Cheato and hyposalinity

[jimdogg187]

I took all the chaeto out of my fuge for a hypo treatment. I was wondering if I can put it back during this treatment, or will the low salinity kill the plant? My salinity right now is 1.009. Thanks. Jim

[fishmaster#1]

If I had to guess I would say Hell no way too low

[bluenassarius]

jim,
my brother has one of his experiment tanks in low salinity and all of his macro's survived even some of the inverts. can't say the same for his corals. hth

sam

[Samala]

Ulva and Enteromorpha variants, as well as many of the Gracilaria variants, should take hyposalinity okay. Keep in mind that's anecdoctal evidence, but there are several different species of macro that I collect in the Bay systems of the Delaware and Chesapeake in both of their northern extremes that are very low salinity, especially this time of year, 1.010-1.019 as my typical readings. Likewise, there are lots of macros in the IRL in Florida that must survive low salinity extremes for weeks if not months during the rainy season.

However.. I will venture to say that they will need the same adaptive approach to hypo you would use on all the other living things in the tank. Some may be tough enough to go straight into hypo.. but I would err on the side of patience and allow them to slowly acclimate to it.

Cant say much for the Chaeto found in most of the hobby.. maybe I would split up the ball you have and see if some of it will take the treatment and go from there. Then, let us know!

>Sarah

[jimdogg187]

Thanks for all the replies. I'll give it s shot. Should I try to acclimate it the same way I would do a fish? Jim

[kmk2307]

Acclimating the chaeto couldn't hurt but I don't know if it will help either. I'm pretty sure it would be just fine at that salinity. Try it with a small clump and if it looks like it is unhappy get it out of there before it dies and pollutes the water. Please keep us posted on how it works out.

Kevin

[jimdogg187]

I went to add the chateo today but discoved my fuge light burned out. I'll pick up a new bulb tomorrow, then add the macro. I'll also take some photos during the week and post them. Thanks again for replying. Jim

[Samala]

No no Jim, thank you for taking on the assignment! Pics will be a big help I think. I would acclimate as you would with fish.. if not drip then just slowly bring them down to the right salinity level with RO/DI. A few notches every few hours should be just fine. I acclimate macro's from the Bay systems down to freshwater over a 24 hour period.. let them sit in a freshwater dip for another half day beyond that.. and then bring them back to full salinity for my tanks through another 24 hours. I havent lost any Graciliaria, seagrass, Ulva or Enteromorpha yet... but you never know what they'll like. And I baby them a lot when they go into the tank because I'm more into macros than the typical reefer.

>Sarah

[LegoZ81]

I know I still have some surviving (although EXTREMELY not happy) Calurpa Prolifa in my goldfish tank. I think it is hanging in there somehow on the fact that Nitrate is sitting somewhere ~ 60ppm. I also hold pH at 8.4 in the freshwater tank with Baking Soda.
IT has been ther for 2.5weeks now. the edges are yellow but the center of the leaves are VERY dark green...
I think I may start using water from the gold tank to start up a Macro culture tank.

[kmk2307]

LegoZ81,

Has the caulerpa grown at all since you put it in freshwater? I think an interesting experiment now would be to re-plant it in saltwater and see if grows again. It may already be dead. Have the goldfish eaten any of it? FWIW I tried to feed a fw pleco dictyota (which I assumed was nontoxic) and it died. Caulerpa is known to be toxic.

Kevin

[LegoZ81]

dunno I will throw it in my calurpa "grow out" tank in the back and see what it does... I don't need to be killing my gold with it, if "he" eats it.

[jimdogg187]

Well, it looks like all is well with the cheato in 1.009 salinity. Its been in there a week now and now grey parts yet. Here are some pics. I will post some more as time goes by.

Reef tank fuge. 25 gallon (filled with chaeto). The salinity is normal in this tank. This stuff grows like mad in this system.



Here is are some shots of it in my FOWLR fuge. I just ripped some out of the above fuge and then acclimated it to my big tank's low salinity.

[eleodes]

excuse me, but i'm ignorant. what is the objective for subjecting macroalagae to hyposalinity for captive system and wild-gathered material? is it to kill off pest organisms?

[jimdogg187]

The hypo treatment is not for the algae. I'm running hypo on my FOWLR for my Sohal Tang. I took all the chaeto out because I wasn't sure if it would die. Now I've put some back in to see if it will survive. The only filtration in the tank is LR, my skimmer and my macro. So you can see why I want to put it back into the system.

Jim

[billsreef]

Interesting results so far. Be sure and keep us updated

[Samala]

Um, I do a freshwater dip on macroalgae I collect from the wild when I dont want to introduce pest species.. namely hydroids from my viewpoint. I try to exclude the cool inverts that come with it but some have to be taken off with a freshwater dip. There are these little inverts that remind me strongly of freshwater damsel and mayfly larvae that stick like superglue to macro from the wild. Evil looking little things, I didnt trust them in my tank.

Jim this experiment is going pretty well. My only real question is: will the Chaeto in hyposalinity just hold out, or will it grow in hypo treatment? Still good to know.

>Sarah

[jimdogg187]

billsreef, I will keep everyone posted.

Samala, I am wondering the same thing. I don't know how much it will grow in this water, maybe not at all. I've been watching it to see if there is going to be any growth. The treatment will only last 3 more weeks, so I will see what the results will be (if any) by then.

Jim

[jimdogg187]

Well, the hypo treatment has ended. The chaeto survived; however, it did not grow much (maybe not at all) and became brittle. I will wait to see if it is able to recover now that the salinity is at a normal level.

Jim

[billsreef]

Glad to hear it survived. Be waiting to hear about the growth post hypo