smokin grape caulerpa - Quick question

[furyclown]

I noticed my tank was a little cloudy this morning and upon looking closer I noticed that my grape caulerpa is much lighter in color and sending up smoke plums. I don't have much in my tank. Is this something I should take care of before leaving for work?

 

[Anonymous]

Your caulerpa is going sexual

If there is a small amount of caulerpa and a large volume of water... it should not be a problem... if it is the other way around... you may want to harvest some before you leave.

 

[furyclown]

Thank you.

I don't have much and the tank is already clearer than before. Does it die after it goes sexual?

 

[SteveP]

Going sexual means it dissolves to release spores, so yes it does die, but only the "main" body of the macro.

Steve
8{I

 

[suckair]

Whem my grape tanks are on 24 hour cycles the grape rarley goes sexual.. but the 12hr cycle tanks do.

I have noticed that the grape spewes right after the lights come on. You can tell it is going to do it by loking closley. It won't be a solid green as usual but apear clear and blotchy. The form will be solid but dark green blotches and streaks will be all over the plant. Shortly after the lights come on.. 1-5 minutes it starts to spew.. and when one starts they all do it. "the ones that have that clear splotchy look".

I have heard of people having tank crashes due to this phenomon but I have not. Once it was so bad you could not see the back of the tank!

By tne next morning it was all clear. I am sure the clam got a belly full!

Randall

 

[danmhippo]

I tried to avoid the problem of caulerpa going sexual by keeping them in the sump and refugium only and with 24Hr lighting. I used to have the same problem with the ones in the main tank. I then removed them all to the sump w/ 24/7 lighting, and haven't experienced the problem since.

 

[HARRISON]

Interesting topic. I have grape in my rufugium/sump and have been pondering whether or not to keep it lit 24/7 or just on the same cycle as the main lights which is what I am doing now.

This brings up another question. If the PH is supposed to drop when the lights are off thus meaning it is lower in the morning, does this mean that if you run a 24/7 light on the refugium that the PG will stay higher?

Just a question that came up...

 

[danmhippo]

Never bother to find out, but I think "in theory", yes. That would also depend on how much cualerpa you have in comparison to the total water volume. If it's only a relatively small patch versus the whole sumpfull of caulerpa, then it shouldn't make that much differences.

Now, I wonder if CO2 retention rate in our tanks depend more on algae consumption, or does it depend more on gas exchanges, meaning gas exchanges provided by surface water movement, protein skimmer, and (in many people's case) 6 foot drop down to the sump?

If the CO2 retention rate depend more on the gas exchanges, then the algae CO2 consumption would be insignificant, and thus means light cycle can be set either way.

 

[SPC]

I thought this thread was about smokin caulerpa LOL, I wanted to see if anyone had tried it.

I have had some go sexual on me in my sump but was lucky enough to catch it at the beginning. I run my sump/ref lights on opposite of my tank and have noticed that the PH has been alot more stable this way.
Steve

 

[davelin315]

Is that out of a pipe or a bong? Is it a good high? Ooops, you meant that the caulerpa is smoking..... do you often find yourself attacted to macroalgaes? Sorry, couldn't resist. Anyway, I agree with the posts above that it's going sexual, and from what I understand, it can be a problem. By the way, pH will be maintained better with an area of 24/7 lighting, but I would think that this would also eventually cause problems with your fauna in the 24/7 lighting area. I would assume that most photosynthetic organisms rely on periods of darkness to complete photosynthesis or grow, but I could be wrong (high school science was a long time ago).