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Norwegian seaweed failure

Joined
10 Mar 2018
Messages
469
Location
Aylesbury
While on holiday I picked up some seaweed that had washed up from a Norwegian fyord (very abundant)
I was roughly 250 miles away from the sea and I couldn't taste any salt in the water.
I thought I had a chance to survive so brought it back, I've placed it in a unheated tank on the window sill and it seems to be slowly melting. Despite daily water changes and ferts.

I'm not sure if it's the increase in temperature or the lack of salt, but it's not doing well. Shame as it looked completely different to anything else I've seen in aquariums.
20190729_100126.jpg
 
I'm definitely no expert, but it looks like a species of macroalgae; I would add some marine salt. I'd hazard a guess that it's probably suffering osmotic shock.
If you'd been able to measure the specific gravity of the fjord it might have given you a little more insight in to the water conditions there.
It could also have drifted inland from a more coastal or brackish environment via a storm or just natural circulation currents.
 
It could also have drifted inland from a more coastal or brackish environment via a storm or just natural circulation currents.

There was quite a lot growing there, at least up to waste deep. It was glacier fed so ice cold. Can't be many plants you can grow in the fridge.

I suspect your right as it could have been slightly brackish, would adding some sea salt help? I'm home now so too late to test anything.

Definitely a fucoid algae and marine.
It was definitely a member of the bladder wrack family, Shame it started melting as it use to be a very pretty orange colour.
 
When I kept native, (as in north Atlantic) marine aquaria I found that green alga, principally Ulva, and red alga, mainly Chondrus but also others from ELWS fared quite well if kept cool enough. Browns, on the other hand rotted away fairly quickly to the point I never bothered with them. These are the species that live mostly between the tides. Greens, high shore pools, and reds, around ELWS don't usually suffer this inconvenience so maybe there's the answer.
 
Has anyone tried a full macroalgae marine tank ( no coral and minimal fish)

Would I still need skimmers and calcium reactors etc etc or would they grow with just a cheap hydrometer and some marine salt?

Would you still need a special blue light?

I came across some amazing photos online.

DSC_0046.jpg flame.jpg 19ee2b80d72cccb52adb8c59c8e8d58c.jpg

Be a interesting aquascape
 
I have had a macro reef when I was breeding seahorses and they are easy to setup, don't need blue lighting as they are shallow water species and your not trying to pimp the fluorescence but, and it's a big but, half of those cool looking macro algaes are near impossible to find over here. Marine Algae supply is difficult unless your looking for anything beyond a few basic species of caulerpa, ulva, ochtodes or red Gracilaria. You can still make a nice tank but prices are amazingly steep as you either have the eBay sellers who offer tiny pieces or you have to pay the shipping costs of the water and rocks they come on from a lfs meaning they are more expensive than your average coral.
I'm not trying to put you off as they are easy tanks to run and can look great but I'd investigate how much the initially planting will cost you first.
 
I have had a macro reef when I was breeding seahorses and they are easy to setup, don't need blue lighting as they are shallow water species and your not trying to pimp the fluorescence but, and it's a big but, half of those cool looking macro algaes are near impossible to find over here. Marine Algae supply is difficult unless your looking for anything beyond a few basic species of caulerpa, ulva, ochtodes or red Gracilaria. You can still make a nice tank but prices are amazingly steep as you either have the eBay sellers who offer tiny pieces or you have to pay the shipping costs of the water and rocks they come on from a lfs meaning they are more expensive than your average coral.
I'm not trying to put you off as they are easy tanks to run and can look great but I'd investigate how much the initial planting will cost you first.


Thanks for the tips, Just looking on ebay they really are micoscopic samples and aren't cheap either.
I know it's a horribly generic question, but on the whole how fast do they grow? If I bought 6 small samples are they comparable to something like bucephalandra where they will still look the same in 3 months time, or will they fill a 200L tank?

I'm guessing there all epiphytes so I can super glue them to rocks? , For ferts do you just follow EI?
 
It very much depends on the species as to how quickly they grow, some are painfully slow but others pretty quick. If you had caulerpa then they are explosive in growth and will fill out quickly like a stem plant would (just be aware that caulerpa have the risk of a sexual event where they sporulate and then turn to mush, this releases nutrients back into the water and can reduce oxygen killing some things), for other red species the growth is slower but noticeable but you also have species that make buce look fast. Dragons flame is a good grower which is partly why it annoys me that sellers are so stingy.

I'd join a forum like ultimate reef and see if anyone has any available as your likely to get bigger pieces cheaper (but again the trend in all things marine has been to make things smaller but more expensive and people are really trying to cash in, although thankfully like on here there are nice generous members but you might have to seek them out).

Some species naturally attach to the substrate, caulerpa has good roots, red bamboo has hold fasts as does sargassum, ochtodes and halimeda but others just drift about but can be tamed with some fishing line around a rock. You could also add mangroves if you want emerse growth.

I never dosed anything as sea water has plenty of nutrients for growth and I kept mine with seahorses, pipefish, shrimp fish and dragonets so there was plenty of nitrate and phosphate. The only thing most people might need to add is iron really.
 
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