Feather Caulerpa

[Jolieve]

Just a refresher, since it's been a while since I've posted a question here.

My system's a 75g reef. 2x250w HQI DE lights. Euro-reef skimmer, 15 gallon sump, 4" dsb, 60 pounds of live rock. No refugium. Inhabitants: 2 ocellaris, 1 yellow tang, 1 green chromis. Blue tip stag, bird's nest acro, m. digi, colt coral. A t. derasa clam and various feather dusters, snails and hermits.

The issue: I have a crapton of feather caulerpa growth in the display. I prune it once a week or so to keep it away from my immobile inverts.
I'd like to slow the growth of the caulerpa while I wait to get some make space to put a fuge on, hopefully later this year. Is there any way to do this short of pruning on a daily basis?

Thanks!
J.

 

[Ben1]

I was able to rid my tank of the feather type. It was a big PITA, I took each rock and cleaned it with a toothbrush and tweezers and then watched for any additional break out and pulled it. Eventually it was all gone. The grape was anoghter story!

 

[Jolieve]

Grape's no big deal. It's easy to prune and my yellow tang loves the stuff, he eats it like it's candy.

Pulling the rock and scrubbing it and going over it with tweezers is unfeasible at this stage. I have corals glued to the rock, but thanks for the tip!

J.

 

[Anonymous]

Until you get the fuge goind I think you will have to continue doing what your are doing. Especially if your tang is not helping.

You might try limiting the feather to one area of the tank. Or if you have enough room add some structure or partition to form an in tank refug. With my in tank fuge the macros stay in the fuge area. And my tang is constantly picking at the partion to get any small amount that does venture into the display area.

Must be some strong feather. My tang would make short work of it. :lol:

 

[leftovers]

Until you get the fuge goind I think you will have to continue doing what your are doing.

What fuge? she's not running a fuge doesnt say shes even adding a fuge or needs a fuge. 99% of reefers dont need a fuge. Fuge's add their own risks and problems.

All she needs are some aggresive algae eaters or to remove by hand the feather...

 

[Unarce]

I can't think of a way to slow it's growth, short of making your immobile inverts suffer. Personally, I would remove all of it from the display and wait until the fuge is set-up.

In particular, I am very unfond of Caulerpa. It is invasive and very difficult to eradicate. It is toxic to fish and has many metabolites - and releases them when the organism degenerates during spawning. Acidic rhizomes etch carbonate and these algae can kill other more desirable species by overgrowth. I have had it grow right through the stalks of soft corals. Many aquarists say that it has not been a problem for them. My response? Just wait. It will. I guess my big question regarding Caulerpa is why use it at all when so many more desirable species of macroalgae exist, like Chaetomorpha species, or others.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-12/eb/index.htm

Good luck! :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

Until you get the fuge goind I think you will have to continue doing what your are doing.

What fuge? she's not running a fuge doesnt say shes even adding a fuge or needs a fuge. 99% of reefers dont need a fuge. Fuge's add their own risks and problems.

All she needs are some aggresive algae eaters or to remove by hand the feather...

You must have missed this from her post:

...
I'd like to slow the growth of the caulerpa while I wait to get some make space to put a fuge on, hopefully later this year. Is there any way to do this short of pruning on a daily basis?

 

[leftovers]

I did and i stand corrected. Apparently reading twice for content wasnt enough....

Still no reason for a refuge. They arent the end all to be all and have their own issues they create that have to be dealt with.

Aggressive pruning and eating is about the only method there is short of removing and scrubing the rock

 

[Anonymous]

I did and i stand corrected. Apparently reading twice for content wasnt enough....

Still no reason for a refuge. They arent the end all to be all and have their own issues they create that have to be dealt with.

Aggressive pruning and eating is about the only method there is short of removing and scrubing the rock

Understand. I sometimes miss things with three readings :lol:

 

[Jolieve]

left, what are your cons for setting up a fuge in this situation?

The reason I want to put one on is to contain the growth of macroalgae in the system. The feather caulerpa isn't the only macroalgae growing in the display. There are about six other types.

I can't prune the caulerpa fast enough to hinder its growth, so it seemed like a fuge was probably the answer to my problem.

J.

 

[ZooKeeper1]

Running a refrugium will not slow the growth of it in the display. Caulerpa grows better with high lighting and flow, I doubt you plan on putting a 250 watt hqi on your fuge. You would be much better off getting rid of it all anyway you can. If you want some algae in the fuge, use chaeto, it is much more stable an algae.
If you want to slow it's growth limit it's nutrients by wet skimming and water changes

 

[Oceans Ferevh]

I've found my fuge to be very helpful in my tank, but Zookeeper is right. It won't help slow the growth of the existing algae in your main display. Better just keep yanking it

 

[Ben1]

I never had a tang or rabbit fish touch and macroalgae I have had.

 

[ZooKeeper1]

Ben, I agree, as far as I know it is actually toxic to tangs. I have heard of a few eating racemosa, not really the others.

 

[Jolieve]

All righty then.. so can I slow it by pruning only the caulerpa aggressively and encouraging the growth of other macroalgaes in the display?

Just as a side note, my YT loves grape caulerpa, and he munches on the halimeda.. and I swear every time gracillaria shoots start to grow, he mows them right down.

I'm in the process of pulling as much of the feather out of the tank as I can get tonight, then I will follow with a water change tomorrow evening. I do skim wet, but the substance I get is opaque, do I want to go for a transparent skimmate instead?