Marine Plants

[sen5241b]

I don't hear much discussion of marine plants. Anyone put plants in their tank? Beyond their aesthetic value do certain kinds have any benefit? I know someone that has a mangrove fuge which is supposed to eat nitrates and serve as a nursery for fish. (They've clogged the filter in my fresh water tank).

http://www.aquacon.com/vip.html

[yote]

I read an article a few weeks back,about a planted saltwater tank.It actually looked as good as any reef I've seen.
Plus the plants do help with phosphate and nitrate removal.

[daugherty]

i use to have calurpa in my tank but it took over so fast i could not keep it under control if you have the time to do it than fine but if you cant get to it every other day or so than it will take over .

[reeffreak]

Marine plants are macro-algae.Many of them can be evasive,making them very difficult to remove from the display.That's probably one of the reasons most use macro-algae in the fuge which makes for a better controlled environment.There are some that will work in the display like the mangroove you mention and shaving brush.Many of the caluerpa,not so much.For me,because of the potential of going asexual and spewing there insides,clouding the water,I will never use any caluerpa in my system.

[Ironman]

I agree you need to be cautious what types of plants you use, they make a mess when they go assexual. I keep several types of plants in my tanks, I feel it is more for decoration than benefit. I have 5 large mangroves on a 58 gallon tank that are really cool, I took a CPR aqaufuge and hung it on the back of the tank just for the mangroves. it is a topic of interest for guests that see trees growing out of the tank. But honestly I feel it would take alot of mangroves to really make a noticable difference in water quality. the best thing for water quality is a good skimmer and water changes. as for caluerpa, it is also fun to play with and grow, it is probly a better nutrient export than the mangroves just due to the quick and lush growth. the more you cut and remove it the more you are removing nutrients from the water. I still am not sure that the typical refugium holds enough to help out. ideally you want alot of it to make a difference. I plan on having a 75 gallon tank strickly for caluerpa and mangroves on my next tank, and I dont know if that will help the tank or not.