Macroalgae in your main tank

[Biotoper]

Does anyone have a reef or FO tank that they grow lots of macroalgae in, in the main tank? I've been researching doing a reef tank (I've only recently got into the hobby, starting with FW), and I was first really interested in turtle grass, but from a couple sites that I saw referring to it in the aquarium, the various turtle grass species sounded hard to grow. Then I was looking through Baensch's Marine Atlas v1, and there are lots of pics of reef tanks with tons of caulerpa and halimeda growing on the LR alongside coral (these are probably 80's era aquaria). But I've yet to find such a tank displayed on the web - the traditional featured tanks are beautiful but a bit sterile-looking tanks, with lots of huge SPS. Actually, I've found shots of a couple refugia that were more what I would like to set up.

I'd like to do maybe a 55g tank with 6" DSB, some LR off to one side, a meadow of macroalgae on the other side, pair of Royal Gramma, a few Lysmata shrimp (grabhami and wurdemanni maybe), a few assorted small hermit crabs and snails, and some easy corals - I like Ricordea florida a lot, maybe some Zoanthus. I'm thinking of using a 4x65W PC hood. Filtration - maybe a HOB skimmer and a few powerheads?

Any comments on the general use of macroalgae in main tanks or on my specific proposed tank setup would be appreciated.

Thanks, Ryan

 

[lando]

You can grow macros in the main but most people do not. It can become a food source for some fish (tangs) But its main benefit is nutrient export. It does a nice job at keep down nitrates. Many here choose to keep it in a fuge or lighted sump so you still get the bilofiltration benefits of the macro without having it in the main. It can go "sexual" and will multiply like crazy.

 

[Biotoper]

Thanks. IMO the main benefit is many of the macroalgae are very cool-looking and would look great in the main tank. I understand most people keep them in a refugium, but am wondering if this is simply due to most people preferring a no-algae reef tank, they aren't "trendy", or whether people have run into problems with them. There is the issue of them sexually reproducing and expelling a cloud of gametes into your tank, but I think this is true whether they're in the refugium or main. A bigger problem might be them spreading like wildfire vegetatively, smothering my corals, and in this case it would be better to keep them isolated in a refugium. But there's a diversity of choices (Caulerpa, Halimeda, Red algaes, etc) that just like FW plants vary in invasiveness and growing needs, so it seems like it would be hard to generalize.

 

[lando]

I have some I have some Ochtodes in my 12gal nanoreef. In two months it has grown from the size of a quarter to larger then a dollar bill. I also have some Halimeda in my 72gall reef but it has not really spread much.