sexual was in a tank
with very poor lighting...
steve
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Steve Wolfe
> wondering if anyone knew if one type of algae was better or worse than
> another.
Yes, whatever kind grows most readily in your sump. Unless you're
using a surge system, it isn't a scrubber. : )
> The local store has a few types of Calerpa (feather, grape,
> etc.) I wanted to know if one grows fater, is more hardy, etc. It's my
> first time with macroalgaes so any help is appreciated.
It all depends on the lighting and the conditions in your tank. Throw
in a few, throw in a few pieces of live rock, and let it all go. Some
kinds will do better than others. Just let them go... "this furious
balancing". As a word of advice, use good, bright light on your
refugium. If the lighting on your refugium is much less bright than the
main tank, it will be hard for the algae there to out-compete that in
your tank. If you use lighting that is at least kind of close to that
of the main tank, then it can work wonderfully. I use a 100-watt
mercury vapor lamp over my refugium, and boy, do things grow well. I
even have new types of macros that I had *never* seen before when I was
using a 45-watt PC.
Craig Bingman
Mark Lawrence Storch <ms...@andrew.cmu.edu> wrote:
> I'm starting up an algae scrubber/sump on my 29gal and I was
>wondering if anyone knew if one type of algae was better or worse than
>another.
You might want to buy a copy of Dynamic Aquaria (2nd edition) and perhaps
also purchase a copy of the videotape with Walter Adey's talk from MACNA
X (http:\\www.masla.com)
enter-->MACNA X--->Video TApes--->Welcome-->Video Tape (2nd in list)-->
"Calcium Topics"
You could also look for Allegra' Small's talk as well.
Walter's presentation is mainly on calcification, but he does briefly
mention some things about ATS systems. For example, he indicates that
most of the turf algaes that grow in his scrubber systems are red
algae, along with some green algae and some brown algae.
Dynamic Aquaria is really where you want to start for information on
scrubber systems. There are also some refugium/macroalgae fams out there.
Actually my impression is that the notion of using refugia in aquaria was
originally championed by Adey, and there are some very useful comments on
refugia in DA.
Do make sure you get the 2nd edition of the book. It has been updated
with some very interesting information.
Craig