Macroalgae Fertilisers

[thefirethief]

I'm assuming seahorse keepers will have more of an interest in Macroalgaes than the regular reefers so thought I'd post here. I don't really have a point to make or questions to be answered, just looking for a general discussion. ;)


I'm assuming most folk just rely on feedings and waste to provide nutrients however does anyone do anything beyond that? Anyone any additive recomendations or regimes they use? What about dosing Nitrates and/or Phosphates - seems like a bad idea in a SH tank but someone is surely brave enough to try. I've also considered adding skimmate from my reef which must be full of nutrients. Good idea/bad idea?


I've got a 24gal (+10G sump) Temperate(ish) Macroalgae tank that has been running for a few months now and I'm toying with adding Fertilisers just now. I've used a substrate of Mineral Mud and have been relying on frozen food scraps to provide other nutrients however have just started adding Julian Sprungs Iron concentrate to see if that will boost the growth of the couple of red algaes I have. Might not make a blind bit of difference if that's not the deficiency though.


Any tips/pointers? A good all round fertiliser would be ideal.

[Peculiar_Clown]

Never found the need to dose, just rely on the fact that they are messy eaters. Even with a boosted clean up crew and macro algea, I still need to do heavy regular water changes to keep the nutrients under control, and I run phophate remover.

I guess if you're no going to have corals, the higher nitrate and phospjate range won't matter so much, as long as it's not too high. But I also enjoy the corals.

JMO

[Joanna]

The same goes for me. I don't dose either as the algae grows fine without it. We also do the heavy weekly water changes to keep the nitrates at bay because of all the messy food that the seahorses eat!

Joanna

[pinkpony]

hi ya

i dont dose anything either and my tank is packed with algae and and seaweeds.

hth