Collecting Temperate Algae

[Michael Milligan]

I have a collected native marine tank. I would like a bit of input there:

Normally when I collect green algae just falls apart and ends up in my filter pad. Still waiting for some regrowth. Recently I brought home some red algae that I found at a much lower tide and it seems to be doing much better. Is there something to this observation?

red, green, brown? Anything help appreciated. I would love some flora in the tank.

Thanks

[labnjab]

I'm not sure, never collected local anything. Maybe transporting it wasn't good for it, was it exposed to air for any length of time?

One thing I did observe about tropical algae is if you have green and red algae in the same tank, the green will out compete the red and the red will eventually die off. I've tried both brown and red in the display with green chaeto in the sump, and the brown and red never lasted more then a few months, but the chaeto always thrived

[Michael Milligan]

transportation wouldn't be a problem. 5 min walk. :)

I think that the light requirements are different for the different types of algae. Green being the strongest grower but also requiring the most light. A tropical reef with corals would surely have a LOT more light than I put on my tank.

I don't have any older photos, so it's just a hunch, but the red stuff does seem to be growing a little. Good sign. And the back wall of the tank has never been cleaned so that it can grow algae, which it does. "Sea turf" or something it was once called. Plus I just noticed what looks like sea lettuce sprouting there. :)

I have fish (northern clingfish/skillet fish) and eat snails and limpets, so the hope is to have a good breeding population in the tank. As it is, the fish have outpaced the snails!

Most temperate tanks don't seem to have much green algae in them, so I was hoping someone could tell me why. Plus I don't want to collect algae only to have it dump all its nutrition into my water.... I have enough trouble with that as it is.

So, labnjab, where did you get your algeas

[labnjab]

We get ours from members in our local reef club. Its tropical though. Right now we only have the chaeto, but the club is doing a macro algae group buy so we plan on picking up a few more types as well as a few mangroves