Green plants with round leaves on live rock

J

jaubuchon

Member
Hi, I'm setting up my first reef. Its a 29gal tank, which I know is on the small side. I'm using this as a trial run. If all goes well, I have 110 and 75gal FW tanks that could become reefs... ANyway, I recently bought my first live rock from the LFS. From what I can tell, its good rock. Nicely purple and pink colored. Even has a few small corals that are doing well. LFS claimed it was cured and I've seen nothing to make me think otherwise. All four pieces have green plants growing on them? I guess they are plants... They have round leaves that are attached directly to each other. There doesn't really appear to be a stem. Anyway, I don't konw if this is a good thing, or if I should remove. Does anyone know what this is?
 
althea2you

althea2you

Active Member
sounds like halimeda, its a good plant... but a picture of it would help to further its identification!!! take care! and WELCOME to RS!!!
 
J

jaubuchon

Member
Wow! Thanks for the quick replies. You guys are awesome. Here is a picture...
 

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J

jaubuchon

Member
I checked out the link, I think it is halimeda. Sounds like this is OK, would most folks keep this algae in their tank, or remove it? I don't mind the look, but I don't want it to get out of control. Again, thanks so much for the replies!
 
prow

prow

Well-Known Member
depends on what corals your tank has. in my sps tank i dont like in there because it sucks up Ca+ and most sps dont like growing around them. but i have had it in many other tanks and like it in them. see my avatar, that green plant behind the firefish:D
 
J

jaubuchon

Member
I was arranging rocks today and I broke off a piece of this. Wow, when I removed it, it stunk! It was horrible. I went ahead and removed most of it from my tank. I have to put the trash can in the garage because it stunk so bad.
 
sasquatch

sasquatch

Brunt of all Jokes~
PREMIUM
LOL! ok yeah it stinks, its a good macro but as Prow states it has its place, it is excellent at taking up excess nutrients, you will find that before lights come on its white, this is for protection, if you notice the color is off and you see dark spots, pull it out as its going asexual and will mess up the water a bit not to mention spreading around the tank
 
BoomerD

BoomerD

Well-Known Member
Halimedia is a calcium sucker...I had it in one of my tanks, like yours, grew out of the live rock, and I could NEVER keep my calcium levels right...then, I finally hacked it all down, traded it in at the LFS, and the calcium levels stabilized. (as much as they ever can)
 
kimoy

kimoy

Member
I would take them out especially the size of tank you have. I would reccomend it in bigger tanks if you like to keep them. The reason is the smaller the tank the harder it is to keep your levels to check and the bigger the tank the easier it gets.
 
kimoy

kimoy

Member
And one of the mistakes that new reefers make is starting with a small tanks. I think 40 gal and up should be what new reefers should start at. it just make it easier to keep it stable. But maybe this is just me. JMOO.
GOOD LUCK!
 
J

johnmaloney

Well-Known Member
I agree big tank always easier than a small one. But small tanks increase your learning curve. (Or it crashes and you leave the hobby- one of the two)

As to the halimeda, yeah it will take your calcium but it looks awesome. don't ever throw it out, you lfs will probably take it.
 
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