KIHEI, Maui — A "Super Sucker" pump was put to work at Waipu'ilani Beach Park last week as part of a seaweed-removal feasibility study conducted by the county, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources and the University of Hawai'i's Botany Department.

The pump, equipped with a pipe 6 inches in diameter, can process 300 gallons to 400 gallons of seawater per minute without displacing sand and coral. A larger version built on a barge was used in Kane'ohe Bay in 2006.

The results of the three-day Maui study, conducted with the assistance of volunteers, will help officials decide whether to proceed with a $600,000, two-year algae-removal project targeting Hypnea musiformis, a fast-growing, red, stringy seaweed, and other species.

Seaweed collected during the study was transported to a Kihei farm for composting and to the Maui Nui Botanical Garden.

Funding for the study came from a $10,000 county environmental response grant to Tri-Isle Resource Conservation and Development.

The Maui Sunset Condo Association has been funding an algae-cleanup effort at Waipu'ilani that involves pushing the seaweed into piles higher on shore, and spreading it back on the beach once it has decomposed.

However, nutrients from rotting seaweed and land-based chemicals, such as fertilizer, get carried back into the sea, feeding new algae growths.

"If we can take the algae off the beach, we break the cycle," said Brian Parscal of the UH Botany Department.