Caulerpa Algae

0verfl0w

0verfl0w

Member
DT
65gal
43lbs LR
55lbs LS
Refugium
-5lbs LS bed
10lbs mud
I put all this stuff in yesterday and I don't have any water parameters yet. I'm gonna take a water sample to the LFS today so I'll post the results later. When do I put in my Caulerpa? Am I supposed to wait till a certain point in my cycle etc?
 
0verfl0w

0verfl0w

Member
Originally Posted by snailheave
you can put it in right away.
i recommend against caulerpa for your macroalgae need though.
There seems to be a lot of people that don't like Caulerpa. What can I use as an alternative?
 
0verfl0w

0verfl0w

Member
Thanks Snail. I'll definately look into that. The LFS gave me some Caulerpa for free already so I kinda have to take it. Would there be anything wrong with having both algaes growing in the same refugium?
 
snailheave

snailheave

Active Member
no they can coexist just fine. in fact, i did the same thing. i ended up taking out or attempting to take out the caulerpa's i had for reasons you probably already know. i still cannot uproot the caulerpa pieces to this date.
 
reefnut

reefnut

Active Member
Second the chaeto... it grows great under good lighting and has little chance of going sexual.
 
0verfl0w

0verfl0w

Member
Originally Posted by ReefNut
Second the chaeto... it grows great under good lighting and has little chance of going sexual.

What the hell does going sexual mean? Am I gonna open the door to my stand one day and find my algae doing naughty things?
 
murph

murph

Active Member
IMO it has its up side to. It grows very quickly using nutrients that much more quickly than cheato. The marine biologist told me keep it trimmed and lit for at least 14 hours a day and there should be no problems.
The lights on my fuge are on a timer and come on at 6AM. Time to get up and get ready for work. They go off at 10PM time to start thinking about getting some sleep. Works out perfect.
 
reefnut

reefnut

Active Member
Murph, how long has it been running?? Just curious but why the infuses to a marine biologist?? I would trust an experienced hobbyist as much or more than someone with just a degree in marine biology, unless they were also a experienced hobbyist. I agree with you/him though... normally it can be avoided but with cheato the risk is slim to none. IME cheato grows just as fast as caulerpa... it just needs a little more lighting to do so.
0verfl0w, when caulerpa goes sexual it releases thousands or spores and literally turns to mush, releasing all of the stored nutrients back into the water.
 
smoney

smoney

Active Member
I got some caulerpa that was in a good system, do you think I could put some chaeto in there with it?
 
mudplayerx

mudplayerx

Active Member
My opinion is that caulerpa racemosa is the best macro for nitrate removal. Nothing grows as fast and in the 6 or so months that I had it in my tank, it never sporulated. The trick is to trim the translucent parts....which needs to be done for nitrate removal anyways.
I got rid of the stuff because it grew TOO quickly. It was like a monster in my main tank... however in a fuge it would rock.
 
murph

murph

Active Member
The marine biologist I spoke of is one of the LFS owners in my area and yes he is actually a marine biologist. He is rarely in the store but happened to be there the day I was looking at some macros to add to my tank. I was actually speaking to one of his employees that I asked specifically about calurpa going sexual and the owner overheard the conversation and gave me the above advise.
He seems to be practicing what he preaches also. His invert section is where he keeps his macros including large amounts of calurpa and I know for a fact that lighting is limited to business hours and all tanks share the same water volume and filtration.
 
0verfl0w

0verfl0w

Member
As promised, water params are as follows...
pH.....8.0
ALK...2.0
Ca....350
Phosphate...0
Nitrite....0.2
Nitrate...2.5
Ammonia...0.25
Salinity.....1.024
The girl at the LFS sold me some stuff called Liquid marine buffer. It claims to safely raise and maintain pH at 8.3. Is this stuff any good?
 
snailheave

snailheave

Active Member
was the girl at the store cute? if she was, listen to her...
anyhow, i like chaeto for its low maintenance. i have 13 fish + corals + inverts in an 80g. i feed once a day and i no doubt overfeed sometimes on purpose making sure the shrimps, etc get food. i do a 5% water change once a month or a couple months. i rinse the mechanical filtration foams 2-3 times a week. my nitrate stays below 15. i don't know how you get 2.5 for your nitrate, must be different unit.
 
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