Some Awsome Macro

[Donya]

Big picture, sorry:

Of course when I asked for a "handful" portion like the store usually gives out to people, they gave me about 10 times that amount so I've got lots of this stuff now lol. I've been identified as the person who buys oddballs I guess...The regular feathery Caulerpa isn't actually that pale BTW; I'm not sure why it came out in the photo like that.

The noduled Caulerpa isn't regular grape Caulerpa...anyone know what it is or seen it before? I can't even find a common name for it.

 

[Donya]

Hmm...if the one in the picture I took is C. racemosa, then the other stuff I have (not pictured) is not C. racemosa (thought it was) The branching patterns on the 2 types I have are consistently dare diifferent enough it would seem odd if they were the same, but maybe...

 

[ostrow]

Be sure to light that stuff 24/7 or you will have problems.

 

[bunjiweb]

We run a seahorse tank at work with about 8 or 10 species of macro algae in it. The tank is lit from 9am - 7am and the only die off that has ever occured is when someone does a fresh water top-off too quickly .

Nice pictures though! Any inverts or fish in the tank?

Ben

 

[ostrow]

I'll bet it is not THAT macroalgae. If you don't run caulerpa 24/7, it will "go sexual" as the hobby lingo has it, and will pollute the tank water to toxic levels.

 

[Opcn]

Its some species of Caulerpa, not the typical grape though, also Caulerpa can go sexual under 24/7 lighting aswell, it seems the two cues it responds most redily to to go sexual are photoperiod and low nutrient water.

 

[ostrow]

You are right there. It will happen. But the 24/7 will delay it quite a while, make it much, much less frequent.

I'm with the "keep the caulerpa out of your reef tank" folk.

 

[Donya]

Gotta say, I've only been able to induce my Caulerpa species into doing bad stuff under reaaally bad conditions. If those ever happened in my tank, stuff would be dead long before the Caulerpa had a chance to make a mess of things (speaking of inverts here). Perhaps different species react differently.

Nice pictures though! Any inverts or fish in the tank?

Snails of course I got the most awsome snail thrown in with that macro too...some relative of Astraeas, most likely Australium (calcar I think).

Oh the fuzzy photo horror

 

[Fish Fingers]

If you don't run caulerpa 24/7, it will "go sexual" as the hobby lingo has it, and will pollute the tank water to toxic levels.

This is not true. Numerous reefers have kept caulerpra under normal lighting hours (10-14 hours a day) with no problems (myself included). As said before, I've only experienced die off in my taxifolia when I topped the water up to quickly. Sadly for aussies caulerpra is the only macroalgae we get, but I've heard of way more success stories than disasterous ones. The best macroalgae you can probably get is cheato.

 

[steelhealr]

I would NEVER put caulerpa in my tank. Look into shaving brush. SH

 

[Donya]

I agree that Chaeto is great in some respects, but there are a couple problems I've found with it:

- It will "strangle" other macros if given the opportunity. I had this trouble for quite a while in my pico until I cut the Chaeto balls back to the point where the rest of the macro could hog the light.

- It has a knack for breaking off little pieces and getting stuck on filter guards

- Doesn't provide the right habitat for some animals

- My big Strombus conch ate it like noodles when I was trying to cultivate it...

This is why I don't like Chaeto much in a pico/nano...clogged my filter guards, tried to kill my other macro, and then most of it got eaten lol. I would definitely put it in a sump if I had one, but it would seem kind of pointless to have a sump on a planted small tank...

One other thing to consider with other macro species is that you'll need to watch out what cleanup crew you add or have. I almost baught some beautiful (and somewhat pricey) macro a while back, but found out that my snails would have demolished it immediately. I think it was even an ingredient in a food the snails used to eat. Make sure you research which macros are considered tastey by your cleanup species so you don't buy an expensive snack. I don't know much about shaving brush, but I know my LFS never lets any large snails in with it when they have the stuff in stock.

BTW I have never had to light my pico 24/7. It's roughtly 12-14 hours of light each day and the Caulerpa is doing great. I know some don't like it, but it seems to me that proper care, precautions, and the right species is probably the main issue; Caulerpa macros shouldn't be written off completely. They warrent caution, but so do plenty of other things in the marine world.

 

[bunjiweb]

In the wild, would any species of macro algae recieve 24 hours of sunlight? I guess the answer is no, so why should we be providing it with 24 hours of light in a fish tank?

We have both types of the "grape" algae, flat head and round, the feather caulerpa, chaeto, halimeda of those i can remember. I will take a pic at some point.

The only way I would set up a pico with caulerpa is a bowl or small tank with frequent small water change and shrimp of some minute sorts. Caulerpas photosynthesise and produce oxygen, but can also raise the pH, although not to any abnormal levels.

Ben

 

[Opcn]

In the wild do corals recieve the same photoperiod everyday and have the same moonlight intensity every night? no, but it does keep them alright and its a simple way to keep them from spawning and crashing out your tank.

 

[Donya]

I was out of town for a while but I just wanted to say that the nice grape-ish Caulerpa I posted a picture of is not conch compatable. The conch fell on it and squashed it--although not beyond a recoverable state, and then ate it. So, it was nice while it lasted... the other gigantic feather stuff is still going great though.

(edited for typos)

 

[Mr Miagi]

It looked like it was bleaching out anyways. Glad the other stuff is still there.
My crabs polish off my macro, my stuff is all gone like yours now....