Coldwater macroalgae?

[fishbonker]

Can anyone suggest some hardy, long-lived coldwater (10 Celsius) algae species suitable for nitrate removal?

thanks,
-fishbonker

 

[Anonymous]

Ulva lactuca
Poryphora proliferata
Enteromorpha spp.

If you've ever grown Ulva before these are similar. Nori-like sheets that grow fast.

 

[Anonymous]

Oh, and....

:welcome:



What kindof tank are you setting up?

 

[Anonymous]

Cool info. I'm going to be collecting macros this weekend for my temperate tanks, but I'll be keeping mine between 18 & 20º C.

fishbonker, tell us more about your system! Please.

 

[fishbonker]

Okay... the general gist is this... we are an institutional setting that breeds and raises skates (shark relatives if you don't already know that). The setup is approximately 6000 gallons, and we are looking at installing an algae bed to help keep nitrates under control, as elasmobranchs in general are kinda dirty fish. Right now we rely mostly on water changes, and I would like to institute a system that would allow the water to be kept longer. We are in the process of installing a denitrification system and a few other improvements. In Thailand while we were there, they used a system where they grew algae (outdoors of course) to deal with water quality issues, and we are attempting to create a similar system here (but in 10 degree water).

 

[Anonymous]

Neat system there! Oh, is there any kind of skimmer for that 6kgal tank?

 

[Nautilus1]

Codium will do well at 10 C. It can handle periods of freezing. If
Putting it outside during winters you may want to use codium.

 

[Anonymous]

It is pretty difficult to freeze saltwater, even in Canada.

 

[Nautilus1]

Yes ofcourse the water wont freeze but any macro exposed above the surface will freeze. Having the fuge outside with all that sun and all that waste from the fish i expect a thriving fuge. A thriving fuge of macro will could grow out of the water column. Better to have macro that will not die and rot inside the fuge from freezing if exposed.-

 

[Anonymous]

Okay... the general gist is this... we are an institutional setting that breeds and raises skates (shark relatives if you don't already know that). The setup is approximately 6000 gallons, and we are looking at installing an algae bed to help keep nitrates under control, as elasmobranchs in general are kinda dirty fish. Right now we rely mostly on water changes, and I would like to institute a system that would allow the water to be kept longer. We are in the process of installing a denitrification system and a few other improvements. In Thailand while we were there, they used a system where they grew algae (outdoors of course) to deal with water quality issues, and we are attempting to create a similar system here (but in 10 degree water).

Hmm. Interesting. Can you tell us more about where you work? What do you breed the skates for?

I would imagine there are more cost effective and lower maintenance ways to deal with nitrates than an algae bed. Are you pumping in seawater or making it with artificial salt? What other type of filtration does the tank employ?

 

[Anonymous]

>...What do you breed the skates for?

Some of the "scallop" are actually skate meat, I heard.

 

[fishbonker]

Sorry, my bad. We aren't planning on keeping the algae outside. They will be kept indoors, in a refugium at a constant 10C temperature.

The system has been running for years now, and we were just hoping to employ some macros, among other modifications to the filtration system in order to assist in nitrate removal. We're preparing to add a lot of new stock by the end of summer and hopefully the nitrates won't be an issue by that time.

Thanks for the Codium tip, Nautilus -- we're going to try a batch of that to see how it works out. They will be submerged in about 10-12" of water. Can you suggest a certain bulb type or spectrum that would optimize this genus' growth? I can't pull up a ton of information about it on google, but it seems relatively hardy and versatile in different temperatures/light parameters/water quality.

thanks

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry, my bad. We aren't planning on keeping the algae outside. They will be kept indoors, in a refugium at a constant 10C temperature.

The system has been running for years now, and we were just hoping to employ some macros, among other modifications to the filtration system in order to assist in nitrate removal. We're preparing to add a lot of new stock by the end of summer and hopefully the nitrates won't be an issue by that time.

Thanks for the Codium tip, Nautilus -- we're going to try a batch of that to see how it works out. They will be submerged in about 10-12" of water. Can you suggest a certain bulb type or spectrum that would optimize this genus' growth? I can't pull up a ton of information about it on google, but it seems relatively hardy and versatile in different temperatures/light parameters/water quality.

thanks

Ulva or Poryphora may be your best bet in terms of growth in biomass per time. You can also use Poryphora to wrap your sushi rolls in.