caulerpa turning white

[orby]

I have had a large refugium holding alot of caulerpa that I have grown and trimmed back for the last year with no problems. Latley small sections will turn completely white and die off while the rest flurishes. I have recently upgraded to a RO/DI also for better water quality, and the phos and Nitrate have gone down considerably, but the nuisance green and red algae still persists. any thoughts?

 

[skimmedout]

I just started a very small refugium and some small sections of my cauerpa have also turned white and sorta mossy. Should I be removing the white stuff or just leave it alone?

 

[got krabs]

remove it: I had been told to remove right away that in its decay process it will do the same as decaying fish. as soon as you see it turning white pinch off the dieing branches.

 

[burnnspy]

When you purified your water supply you also removed a source of nutrients for the Macro algae, so it dies-off to a new equalibrium.
When Calerpa turns white it is dead and causes nitrates to leech back into the tank that is why the other algae is present.
For a refugium to work it must be cropped frequently to prevent nitrate leeching by dieing algae.
I do not like refugiums that are used to control nitrate levels, because if something goes wrong then the main tank will have a sudden high nitrate problem. A DSB is much better IMHO.
Setting up a tank as a refugium is a different story because they usually contain very few if any fish and have very low nutrient production.
BurnNSpy

 

[johnnysalt]

Hey guys....
How long did it take for your nitrates to go down? Mine are very high....like 100 at last test! Just got my diy sump with separate refugium section going yesterday....take a look at my diagram, link in my profile. I hope things are better in a month or so.

 

[burnnspy]

I recommend a large water change very soon.
BurnNSpy