Macro Clippings

[EmilyB]

Is it just me, or how do you root these things? Aside from chaeto...

I seem to get some red or green clippings that do nothing but release all the previous owners nitrates or whatever and go white...within a day

I have tried several times with many kinds of algae...what am I missing?

[Keri]

Weird. I usually just rip'n wedge lol.... (ie: rip from one tank and wedge into the rocks from another.) Ocassionally some will white out and die but more often than not it works....whereas if left to float they almost always die on me.

[Marlin65]

I put mine under the rocks a bit as well seems ok so far. Maybe they don't have enough food?

[EmilyB]

I don't think it's a food issue, as I only just get them into the tank and they start going white.

I've struggled with a few bits and pieces, but can't see how they actually root.

[Marlin65]

What kind of light do you have them under?
When I had mine under fluorescents they did really well. I now have them under 14,000K MH and they definitely don't grow as fast as they were.
Algae like it around 5,500K for best growth.
I have some red algae and it just kind of holds its own and will not root.
It is not dieing though just kind of holding its own.

[Delphinus]

I suspect that to actually take a holdfast to substrate, most macros need to settle onto the substrate as a spore. Thus, usually the "rip-n-wedge" technique is probably all we really have to work with. Just a guess on my part. I've never had a macro "take hold" per se, although if it didn't die then it new pieces would start up nearby kind of thing.