Caulerpa?

[56jman]

Might be adding a HOB refugium to my 29g and was wondering if I should do caulerpa. Prob Grape or Prolifica. I know LLj and Donya have faced them going sexual but how to combat this or just use cheato instead?

 

[jeasko]

Was purely this reason that I went for cheato instead, as far as I could work out there was no great difference between the 2.

From what I understand there is nothing you can do to stop it going asexual but TBH its not my strongest subject so would be good to hear from someone else that can confirm or correct me.

 

[lljdma06]

Caulerpa prolifera does have issues with going sexual... Ways to prevent this...

1. regular pruning and thinning
2. Some recommend a 24 hour photo period. I, however, do not and there are other bits of information that back me up. The rational behind the 24 hour period is that the plant can then never have the period of rest from photosynthesizing and this affects other functions as well, including going sexual. Subsequent research has found that if you have a long photo period, say 18 hours, but also give the macro a shorter period of rest, you'll achieve the same effect and get better growth. Imagine if you had to eat 24 hours a day with no rest, eventually, you don't function as affectively.
3. Some say iron dosing suppresses sexual events, I've never tried this.
4. Surface agitation doesn't prevent it from going sexual, but when there is heavy gas exchange at the surface and heavy agitation, the film that develops from macro going sexual doesn't form and it makes the episode easier for fish and inverts to go through. My Halimeda going sexual wasn't a bad thing. It's happened to me before. What happened was that the power head in charge of surface movement decided to fail right when it went sexual, resulting in a macro bomb. Now I have two power heads in charge of surface movement. Donya will clear up any science stuff. I stink at science, I only am able to explain things so that five year olds understand.

Now, Caulerpa prolifera did not go sexual in my biotope reef. It was, in fact, the Halimeda. Caulerpa has a bad rap, but if you're not willing to be on top of it, and it takes work to be on top of it, go for chaetomorpha instead. Macro algae going sexual is messy, messy, messy and while heavy surface agitation can prevent losses, it's still rather gross. Cheatomorpha has a very low occurrence of this. Just get chaeto. That's my recommendation. Hobbyists have it all the time to send, it ships extremely well, and you'd really have to be a moron to mess up with this stuff. LOLOL I'm a moron, there's a reason why chaeto is in all of my fuges.

I have chaeto regularly. Once I supply my LFS and Tyler, I can slap you on the list for chaeto once it grows again. I've got 4 working fuges, it doesn't take long.

L

 

[ainsy]

I agree with LLJ

Chaeto is great

 

[56jman]

Thanks LLJ! You're so generous

I will tell you when the fuge is up and running. It may be an aquaclear 70/110 or a true HOB fuge. Also maybe in-tank from Dr. F+S. How does that work LLJ? Is it built well? Big eye-sore?

Thanks everyone I just heard about 3 things with caulerpa, it grows faster, goes sexual , and anchors itself in the substrate. I like that it does that cause the cheato I previously had in my DT wouldn't stay put and bits got everywhere and looked terrible. Also, last question, would the flow in an AC 70/110 be to high for a refugium?

Thanks everyone!

 

[ainsy]

Chaeto can have a habit of doing that which is kind of annoying!

You could try putting it in a mesh bag or even a small 'in tank' type fuge.

 

[Donya]

Cheatomorpha has a very low occurrence of this.

I woke up a couple days back to an opaque green tank that didn't have any Caulerpa in it and was too tired to figure it out (phyto bloom came to mind), so I just left it to clear on its own since there is plenty of surface chopping throwing salt all over the place with that tank. When it cleared, I saw a bunch of hermits munching on clear, deflated noodles that used to be Chaeto lol. I have no idea what the trigger was; I've seen no pattern with the stuff, but it may also be too infrequent for an obvious pattern to emerge. Just to give an idea of the rate of occurrence I've seen, it's happen for me 5 times or so in just under 7 years spread over ~15 different systems. If I did my math right, that comes out to a little less than a 5% chance per year for a given system.

 

[56jman]

Thanks for clearing it up with science. I am great at science and math but am just in 8th grade

 

[lljdma06]

Cheatomorpha has a very low occurrence of this.

I woke up a couple days back to an opaque green tank that didn't have any Caulerpa in it and was too tired to figure it out (phyto bloom came to mind), so I just left it to clear on its own since there is plenty of surface chopping throwing salt all over the place with that tank. When it cleared, I saw a bunch of hermits munching on clear, deflated noodles that used to be Chaeto lol. I have no idea what the trigger was; I've seen no pattern with the stuff, but it may also be too infrequent for an obvious pattern to emerge. Just to give an idea of the rate of occurrence I've seen, it's happen for me 5 times or so in just under 7 years spread over ~15 different systems. If I did my math right, that comes out to a little less than a 5% chance per year for a given system.

So, what you're trying to say is...

Cheatomorpha has a very low occurrence of this.

 

[56jman]

 

[crazyforcordoras]

For the fuge, definately do the aquaclear 110. I am doing one myself.(in fact,i have to finish it)