My tank's Algae

[Evergreen]

The MT is 125. Refugium is 75. The system is 2.5 months old. The MT is recovering from a red slime and phytoplankton (greenwater with 2"viz) bloom and I can finally see my lovely LR. There is some hair/fuzz algae but its being eaten by my fish. Also a brown algae (probably fucus) which growns from a center point cluster is forming a neat little lawn. I am not too unhappy with this semi-macro as my pest.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/502/15942LeftsideMay03Scopas.jpg

The Refug Algae- I am avoiding all Caulerpa. I bought halimeda from Brett on RC, which is growing in the 6.5" DSB (have 3 clusters like this). The LR Algae Hitchhiker is Udotea, sea fan. I really like it! Also tiny patches of hair and fucus.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/561/15942RefugiumMacros.jpg

I don't really have any questions, was just posting it for interest! Comments welcomed:)

[Plantbrain]

If you plan on using a fuge and avoiding Caulerpa, you may really want to consider another fast growing seaweed since the plants remove the waste very effectively, having lots of slow growing plants will not make it as effective.
You can mix slow and fast growing plants to get a good nutrient removal refuge going. I don't keep many fish ot corals, therefore I actually dose NO3 and PO4 to keep the plants lush.

Regards,
Tom Barr

[Evergreen]

Lol thats cute dosing Nitrate and Phosphate :eek:

The halimeda makes visible growth daily for me so far, however what has worked the best for me was Ulva/kelp.

After my Live Rock cycled I had high nitrate. (About 40). I had a few people tell it was a bad idea, and a few people tell me it was a good idea, and with me being "Evergreen" i went with my instinct and added Ulva kelp from the south shore of Long island. Lights were on, and literally within a day the nitrate was 0. Then I removed the greater part of the Kelp since I didn't want it to starve out. The whole time it was in the tank it was of normal apearance and texture. Only a piece in the dark became soft and shredded.

Also of interest: my quarantine tank. The nitrates were 40, I keep 6 hermit crabs in there to keep it cycled. The Q tank has only been up 2 weeks or so, and I was suspecting my nitrate kit was defective since i would never read any nitrate on MT. But after QT was set up, I realized the test was working just fine, with the 40 reading. Well, I added a rock from the beach covered with bright green macro. Similar to a kelp, not a hair algae. Only it was attached. Well today my nitrate in the QT is 0 (undetectable.) That was the only thing I did to the tank, was adding the kelpish algae. :confused:

[Plantbrain]

Fast growing algae will really pull the nutrients out of the tank. But if you want them to remain healthy, generally you need a steady supply from the critters or dose it if you lack critters.

"Lol thats cute dosing Nitrate and Phosphate"

Yes, it's blasphemy to some:-)

I stick with 10ppm NO3 per dose about every 5-7 days. This uptake is less than my FW planted tank uptake but the tank does not have the same plant biomass. FWIW, use a Lamott test kit if you want reliable NO3 readings especially in the lower ranges of 0-15ppm.
Same for PO4. Cost a lot but if you want to know, it's worth it to get good test kits for these two macro's.

I'm applying what I know from FW plants to SW plants and it's going better than I expected. I will likely rattle a few cages but they'll get over it.
Regards,
Tom Barr