This is where I was besides hiking in the redwoods:

About a 15ft wave:


I was so busy looking at algae I did not see the sea lions.







Enjoy, now think about how to recreate and grow these plants in our tanks......

regards,
Tom Barr

More,

wow!!!!! WOW!!! wow!!!

Tom,

Thanks for posting these... I'm somewhat short of obsessed with successfully keeping macros in my 125g, with limited success! I always like hearing about others' experiences, and seeing their photos of macros. I see some 'familiar faces' in those photos, and some that are clearly Pacific-coast only.



RAS

I know nothing of saltwater tanks. Why do I always see references to people growing macroalgae in their refugiums and not plants? Are marine plants not very interesting? Slow growers?

In my view, macro tanks (in particular coldwater ones), are the most fascinating marine tanks. I've keep various coldwater species (see signature), but I do find them particularly hard to keep, sometimes due to temperature, sometimes lighting. The Zostera I've kept (they look like freshwater Vallisneria) were relatively easy, but hard to obtain.

Others, like Chaetomorpha are easy enough to keep, but (IMO) are best suited to the refugium since they eventually tangle in everything!

I'm hoping to post some photos of my coldwater tank after the holidays, once I get my 'camera issues' in order.

RAS

Here's more from my area:

hi there

mabuhay!


i've been wanting to ask this, how do i collect macros and plants from the ocean? If i just cut a piece of a macro would that do? In the pictures some of the macros seems to grow out of the rocks, how do i take them out?

thanks for the info

Godbless

You'll have to be a little more specific in which ones... Some will never regenerate a holdfast if you just take them as cuttings. Your best bet is to throw your mask and snorkel on, and find small enough specimens that can be taken along with the rock that they are attached to (or chiseled away from, if possible).

So in short, you need to find whole, healthy specimens if you want to be succcessful. Taking specimens that wash up on shore, sometimes work, but they are often on their last legs ('sea-legs') and don't last too long.


Hopefully someone with advanced knowledge can comment on the collection of specimens for reproduction (gametophytes/sporophytes??).

Cheers,

RAS

As a follow-up to my last post, I've attached a jpg of a chunk of Chondrus crispus that I successfully 'transplanted' into my aquarium.

This particular specimen was growing on a bivalve lodged between some rocks, off the coast of Maine, in about 6' of water. I couldn't free the bivalve shell, so I broke off the piece that had the Chondrus attached (don't worry, no bivalves were killed in the process .

I used hot glue (flowing white blobs) to attach the fragment to a larger rock in my aquarium. I've darkened the photo to highlight the new growth at the base (lighter colored thalli).

I've been less successful with Ascophyllum nodosum, never being able to keep it more than 75 days or so, before it was all gone.


RAS