Marine Plants

[petey Z]

What kind of marine plant can go in my tank. i want something that uses nitrates and phosphates, so my nitrates wont build up. Also something nice looking. Maybe Chaeto or red magrove? Im not sure what i could have so, i came here to ask the experts.

its a 38 gal tank
1 compact flour. light (184 watts)

1 firefish
1 clown goby
1 sixline wrasse
and a clean up crew

also im going to get some chromis soon.

thanks

-pete

 

[Aquascaper]

There are several marine macro algaes available to the hobbyist, namely Botryocladia (Red Grape Kelp), Halimeda (Money Plant), Haliptilon (Red Smooth Kelp), Calpulera (Grape Algae), Chaetomorpha (Spaghetti Algae), Chlorodesmis (Maiden's Hair or Turtle Grass), Penicillus (Shaving Brush or Painter's Brush) & Udotea (Mermaid's Fan) to name a few. They are always Red or Green with some types being available in both colours and some being more readily available than others.
Mangroves are great nitrate suckers but do grow quite tall and will need careful pruning from time to time as well as an open top tank. They also send out large root structures and this can be a nuisance in an aquarium which is why most people plant them in their sump instead.

As yours is a Nano tank i'd stay away from mangroves but maybe look at some Udotea, Chlorodesmis & Penicillus with some Haliptilon to add a bit of red. It really depends on what you can get hold of and of course what you can grow (red algaes tend to be a bit harder to keep IME).

HTH