How long can Plants like Caulerpa Survive in a Refuguim without sunlight ?

ivasawajin

ivasawajin

Member
i have red slime in my ref and its geeting wrose everyday , and my PO4 is close to 0 . and it has medium water movment but the red still grow all over the walls and plants everyday , i turn the lights on 12 hours at night . i want to kill the red slime from light starvation but how long will the PLANTS survive ?plz help
 
aquaknight

aquaknight

Active Member
Long enough for some of the slime to die off, but not long enough to wipe it completely out. And it will just return. Your PO4 is showing near 0 because of the red slime (and to a lesser extent the caulerpa). Without the nesiance slime algae, your tank inhabitants would be exposed to elevated PO4, not a good thing. I would start tracing to see where any possible PO4 is being added to your tank; top-off water, thawed fish food water added during feeding, etc. Start cutting back the lighting period on fuge. Down to 10, then 8, then 6. Replace the fuge light if its older.
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
Aquaknight gave you some excellent advice.
To answer your question in terms of how long, 3 days max, depending on the species. Keep in mind that when the light period for caulerpa is altered (especially when shortened), it runs a higher risk of going sexual. I do not like running the light on caulerpa for anything less than 12 hours, so be very careful about cutting back the time.
Even if you kill the red slime, it's going to come back if you don't find the cause, so that's where I would focus the most concern.
 
1guydude

1guydude

Well-Known Member
hey question....sry.....when chalupra goes sexual does that mean it spawns spores? I think ive got some growing in my DT!
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1guyDude http:///forum/thread/386786/how-long-can-plants-like-caulerpa-survive-in-a-refuguim-without-sunlight#post_3399180
hey question....sry.....when chalupra goes sexual does that mean it spawns spores? I think ive got some growing in my DT!
Yes, but it also releases a ton of CO2 and can crash a tank. If it went sexual on you, especially in your size tank 1guy, you'd know it immediately.
You probably had some pieces just get loose and make their way into the main tank.
 
S

saxman

Guest
AK and Tommie Lynn made good points.
IME, just because Caulerpa goes sexual doesn't mean your tank will crash. We let one of our setups go south on purpose "just to see what happens", and yes, it turned the water cloudy, but nothing in the tank died (this was a small tank). A WC and some carbon made it good as new. What you DO need to consider is if you have a healthy amount of the stuff, and all of a sudden it's gone, you've lost a HUGE part of your biofiltration, and any algae issues will be magnified (this also covers manual removal of large growths).
The reason macro goes sexual is a last ditch effort to survive when conditions become severe, such as abrupt temp changes, big swings in water chemistry, over-pruning, being thrown into the dark suddenly (most do OK as long as the tank gets ambient light, but if you mask the tank off for any appreciable amount of time, you could end up with a problem). The macro becomes whitish/and will typically have dark green spots on it (the gametes). If left unchecked, the macro dies and releases the gametes into the water to colonize elsewhere.
Hopefully, the links for these pics will work:
Nuked Tank (it was an 18T):
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll73/hixphotobucket/macros/opps.jpg
C. racemosa...normal vs. "about to blow":
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll73/hixphotobucket/macros/macrosexual.jpg
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator

thanks for the info , i heard "Life Spectrum" pellet foods has alot of PO4 , is that true ????
Yes, almost any pellet and flake food is loaded with phosphate. They're also usually not very nutritious for your fish. Stop feeding pellet, and add a phosphate remover should help.
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
Quote:
Originally Posted by IvasawaJin http:///forum/thread/386786/how-long-can-plants-like-caulerpa-survive-in-a-refuguim-without-sunlight#post_3399336
thanks for the info , i heard "Life Spectrum" pellet foods has alot of PO4 , is that true ????
All fish food is loaded with Phosphate. It's a major element of any nutritious food.
The issue with flaked food is that a LOT of nutrition is leeched into the water long before any fish have a chance to eat it. Feed something meaty like silversides or Mysis Shrimp. Something that doesn't dissolve in water.
 
ivasawajin

ivasawajin

Member
yes and yes , i have a WAY too many fish but all of them are healthy and fine but its hard to keep up , no casualties from 7 months outa 8 months .230 gallons and 42 fish i think . whats wrong woth adding iron ? isnt it good for plants?>
 
S

saxman

Guest
If you're adding Fe, are you testing for Fe?
One of the cardinal rules of the hobby is "Don't dose anything you don't test for."
Also, to go a step further on the frozen foods: Be sure to rinse them under the tap before feeding them out. The "juice" is full of all kinds of things best left out of your tank.
 
1guydude

1guydude

Well-Known Member
i dont rinse in tap but put it in a cup with my RO....pour it through the net and than rinse it again from the net back into the cup with RO....just my .02
 
ivasawajin

ivasawajin

Member
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
Quote:
Originally Posted by IvasawaJin http:///forum/thread/386786/how-long-can-plants-like-caulerpa-survive-in-a-refuguim-without-sunlight#post_3399946
Fe ??? you mean Iron ?
Yes
Quote:
Originally Posted by IvasawaJin http:///forum/thread/386786/how-long-can-plants-like-caulerpa-survive-in-a-refuguim-without-sunlight#post_3399619
yes and yes , i have a WAY too many fish but all of them are healthy and fine but its hard to keep up , no casualties from 7 months outa 8 months .230 gallons and 42 fish i think . whats wrong woth adding iron ? isnt it good for plants?>
They're not going to remain healthy forever, and you're truly doing your fish a injustice by keeping all of them in there. It's obvious that you're having water quality issues if you have algae issues such as these, it's going to end in disaster.
 
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