Should I Toss My Caulerpa?

[woody189]

I've been cycling my tank (it's basically done now), and I went to some guy's house to buy some LR, and I got a handful of Chaeto and a few strands of Caulerpa. I believe the 2 types I have are Racemosa and Prolifera. When I bought it, I didn't know about the few horror stories about Caulerpa. It's currently being kept in my 10 Gallon Sump. I have a 46 Gallon tank that will be a reef at some point.
I noticed a few days after purchasing it that a leaf of the Prolifera was turning clear. I assumed it was due to lack of lighting so I began moving the bunch of Macros around once or twice a day so they all get adequate lighting. I now realized that I should have taken that piece out since it was dying and a sign of possible it possibly going sexual. I tried to find that clear piece today, but I don't see it (2 weeks since I first spotted it). The algae itself isn't really moving around, but the water is flowing at a decent pace between sump and DT.
I was wondering what I should do. I like the idea of having different algaes in the sump, and I really like the fact that I can feed my fish some of the algae that I'm growing. I would also like some input on whether it would be safe to feed my fish some Grape Caulerpa without "infecting" my DT.
I understand that I need to keep the algaes maintained by trimming, but there are a lot of mixed opinions on trimming procedure/lighting/risk/etc.
I was thinking I would just trim it down a bit every 2 weeks. I would do so by simply cutting and discarding 1/2 or 2/3 of each Caulerpa plant. I would cut it from the main stem and discard any leaves/grapes attached. In between trimmings, i would discard any loose pieces that aren't attached to a main stem. (I understand that it is best to freeze it before discarding to avoid hurting the environment). I keep my light on about 16 hours a day. No set schedule, but it's on unless I'm sleeping. I have a 6500K bulb.
Any thoughts? Should I just get rid of it?

 

[btldreef]

I keep Racemosa, Serrulata, two different types of grape and Prolifera as well as Chaeto and a bunch of red macros. I've had the grape go sexual on me, and NOTHING HAPPENED. My corals were fine, my fish were fine. I did a water change, changed my carbon and moved on. If you're on top of your tank, it's really not as horrendous as people make it out to be.
Prolifera strands do go clear from time to time. If it's just one strand, it's not going sexual, it's when a whole bunch goes clear all at once that there is an issue.
Grape caulerpa is definitely the one to watch. I've found that if I break apart the longer strands and replant them, when one spot starts to go sexual, it doesn't effect the other plant.
Caulerpas need to be harvested often. As long as you harvest, and keep good lighting schedules, you should be fine. My refugium is on 12 hours opposite my DT. I do not run a 24 hour refugium light. I have a heavy bio load so I have to harvest my caulerpa weekly. The serrulata is the biggest culprit and on occasion I've had to harvest it more than once in a weeks span. My refugium is a 55G, so I've since put a baby Foxface in there to help keep the caulerpas under control, specifically the serrulata, which it seems to really like. Once he's a little bigger, he'll be placed in my 180, but at the size he is right now, my tangs will harass him too much.
I'm not afraid of caulerpas (obviously) and think they're EXCELLENT at removing nutrients from the water. They just need maintenance, like any other part of the aquarium. If you're observant, you should be fine. You'll notice it start to loose color and get mushy (especially grape caulerpa, it turns to slime). If a large chunk is loosing color, it's time to do a major harvest (and I also recommend a water and carbon change just to be safe it it's gotten to that point).

 

[woody189]

Quote:
Originally Posted by BTLDreef http:///t/392112/should-i-toss-my-caulerpa#post_3480096
I keep Racemosa, Serrulata, two different types of grape and Prolifera as well as Chaeto and a bunch of red macros. I've had the grape go sexual on me, and NOTHING HAPPENED. My corals were fine, my fish were fine. I did a water change, changed my carbon and moved on. If you're on top of your tank, it's really not as horrendous as people make it out to be.
Prolifera strands do go clear from time to time. If it's just one strand, it's not going sexual, it's when a whole bunch goes clear all at once that there is an issue.
Grape caulerpa is definitely the one to watch. I've found that if I break apart the longer strands and replant them, when one spot starts to go sexual, it doesn't effect the other plant.
Caulerpas need to be harvested often. As long as you harvest, and keep good lighting schedules, you should be fine. My refugium is on 12 hours opposite my DT. I do not run a 24 hour refugium light. I have a heavy bio load so I have to harvest my caulerpa weekly. The serrulata is the biggest culprit and on occasion I've had to harvest it more than once in a weeks span. My refugium is a 55G, so I've since put a baby Foxface in there to help keep the caulerpas under control, specifically the serrulata, which it seems to really like. Once he's a little bigger, he'll be placed in my 180, but at the size he is right now, my tangs will harass him too much.
I'm not afraid of caulerpas (obviously) and think they're EXCELLENT at removing nutrients from the water. They just need maintenance, like any other part of the aquarium. If you're observant, you should be fine. You'll notice it start to loose color and get mushy (especially grape caulerpa, it turns to slime). If a large chunk is loosing color, it's time to do a major harvest (and I also recommend a water and carbon change just to be safe it it's gotten to that point).
Thanks for the details. I think I will keep them. I'll probably keep them trimmed very short, especially since I have a tiny refugium (small portion of my 10 gal sump).
What do you mean by replanting your caulerpa? I just have them floating in my refugium on top of some LR.
Also, do you drop some into your display tank for your fishies to eat? Or do you fear an outbreak in the DT?

 

[flower]

I have never seen prolifera cause a problem...I have been afraid of the grape and feather caulerpa from the start, from hearing horror stories. I have had Cheato fall apart (a version of going sexual) and clogging up the filters and be everywhere making a mess. I will never use cheato in my tank again.

 

[woody189]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Flower http:///t/392112/should-i-toss-my-caulerpa#post_3480107
I have never seen prolifera cause a problem...I have been afraid of the grape and feather caulerpa from the start, from hearing horror stories. I have had Cheato fall apart (a version of going sexual) and clogging up the filters and be everywhere making a mess. I will never use cheato in my tank again.
In my sump, I put a piece of eggcrate with some window screen (Haven't verified that the screen is safe, but haven't had any problems thus far). I put it against the left side so he didn't hop into the return area. As you can see, it does a great job of blocking any Chaeto or anything else large from getting through. It even blocked some food flakes that are real small (I'm ghost feeding) I've never had piece of Chaeto flow into my DT.
I put some pics so you can see exactly what I mean. It seems to work well. just a thought

 

[btldreef]

Thanks for the details.  I think I will keep them. I'll probably keep them trimmed very short, especially since I have a tiny refugium (small portion of my 10 gal sump). 
What do you mean by replanting your caulerpa? I just have them floating in my refugium on top of some LR. 
Also, do you drop some into your display tank for your fishies to eat? Or do you fear an outbreak in the DT?
The caulerpa serrulata likes to be rooted on stuff, that's the one I replant. Grape caulerpa will root as well, but doesn't need to be.
I do feed my fish the macros. My coral beauty loves the grape caulerpa and my Foxface eats all of it. The tangs don't really go after any of the green macros, but if I drop gracilaria in the tank, they go nuts. I'm not afraid of an outbreak in the DT because my Foxface is a pig and I feed the caulerpa sparingly.

 

[woody189]

Sorry, but I'm not sure what rooting is. Is it just embedding part of the main stem into the sandbed?
I don't have any sand in my sump, only LR. You can see how I have the macros in my sump by looking at the pic I posted above. Will that not work?

 

[btldreef]

The serrulata and grape attach and "root" to just about anything. I do have sand, so I do replant strands into the sand. But I've put it on live rock and allowed it to attach and grow a new strand.
The prolifera really needs to be planted. Watch to see it attach to the rock, if it doesn't, it will most likely just melt away and die. The grape caulerpa will probably choke it out anyways as it grows much faster. Same can be said about racemosa, it can be invasive, so it will probably choke out the weaker macros. You're just going to have to watch it at first and see how each macro grows.

 

[saxman]

Good info...just a final word on harvesting your Caulerpa:
Be sure to freeze any unused prunings for 24 hrs prior to disposing of them. This will kill the cells. Just stick it in a plastic bag and toss it into the freezer.

 

[sweatervest13]

Great info!!
So the biggest thing to look for is it going clear or melting away??
BTLD, when you say as long as you keep a good light schedule and harvest regularly you should be fine. What is a good light schedule? And what is regular harvesting (weekly)??

 

[btldreef]

Quote:
Originally Posted by sweatervest13 http:///t/392112/should-i-toss-my-caulerpa#post_3480161
Great info!!
So the biggest thing to look for is it going clear or melting away??
BTLD, when you say as long as you keep a good light schedule and harvest regularly you should be fine. What is a good light schedule? And what is regular harvesting (weekly)??
I've found the best results with a 12 hour light schedule. Any less was an issue, and any more just really made it grow out of control.
Regular harvesting is really dependent on how fast it's growing in your system, which is usually how nutrient rich your system is. I feed heavy and have a lot of fish, especially herbivores/omnivores which tend to produce more waste, so my plants love my tank and just soak up all the excessive nutrients. I have to harvest my Serrulata twice a week. I probably could get away with doing it less, but it's VERY invasive and if I don't stay on top of it, it will over take my other macros. I have a display refugium with all sorts of red and pink macros, that I don't want to loose because they're getting choked out. The grape and chaeto has to be harvested weekly. The chaeto really doesn't have to be, but it's ugly and I keep the clump on the smaller side. The grape is the one I have the most issues with going sexual on me, especially if the strands start to get very long, so if I don't harvest, I have to at least break up the strands and replant in a seperate area. My coral beauty loves grape caulerpa, so I usually just toss it in the tank. Lately I've been "harvesting" daily and feeding it directly to the fish. I harvest my prolifera once a month, but same thing, cut strands and replant about every other week. I never harvest my halimeda, but it doesn't grow well for me either, I usually loose it. I've yet to get a good plant of it with a good root structure to start with.
The red macros barely get harvested because they grow much slower in my system. I've never harvested the flame algae. My fish love the gracilaria, but it grows so slowly that I can't offer them that much, that often. It's used as a treat. I also feed algae sheets, so all the macros are really treats.
I recently added the baby foxface to my refugium, and he is really helping with keeping the macros under control. I want him to eat the serrulata, which is the majority of what he's eating. While he's in there, I had to remove all my red macros to a different tank, or he'd go straight for them.
Before I had the foxface in the DT, I did keep an eye on any of the macros that I tossed in there to make sure they were actually being eaten. Whatever wasn't eaten after a few hours I pulled out.

 

[btldreef]

And with the caulerpas, when they start going sexual, they'll turn white, then clear, and then literally start to melt. The grape species get really mushy. It's gross. For me, it is very obvious to see when it's going to go on me and I just rip out as much as I can, do a water change and change the carbon. It's never done any harm to my tank. I think there's a lot of over hype about macros going sexual and destroying tanks. I have fragile SPS species that went through it and came out no worse for wear.

 

[woody189]

Quote:
Originally Posted by saxman http:///t/392112/should-i-toss-my-caulerpa#post_3480154
Good info...just a final word on harvesting your Caulerpa:
Be sure to freeze any unused prunings for 24 hrs prior to disposing of them. This will kill the cells. Just stick it in a plastic bag and toss it into the freezer.
Thanks. i read that also.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BTLDreef http:///t/392112/should-i-toss-my-caulerpa#post_3480146
The serrulata and grape attach and "root" to just about anything. I do have sand, so I do replant strands into the sand. But I've put it on live rock and allowed it to attach and grow a new strand.
The prolifera really needs to be planted. Watch to see it attach to the rock, if it doesn't, it will most likely just melt away and die. The grape caulerpa will probably choke it out anyways as it grows much faster. Same can be said about racemosa, it can be invasive, so it will probably choke out the weaker macros. You're just going to have to watch it at first and see how each macro grows.
Ok, I understand now. I'll probably just leave them how they are. If the Prolifera begins to die since it's not rooted,, i'll just throw it out. I'll keep an eye on everything.