Nutrients & Algae

A complete guide to macroalgae for the reef tank and refugium — chaeto, gracilaria, caulerpa, mermaid’s shaving brush and more — what each does, the pods that come with it, and fresh live macroalgae from the Florida Keys.

Skip the guesswork. Our Clean Up Crew Calculator takes your tank size and what the algae is actually doing, then builds the crew from what is in our systems today with live prices. If the right answer is to buy nothing yet, it says that too. Almost every reef tank goes through an algae phase…

Nitrate and phosphate get a bad reputation, but they aren’t waste to be eliminated — they’re the nitrogen and phosphorus every coral and every strand of algae in your tank needs to grow. The goal was never zero. It’s holding both nutrients in a range that suits what you’re keeping, and then holding that range…

Feeding is the single most repeated task in reef keeping, and it’s also the biggest lever you have over both coral growth and water quality — for better or worse. A tank that’s fed well grows fast, colors up, and stays stable. A tank that’s fed carelessly ends up fighting algae, cyano, and swinging nitrate…