Macroalgae in FOWLR refegium, anyone?

[jkleejk]

i ve trying to culture macroalgae (like fern, grape & etc) in my

4" FOWLR refigium (2" tank) but no good result (macroalgae keep turning white & dying).

i am t8 NEC 6500k as the light 24/7 lighting.

maybe i dun didnt put any calcium, trace element or magnesium into the tank (just like the coral tank)? so the macroalgae wont survive?

any bro/sis pls gif me some advice here?

[ervine]

maybe the T8 is not powerful enough.... can try PL or T5s? As for the type of macroalgae, i too have tried ferns, grapes, lettuce but all slowly died...

in the end just one type of fern, with very small leaves, survived and thrived... don't know what name it goes by though...

[nivlac]

marcroalgae is not easy to keep as it seems. those that I buy from LFS never survive more than a month, even with miracle mud, 24/7 lighting, pruning, dosing of plant iron and trace elements, etc. Best results I used to have are some frags of macroalgae from Marine LIfe LFS. Can survive for months with regular weekly pruning. Now using chaetomorpha which I hand-carried from the US and am very happy. Nitrates are zero

[Kelmen]

I noticed that my hermit crabs seem like to consume the macroalgae root, which make the plant white\partial-transparent. And some green lines in them like blood line.

Are the root part missing in your plants too? Probably some herbivor\scavenger doing.

HTH