(saltwater quick question)

It is quite possible to grow "seawead" in SW systems. The term you usually see is Macro Algae. Often this is done in a sump or refugium as a means of exporting nitrates and phosphates.

There are a few SW people that do set up a tank to have mostly Macro Algaes. This is actually a bit tricky to setup and maintain. You have a problem in that everything is an algae, so what feeds the ones you want also feed any nuisance algaes you don't want.

The other reason you don't see too many tanks set up with macro algaes is that for most SW people, algaes just don't compare to the corals as far as color and appearance.

If you really want to get into this area, here are a couple of online suppliers you can check out.
Macro Algae: Your Source For Quality Marine Plants and Macroalgae | Gulf Coast Ecosystems
https://aquariumdepot.com/aquarium-life-salt/macro-algae/

"Sea weed" is a really generic terms. Most of what is considered seaweed would require a fairly large tank. The tank that has a kelp display at the Monterey Aquarium is 28 ft tall!

Nice DB waters! I've been considering turning my 25g cube clown fowlr into a macro algae tank. Dragons breath is a favorite of mine.

Waters said:

I actually have two saltwater tanks in addition to my planted tank. My 45G seahorse tank is predominately macro algae. Normally the macro algae takes up the nutrients before the nuisance algae...similar to planted tanks. Here is a picture of the Dragons Breath algae that seems to be taking over my tank lol.

Click to expand...

That's badass, does it come in a freshwater version😉.

Also, many of the "seaweeds" require a colder water temperature so they don't mesh well with fish/corals.

Nlewis said:

That's badass, does it come in a freshwater version😉.

Click to expand...

You probably could recreate the look of a Macro algae saltwater tank in freshwater using carefully selected plants :smile2: Would be fun to try lol.

Biggest reason for me is that it grows so darn fast while most reef life grows a lot slower. It's an up hill battle of thinning out the 'seaweed' before it covers up the corals. I put some caulerpa in my reef tank back in the day and could never get it out. Some critters eat it sending little pieces around the tank that reattach and start new colonies. This was my experience with a few caulerpas. (Never had anything as cool as that Dragon's Breath, tho)

If you've ever had a hard time getting java moss out of a planted tank, some macro algaes can be 10x worse

Plenty of folks do it though, and keep it looking nice. Just Google "seaweed in saltwater tank"

KayakJimW said:

Biggest reason for me is that it grows so darn fast while most reef life grows a lot slower. It's an up hill battle of thinning out the 'seaweed' before it covers up the corals. I put some caulerpa in my reef tank back in the day and could never get it out. Some critters eat it sending little pieces around the tank that reattach and start new colonies. This was my experience with a few caulerpas. (Never had anything as cool as that Dragon's Breath, tho)

If you've ever had a hard time getting java moss out of a planted tank, some macro algaes can be 10x worse

Plenty of folks do it though, and keep it looking nice. Just Google "seaweed in saltwater tank"

Click to expand...

I think the biggest thing is to just carefully pick the "plants" that are being kept. Dragon's breath for example, is easily controlled. Caulerpa on the other hand is illegal in some states just due to how fast it can spread and take over an environment that it isn't supposed to be in.