What eats sargassum?

[pondscum]

You can send me some.I would be more than happy to take some for my 300 gal refugium.
I will pay for shipping of course.

 

[MattM]

How long have you had the Sargassum?

We've never found anything other than a Naso that eats it, but we have never seen anyone with a long-term sargassum problem. It usually dies off slowly over a 2-6 month period. I have never managed to keep it alive long-term.

 

[pez]

I have quite a lot of sargassum in my tank and I am looking for a fish (or invert) that will eat it. I have read that Naso Tangs eat it, however, my tank is 120 gallons, which is a bit too small for a Naso (IMHO). Will anything else eat it? I'm looking for fully functional fish; no need for a "pretty" fish here. I have a Kole and a couple green chromis right now. The Kole doesn't touch the sargassum or the other mysterious red algea that showed up recently. He does spend his day picking at the rocks and glass though. God knows what he's eating (aside from just about anything I put in the tank).

I was hoping a smaller tang might do the job?

-Tom

 

[chicane]

I still have some on my live rock for over a year now. I've weeded it out considerably, but in spots I let it grow to the top of the water. At one point I thought mine was dieing out also, don't know why it lives on.

-SW

 

[ReefMon]

Tom,

My Desjardinii goes nuts over any and all algae. He will out grow the 120 in a few years, but you know your going to upgrade anyway.

As far as not being able to keep it growing, I have some in my 90 that's making a comeback (along with tons of Halimeda & Valonia) now the Desjardinii is in the 180, and that rock is about 4 years old.

 

[SteveP]

I've had sargassum for abut 10 months now and it's till going strong. I had a kole tang for a while that ignored it, and I just got a lawnmower blenny that I've seen nibbling on it, but it looks more like he's sucking the slime off of it.

Steve
8{I

 

[pez]

Thanks for the info. I guess I'm reaching that limit then. The tank has been set up since last summer. The sargassum grows on the live rock almost exclusively and doesn't do well when I transplant it to the refugium. I lives but does not seem to grow nearly as fast as in the main tank. I have to harvest it about every 2-3 weeks from the main tank. I guess I will wait a couple more months to see what happens.

-Tom

 

[EEreefer]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by MattM:
<strong>We've never found anything other than a Naso that eats it, but we have never seen anyone with a long-term sargassum problem. It usually dies off slowly over a 2-6 month period.</strong><hr></blockquote>

My experience exactly. Tons of sargassum in a new tank for 3-4 months. Got a nice Naso (225 gal. tank), gobbled up the sargassum and after a month it stopped growing back. Right now I'd pay handsomely to trade my bryopsis growth for the sargassum.

JME.

 

[pez]

hehe, you've seen the location, I don't think there is any "upgrading" the tank going on here. Maybe a tank extension is in order

-T

 

[Mouse]

I bet CheeseSandwich would, he ate Nori.