Gracilaria Tikvahiae??

[champscorner]

I have this groing in my display and fuge(came in on TBS rock, I believe). I've thrown 3 softball size pieces of cheato in my fuge and it just dies back but this stuff florishes in there. I run a phosban reactor for 4-6week periods and shortly after i quit running the phosban the patches in my display take off as well. I guess my questions are:

is this a beneficial algae(good for nitrate and phosphate consumption)?

should i just let it go in the fuge and not pull it out

i've heard tangs love this stuff but i'm not sure which ones, i've always wanted a powder blue, will this feast on it?

Any links that i might be able to read up on this algae?

I've also noticed when it grows out that it's teaming with pods.
Thanks in advance.

[champscorner]

either this is the wrong forum or there are no algae gurus

[Samala]

Or, the third alternative, we aren't attached to our computers every moment of the day.

Here's the situation on beneficial and non-beneficial algae. If you like it in your aquarium, think it looks good, and its not shading or outcompeting other corals and invertebrates, or growing so rapidly it is overgrowing sessile invertebrates - then its beneficial. All plants, as they grow, will consume some nitrates and phosphates. So it'll have a positive impact on water quality.

It may not keep up with the full bioload you have though. The positive impact varies according to how fast the algae grows.

Almost all tangs will eat red fleshy macroalgaes like Gracilaria. So you are very likely to need to restrict growing this algae to the refugium, as you mentioned. In general this algae does not spread out into the display system and overtake a reef because it is highly palatable to herbivores.

>Sarah

[champscorner]

thank you!!!