algae id (picS WORKING!!)

byrself

Member
anyone know what kind of algae this is on my live rock? some sort of caulerpa? it's growing from all over my figi rock. is it good and how do i keep it growing?


thanks! :)
 

byrself

Member
sorry fellas. when my pic server comes back up i'll repost. thanks for letting me know. it's hard to describe. kinda long leaved with kinda a purplish tint to it under my lights, but leaves are flat and ruffly like a potato chip or something. easy to see in pics.
 

byrself

Member
i also wanted to know cause i want to keep it, but i got a hitchhiker emerald crab and think they like to eat the stuff. if so i'm gonna give him to my roomate.
 

jodeman

Member
I can't tell you what it is, but if you got hermits it'll be there no longer. I bought some rock that was covered in it, and my hermits cleaned it off in 1 day (boy they loved it).
 

broomer5

Active Member
Looks to me like a variety of sargassum brown algae to me - but I may be mistaken.
I've had it before on new live rock.
It can go to seed if allowed, but normally dies off shortly thereafter, in my experience.
Here's a link to algaes and a old pic of mine.
<a href="http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/reefalgae/Sargassum.htm" target="_blank">http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/reefalgae/Sargassum.htm</a>
 

byrself

Member
i think i noticed my scarlet red legged hermit nibbling on it. i'm already in the process of fishing out all my hermits. they've done their initial task (hair algae removal) and now they've got to go. snails all the way for me. i've had it (the unknown algae) since i got the live rock 6 months ago. has grown from nothing to now about 2 inches tall. it does look alot like what broomer5 has. i had hoped it would grow enough to put into a refugium along with some bubble tip caulerpa i recently got from irishstout.
is this even good algae for a refugium?, and would it have to stay attached to these same rocks to continue growing?
thanks guys for the input.
 

nm reef

Active Member
Looks like either a type of wafer algae:
<a href="http://www.globaldialog.com/~jrice/algae_page/lobophora.htm" target="_blank">wafer algae</a>
or maybe it looks like some razor caulpera:
<a href="http://www.globaldialog.com/~jrice/algae_page/sawcaulerpa.htm" target="_blank">razor caulpera</a>
If it is either I'd say they are good either in the refugium or maybe even the wafer in the display( I don't like the idea of caulperas in the display)...both are a desirable types of algae vs cyano or other algaes we try to eliminate. :cool:
 

nacl-h2o

Active Member
I agree with Broomer5 it looks like a type of sargassum to me aswell. Some tangs, hermits, and and emeralds crabs will eat it.
 

frankl15207

Member
From the picture it looks like the brown caulerpa that is growing on the live rock in my refugium. If you want to loose it, stick it in with a tang (yellows love it).
I have hermits, snails and an emerald crab in it. Nothing in the refugium seems to bother with it. The baby strombus grazers in it crawl all over it, but don't seem to eat it. It is VERY slow growing. The same stuff was growing on the rock that was put into my main tank and it was wiped out within a couple of days by the tang.
 

teatime

Member
I have the same stuff and couldn't find out what it was either. My hermits dont touch the stuff. I have several rocks with it growing on it. It looks like some kind of plant to me.
 

byrself

Member
yeah teatime, i've had hermits all over it, red and blue legged, and i got an emerald crab, and it's still there. they seem to eat around it but not actually eat it. it does grow very slowly, like frank described. it doesn't bother me too much, i had hoped i could get enough of it to help with the trates a bit but seems like it's gonna take til next year to grow! it is a pretty sturdy plant whatever it is. i kinda like it, even though it's starting to kinda shade the areas below it. makes me wish i had bought more live rock out of that shipment when i had the chance.
 
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