# Brackish Macroalgae (image heavy)



## jasonpatterson (Apr 15, 2011)

I've been off the forum for a while, but I decided to redo my opae ula tank into a 20L and am looking for some greenery to fit. The tank sits at 1.013 sg, so it's not hospitable to most terrestrial plants, even the relatively few brackish tolerant species (excepting mangroves and just barely java ferns).

I know that a lot of us who keep planted tanks also have marine tanks, and so I was wondering if anyone had had experience adapting marine algae to a brackish environment or or had knowledge of species of macroalgae that could be adapted to a high salinity brackish setup of this type. I know that chaetomorpha can be grown in just about anything short of fresh water, for instance. 

I'm looking for any sort of grasslike plant (a carpet of chlorodesmis would be awesome, for instance.) There are some caulerpa species (C. brachypus, for instance) that are reasonably small and grassy. I'm also after a showier specimen or two (imagine this crimson algae in a tank.)

I could (and may) order a couple hundred dollars worth of various algaes and kill the poor things trying to adapt them to lower salinity waters, but I though it would be reasonable to ask for advice first. If I do experiment, I'll post my efforts on here.


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## jasonpatterson (Apr 15, 2011)

I was able to find some agroscience literature about a popular aquarium macroalgae (genus Gracilaria) that actually grows best in the salinity range in which I am interested. After searching I found a vendor that sells it and a few other macroalgae species for very reasonable prices and I'm going to try to adapt them to my opae ula tank's conditions.

What I'm aiming for:
1.013 s.g. with moderate lighting and very low flow

I fully expect the majority (perhaps all) of these algaes to fail under the conditions I am shooting for, but the price is right and I'm going to give it a shot. Caulerpa in particular is not supposed to handle dips in salinity particularly well, but it's cheap and commonly available, so why not give it a go?

The species I've ordered (links are to the page on reefcleaners.org for each):
Acanthophora spicifera

Caulerpa prolifera

Caulerpa sertularioides

Codium isthmocladum 

Gracilaria sp. 

Padina sp.

Penicillus capitatus

I would love to find some Gracilaria mammillaris to try, as it also will tolerate the salinity that I'm after and has a very nice broadleaf plant look. If, by some miracle, I have success with the species I've chosen, I intend to have a go at some of the other more expensive species that are sometimes available.

Two species that are commonly available that I intentionally skipped were Chaetomorpha, which grows into tangly nests, kind of like Java moss but even less organized, and Ulva lactuca - sea lettuce - which looks like subwassertang on steroids. Due to their appearance, neither of these were species that I would put in my tank, even if they survived the acclimation process.

My method:
- I'm going to place the samples in a 2 gallon tupperware container initially filled with 1.026 water with an airstone for aeration/water movement (again, loooow floooow.) 
- The water will be diluted daily over the course of a week to 1.013. Any dead material will be removed over that period.
- After reaching 1.013 the system will be maintained for another week to see whether the algae can remain viable or even start to grow.
- Anything reaching the two week mark without falling apart will be put in my opae ula tank. Anything else remaining will be maintained for at least two more weeks to see if it recovers.


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## Scottyhorse (Mar 13, 2013)

I've seen someone on here who did this, and it worked out. Unforunantly, I do not have the link to the build thread, or the names of the algaes used, but at least I can give you hope. Teehee.


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## jasonpatterson (Apr 15, 2011)

Scottyhorse said:


> I've seen someone on here who did this, and it worked out. Unforunantly, I do not have the link to the build thread, or the names of the algaes used, but at least I can give you hope. Teehee.


I recall reading (2 or 3 years ago) a writeup by someone who had done this sort of thing as well. Google just doesn't seem to be much help though. There are tons and tons of posts much like the OP in this thread, some encouraging replies, and then no followup at all. 

I know that there is another opae ula fan on here who uses something green and tangly (chaeto or java moss looking) but I'm not sure exactly what it is. There are some really amazing macroalgae out there; I'm very hopeful that some of them will survive what I've got planned.


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## Hmoobthor (Aug 15, 2011)

I have try marimo ball, it live long but grew green hair like thread that might need a trim or two


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## jasonpatterson (Apr 15, 2011)

I got my algaes in today. It looks like they had a rough trip (got cooked at the end in my mailbox, in spite of prominent instructions on the box not to put it there.) But I received larger pieces than I expected, by and large, so hopefully parts will survive. I'm going to give it a few days to recover before beginning the punishment.

Acanthophora spicifera (picture taken with a potato): This is supposed to be widely variable in color, so I'm hopeful even though it looks pretty bad. It was completely filled with sad little dead amphipods.









Caulerpa prolifera: Runners with vertical leaves coming off. It had some dead spots but generally looked good.









Caulerpa sertularioides: Runners with fern-like leaves coming off. It's green but it looks like it was cooked fairly badly.









Codium isthmocladum: This looked great. I'm very hopeful.









Gracilaria: This is the one that has the best chance of making it, assuming it survived the USPS. Pretty reddish strands, kind of grassy. I got one large piece and a second small piece as a penny sample.









Padina: This stuff is very cool looking and I got a ton - ~1/2 pound of it. Again, with so much I'm hoping that at least part of it survived the trip.









Pencillus capitatus: This was another species that I was excited to get, so I ordered two. It was also the most disappointing of the arrivals. One piece looks dried out and both are very small. To be fair to the vendor, their description is perfectly accurate; they tell you right up front that you're getting one small piece per order, and it was only $1.50 per piece. If it actually does survive, it's supposed to grow into a stalk with a green pompom on the end, sort of like a shaving brush.









Finally, here is the high tech setup I'm using for the test. A 3 gallon container, air stone, and a Marineland double bright led fixture roughly 8" from the bottom.


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## jasonpatterson (Apr 15, 2011)

Unfortunately my suspicions were correct, and much of the algae appears to have been killed in my mailbox. Yay USPS for cramming a mailbox sized package with numerous warnings to NOT leave it in the mailbox into a mailbox on a sunny, 90 degree day!!!  My wife said that they even had to smash our regular mail to make it all fit. OK, USPS grumbling done for the day.

The results of the Patterson Family Mailbox Macro Cookout of 2013:









Acanthophora spicifera - Complete mush. I'm going to leave it in for a couple of days in case the few pieces that remain stuck together actually survive. The majority of it is goo. There was a small piece of this that was stuck in the lump of Padina, and it appears to have made the trip more successfully (labelled in red, on the left.) Hopefully something of the mess survives.

Caulerpa prolifera - Holding up fairly well. It had a few leaves die off, but the runner appears to have held up and most of the leaves are still intact at least partially.

Caulerpa sertularioides - Not as bad as I had thought. It actually looks better than when I pulled it out of the package yesterday. The runner is intact and the fronds, while partially melted, did not fall apart and have retained their color.

Codium isthmocladum - This one is hard to judge, as it's fairly calcified, but it has retained its color completely. It could be perfectly fine or it could be a dead lump of rock (well, not rock, but you know what I mean,) only time will tell.

Gracilaria sp. - Major disappointment here. The species I was most interested in got cooked, badly. In the picture you can see that the large piece is almost completely bleached. I fully expect that it is dead, but I'm going to leave it as is for the next few days in case it can recover. There are sections that are still dark red. I did get a smaller sample that, while also partially bleached, survived the trip much better (at the bottom center, also an apparently healthy bit in the bottom right.) Fingers crossed.

Padina sp. - Same as the Codium. The algae is floppy but has a definite, firm structure. It also is translucent and started off brown, so who knows what it would look like dead?

Penicillus capitatus - Still look and feel like high quality fake plants. No idea whether they are alive or dead. On the plus side, they certainly don't look any worse than yesterday.

And now, a message from my five year old:
CAN I PUT THE FISHY ON NOW?!?
:fish::fish:


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## jasonpatterson (Apr 15, 2011)

Day 3:
Well, there was good news and bad news regarding the algae. Actually, it was almost all bad news, but still... I let the algae go for a few days just to see what was surviving or not. Today I cleaned it out for the first time. The water is still at room temperature, 1.026 salinity, being aerated by an air stone (which is providing a not inconsiderable current in the 2 gallons of water I'm using), and being lit up for 12 hours per day.

Prior to cleaning: There is some obvious decay, particularly among the caulerpa (both species) and the padina. 









Cleaning method: 
Anything the consistency of mucus or runnier goes. Anything that has completely lost its color goes.

After cleaning:









The results:
Acanthophora spicifera
This did much better than I thought it had, particularly the bit that had invaded the padina. It's actually grown by a noticeable amount.

Caulerpa prolifera
All but destroyed. I retained as much of the runner and any intact leaves that I could, but I fully expect to remove it during the next cleaning.

Caulerpa sertularioides
Slightly worse than the prolifera. Complete mush.

Codium isthmocladum 
Still difficult to tell what's going on with this one. A few tips of the branches had gotten mushy, so I snipped them off.

Gracilaria sp. 
The sections that survived have regained their color. I don't know whether the cells will recolonize the bleached structure or not, but I didn't want to leave as much dead material as I had, so I only left small sections to find out. There is more of it that survived than I had expected.

Padina sp.
The largest initial specimen is now the smallest. I kept everything that even remotely hung together, but it's almost nothing, perhaps 10 small arcs of algae in the top right corner of the picture (mostly covered by a reflection.)

Penicillus capitatus
Still mysterious. Exact same texture as when shipped, no apparently growth or decay. One had some goo on it that I removed, but I believe that that was another specimen's remains.

Realistically, at this point I will be pleased if the Acanthophora, Gracilaria, or Codium survive. I've kept the other three only for form's sake, just in case some piece of them does recover, and the Penicillus might as well be made of plastic for all I can see.


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## Små Stenar (Jun 28, 2013)

I am planning a similar tank for my Opae Ula, I posted on the TFH magazine forum in the Q&A section if you want to check it out, I have yet to get some macroalgae but I'm sorry to hear that you had such an ordeal with yours, I definitely will have to plan to be home on the day mine arrives (whenever I finally order some) because it is already above 100 where I live! thanks for sharing the links I will have to check them out and try and get some soon


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## jasonpatterson (Apr 15, 2011)

Best of luck Sma Stenar.  Welcome to the forum as well.

Day 6:
I decided that today's cleanup would be the first day I reduced the salinity. It's now 1.023.

The results:
Acanthophora spicifera
Still growing. It has roughly doubled in size from where it was when I received it (a badly melted puddle of mush.) It's even pearling.

Caulerpa prolifera
Insufficiently prolific, it seems. This one is gone.

Caulerpa sertularioides
Still hanging in there a bit. There are a few fronds and a runner or two that have retained their color and structure.

Codium isthmocladum 
A couple more mushy spots, but overall still good color and firm. It appears to have a few light colored bumps on the end of its fingers. It's either new growth or new decay, only time will tell.

Gracilaria sp. 
I've got two sections that have turned so dark red that they are almost black, so I'm wondering now if I have too much light on the container. The remainder hadn't changed visibly since last time, and it does not appear to be recolonizing the dead portions at any great speed.

Padina sp.
Largely unchanged. The remaining bits seem to be holding together and not decaying further. Again, I'm unsure whether this means they are highly calcified or whether they are actually living.

Penicillus capitatus
Slightly less mysterious. The smaller sample may be growing a bit. I dropped the larger sample during cleaning and broke it in half. The middle is still very much alive looking, so hopefully I didn't kill it once and for all.


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## Små Stenar (Jun 28, 2013)

can you post a picture of the light bumps on th Codium? if the look like tubercles or ich spots if so it might be going sexual, which means it will die. and also with the gracilaria red macro turn a lighter red under high intensity lighting, the opposite of FW plants, so it's strange that it has turned almost black then


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## jasonpatterson (Apr 15, 2011)

No, it looks exactly like a true plant would if it were growing, a paler green extension of the darker green parent. It could be getting sexy on me, I don't know. I'll try to get a picture up later.

ETA: And of course I just found out that I'm fairly close (less than 2 hours from) another vendor with a far bigger variety of macroalgae, Inland Aquatics in Terre Haute, IN. The prices are a bit higher, but they've got more of what I was looking for in the first place. My kids are going to their grandparent's in two weeks; I'm going to be headed there to investigate. Their prices are a bit higher and their shipping is pretty steep (flat $50 fee, presumably FedEx overnight only or something like that.) Still, they've got the gracilaria species I was after and several others that I'm going to be doing some research about.


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## Små Stenar (Jun 28, 2013)

oh nice! good luck with that, I can only hope that a LFS got some as a hitchhiker on the live rock and then buy it from them


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## Rob in Puyallup (Jul 2, 2009)

Hi Jason, 

I have Caulerpa prolifera going crazy in my filtered 10 gallon opae ula tank. Specific gravity at about 1.012. 

Check out my thread for information. 

Rob 

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S III using Tapatalk 2


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## jasonpatterson (Apr 15, 2011)

Rob in Puyallup said:


> Hi Jason,
> 
> I have Caulerpa prolifera going crazy in my filtered 10 gallon opae ula tank. Specific gravity at about 1.012.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the info. I'll buy some more when I head to Terre Haute in a week. 

As for my current experimenting...

Day 9:
Salinity = 1.020

Acanthophora spicifera
Growing well. I'm starting with smaller pieces so there's not much to show in pictures, but there is substantial new growth.

Caulerpa prolifera
Gone

Caulerpa sertularioides
One frond has yet to die completely, I expect it will go in the next round.

Codium isthmocladum 
Still difficult to tell what's going on with this one. Slightly more mush but still mysterious.

Gracilaria sp. 
The dark pieces are still nearly black. The redder pieces have started to grow, again, very small amounts that are very unimpressive in a picture. I have so many sections of this now that I just threw one of them into my opae ula tank to see what would come of it.

Padina sp.
Little potato chips are hanging in there. No signs of growth or decay.

Penicillus capitatus
The mysterious algae is alive! Both pieces have started to grow, sprouting green hairs from their bases. I'm very happy about this; hopefully they continue to grow as the salinity drops.

Notes:
Nuisance algae has made an appearance finally, in the form of a gritty, hairlike brown algae. The Acanthophora seems most affected, as it has fine features for the algae to get into. I washed as much of it off of the macroalgae as I could and scrubbed out the container, but I'm sure it will be back in a couple of days when I clean again. Hopefully it dies as the salinity drops.


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## VJM (Feb 9, 2013)

This thread is not helping my creeping obsession with having an opae tank. Thank you so much for posting your experiences. Super helpful.


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## jasonpatterson (Apr 15, 2011)

VJM said:


> This thread is not helping my creeping obsession with having an opae tank. Thank you so much for posting your experiences. Super helpful.


Glad to hear it. I love them; they've been going strong for a couple of years for me now and were breeding well until I had to move. During the move I lost all of my berried shrimp and larvae. I've still got well over 100 shrimp left, but that was a major hit; hopefully they start up again soon.

Since I had to move them, I decided to upgrade their tank from a 10g to a 20L and try to get some macroalgae going in there for them. So far, aside from getting cooked algae in the mail, it's going fairly well.


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## jasonpatterson (Apr 15, 2011)

I haven't been updating this as often because not a whole lot has happened. The salinity got down to 1.013, the same as my opae ula tank, and I moved all of the remaining plants to the tank. Three of the four remaining are growing visibly, and the fourth isn't dying, so that's something. All of them have problems with the remains of the brown hair algae that I got in my test container.

I'm going to head to Inland Aquatics in Terre Haute, IN on Monday or Tuesday and pick up some more species to try. I'm particularly excited about getting intact algaes to start with rather than melted scraps...

They may not be the best pictures, but I've included some so that you can see how they are doing. I suspect that if I had not started with ruined macroalgae I would have had more survivors.

The results thus far:
Acanthophora spicifera - Growing fairly well. The nuisance algae was particularly hard on this since it has such fine structure/lots of surface area to attach.










Caulerpa prolifera - Long since dead.

Caulerpa sertularioides - The last frond died shortly before transferring to the opae ula tank.

Codium isthmocladum - It has stopped melting, but it doesn't appear to be growing. It's like a big, stoic lump. The hairy bits at the ends of some of the branches are places where it melted and parts were removed. I don't believe that it is regrowing at those spots, but I could be wrong.










Gracilaria sp. - Every scrap I've got is growing. It never recolonized the dead tissue, but it is sprouting new branches.










Padina sp. - Gone. There may have been some living plant on the edge of one of the bits I had left, and they weren't decomposing anymore, but I gave up on them. If I can find it at Inland Aquatics I may try again.

Penicillus capitatus - Neither piece is regrowing from the original top of the plant, but both are doing well. They've actually grown more than any of the others since they began, and have continued to grow well in the opae ula tank. I'm hoping that they hold up long term.


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## VJM (Feb 9, 2013)

So you can just plant them in substrate like freshwater plants? I assumed they had to be tied to something. 

I am rooting for them! It would be awesome to have a lushly planted brackish tank.


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## jasonpatterson (Apr 15, 2011)

VJM said:


> So you can just plant them in substrate like freshwater plants? I assumed they had to be tied to something.
> 
> I am rooting for them! It would be awesome to have a lushly planted brackish tank.


Typically they are superglued to small pieces of live rock to start, but later anchor themselves. This isn't true of all macroalgaes by a long shot though. In this case the Pencillus and Acanthophora came with anchors intact and were significantly denser than the water. I just laid it on the bottom of the tank and in a day or two it has begun attaching itself to the sand around it, more ore less planting itself. 

I took a trip to Inland Aquatics and spent $70 on algae, so there is more to test. I'll get pictures of the actual specimens up later today or tomorrow, but I got flat leafed Gracilaria, another type of Codium, a bunch of Caulerpa prolifera (which should just look fantastic if I can get it going,) another clumping algae called Ochtodes (which is electric blue under the right conditions, though mine is more of a reddish purple right now), and a red seaweed called Dragon's Breath from the genus Halymedia .

I also wound up with lots of amphipods and a couple of teeny weeny brittle stars. Going to have to start a marine tank now, they're too cute to kill...

ETA: Forgot to mention that everything is in good shape this time around (surprise surprise) and so hopefully the results will be more meaningful if one of the algaes fails. I also got enough of most of them that I'm going to try two methods this time, a gradual adjustment and a rapid adjustment. We'll see how it goes.


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## Rob in Puyallup (Jul 2, 2009)

Envious of all of your macro algae! 

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S III using Tapatalk 2


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## jasonpatterson (Apr 15, 2011)

Rob in Puyallup said:


> Envious of all of your macro algae!
> 
> Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S III using Tapatalk 2


I'm strongly considering starting a nano marine tank that is just macroalgae on live rock and maybe a shrimp or two. As much as I enjoy normal plants and freshwater shrimp, there are some truly insane macroalgaes and marine shrimp out there.


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## Rob in Puyallup (Jul 2, 2009)

Pretty much what forced me to set up my 10 gallon reef tank, Jason! Lol 

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S III using Tapatalk 2


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## Rob in Puyallup (Jul 2, 2009)

Oh. Most of the macro algae is in the refugium hanging on the back now. Needed space for the cool inverts. Lol! 

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S III using Tapatalk 2


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## Rob in Puyallup (Jul 2, 2009)

There are some cool Sexy Shrimp in it... 

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S III using Tapatalk 2


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## VJM (Feb 9, 2013)

Subscribed! Can't wait to see how it goes with the new algae.


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## jasonpatterson (Apr 15, 2011)

I've been struggling with temperatures for the last couple of days since my AC died, so I didn't want to get started on the next batch too quickly. 

My plan with these is twofold. Since I got significantly larger pieces this time that are in much better shape, I'm going to run two tests side by side. In one I will gradually lower the salinity as before, over the course of a week or so. In the other, plop and drop, straight to 1.013 without any acclimation whatsoever. I also put aside samples of each to keep at 1.026 for macroalgae mania.

Here are some pictures of the new algaes.

Caulerpa prolifera - The seaweed that I think of when I think of seaweed. I got quite a lot of it and it's in good shape. It's anchored to a number of chunks of rock, which should be helpful, and it looks like it wants to anchor itself further.










Chaetomorpha - Snuck in as a weed. I will test it because I have it, but it's going in the trash at the end. I just don't like it at all. It's like green wire. It's in the picture with the Caulerpa, center left.

Codium - I believe that this is a different species of codium from my first sample. That has coarse, pencil-thick branches and is very open. This has branches a little thicker than yarn and is very dense. The branching structure is different as well.










Gracilaria (flat) - I'm not sure which species this is. It doesn't really look like mamillaris, which was what I was really after, but it is still quite nice. It has flat blades rather than stalks and grows in dense clumps. If this works (and everything I can find says it should) it ought to provide a really nice place for the red shrimp to hide and the babies to scavenge. This particular piece came with 2 brittle stars hiding inside. I haven't seen them for a while; hopefully they're still alive and hiding in the live rock I bought.



















Halymenia - Wonderful reddish orange seaweed. I really hope that this makes it, it will be beautiful in the tank.



















Mystery algae - Bubble caulerpa, perhaps. I've only got a small stem of it and have no idea whether it will live. Didn't bother taking a picture just yet. If it lives it will make the big time.

Ochtodes - This picture really doesn't do this algae justice, but I couldn't get it to show its blue off with the lighting I had. Under a blue + white LED strip it is very purple - quite nicely colored.


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## VJM (Feb 9, 2013)

How is the new algae holding up? Any news on the ones you put directly in the tank?


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## NaeBr33ks (Sep 3, 2013)

I have a newly set up Opae Ula tank--no shrimp yet still cycling. Would love to hear about the results from your experiment.


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## inka4041 (Jul 27, 2008)

Really wondering how all the macros fared in brackish conditions. I realize this thread is 2 years dead, but inquiring minds want to know!


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## jasonpatterson (Apr 15, 2011)

inka4041 said:


> Really wondering how all the macros fared in brackish conditions. I realize this thread is 2 years dead, but inquiring minds want to know!


In the end a plague of scuds wiped out every single non-shrimp thing in the tank. That wound up being the biggest danger of buying macroalgae - infesting the tank with scuds. It's been a while, but as I recall, the codium very slowly died back over the course of two months or so. The Pencillus did well until the scuds ate it. 

The big winners were chaetomorpha, which grew like a weed but is awfully ugly, and Caulerpa prolifera, which grew tons until it was devoured.

I have since purchased more Caulerpa and some more Gracilaria (I got three different species of this, I believe, but it was just sold as mixed species.) The Caulerpa is growing like mad in spite of the fact that it is supposed to die off in brackish. It's pretty much taking over the tank. The Gracilaria is really struggling, but one of the varieties, with numerous round, narrow branches, is hanging on fairly well. 

I'm battling a nasty BGA outbreak in that tank right now, but if I get that under control I'll shoot out some more pictures.


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## inka4041 (Jul 27, 2008)

Great info, thanks! Piecing together this plan for pseudomugil cyanodorsalis in my head, and really want to be able to recreate somewhat of the planted tank aesthetic. Would love to see further updates on this concept.


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## Bananableps (Nov 6, 2013)

jasonpatterson said:


> _amazingly fascinating information_


Sorry to resurrect a dead thread like this, but I am keenly interested in an update on this project!


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## Jmanrow 503 (Jun 20, 2021)

Very cool thread... It's good to finally find something on brackish macroalgae. My tank is at a specific gravity of 1.014 and contains a few bumblebee gobies and Mollies right now, and by the looks of the female Molly she is very gravid right now and I expecting quite a few fry every day now. The macroalgae I have in the tank are Caulerpa prolifera, over sea lettuce, and Chaetomorpha. I also have some java moss, that I took my time acclimating it and some other plants. It seems to be doing well and growing very slowly along with some Bacopa.
The Vallisneria americana began turning a reddish color when the specific gravity got over 1.012. if I can possibly lower the salinity on my macroalgae I might have better luck with my acclimated freshwater plants in the brackish tank. The Nerite, Cerith, and Nassarius snails, seem to be doing fine along with the blue legged hermit crabs.
What is the lowest specific gravity that anyone's macroalgae have been successfully lowered to?



jasonpatterson said:


> In the end a plague of scuds wiped out every single non-shrimp thing in the tank. That wound up being the biggest danger of buying macroalgae - infesting the tank with scuds. It's been a while, but as I recall, the codium very slowly died back over the course of two months or so. The Pencillus did well until the scuds ate it.
> 
> The big winners were chaetomorpha, which grew like a weed but is awfully ugly, and Caulerpa prolifera, which grew tons until it was devoured.
> 
> ...


By scuds, are you referring to freshwater amphipods, or saltwater Gammarus?
I have a culture of daphnia and freshwater scuds in the other room and I would not try the scuds in in a planted tank, whether it be freshwater or brackish, as they consume any plant life in the tank. Saltwater Gammarus amphipods have not been a problem with my macroalgae.


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## Shallow tank stef (21 d ago)

Hi all, new on here. I’m running a an open top shallow tank with some mangroves out the top, puffers, gobies and orange chromides. I’ve recent bumped up to a salinity where plants are no longer viable. Java ferns being the last to go at roughly 1.011.

has anyone got any tips on getting caulerpa growing successfully ? I’ve managed to have some success with Gracilaria mammillaris which went straight in without any issues, this is still available on eBay, I’ll link if anyone’s interested. My salinity is currently 1.015.

I’ll be happy to answer any questions you guys might have and I’d love some advice. Thanks in advance.



Rob in Puyallup said:


> Hi Jason,
> 
> I have Caulerpa prolifera going crazy in my filtered 10 gallon opae ula tank. Specific gravity at about 1.012.
> 
> ...


Hi rob, I’d love to speak to you about this please get in touch. All the best. Stefan


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## somewhatshocked (Aug 8, 2011)

Shallow tank stef said:


> Hi rob, I’d love to speak to you about this please get in touch. All the best. Stefan


The post you're responding to is from nearly a decade ago and he hasn't been on the forum in more than four years. So your best bet is to check out his thread.


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