help caulerpa dying

[hotrodder]

I performed a water change and my fuge that was full of caulerpa is now dying. The only thing different I did was change my salt from Red Sea Pro to Instant Ocean. Nothing else in the tank is affected! The fuge was full of the stuff, now it's wilting. What the heck???

 

[Anonymous]

Was there a temp swing as well? Many things can set off caulerpa and make it go asexual (which is what I believe your experiencing), which is why cheatomorpha is the preferred macro algae for fuges.

 

[hotrodder]

Was there a temp swing as well? Many things can set off caulerpa and make it go asexual (which is what I believe your experiencing), which is why cheatomorpha is the preferred macro algae for fuges.

No temp swing. Temp is steady around 78 to 79.

 

[Anonymous]

Any kind of stress can cause them to go "sexual" and that's maybe what you are seeing.

They often come back all over the place, so if you like them, it may not be that bad of a situation. Good luck.

 

[mr_X]

is it turning clear? that is usually what i see just before the sexual event.
my macros live through anything. i can leave them in my car for 10 hours in a bucket and they still live fine.
chaeto is not the preferred macro for me. bubble caulerpa is. it grows about 10 times as fast and i sell it to my lfs. i haven't paid for salt or supplies since my refugium was started.
it's perfectly safe if you prune it back regularly.

i also use instant ocean salt. i don't know what it could be. have you changed out the refugium bulb recently?

 

[Anonymous]

Fire walking is prefectly safe for those that know how to do it. To the lay person, fire walking is not very safe. Same goes with caularpa. While it is safe for you, it can wipe out your entire tank if you don't activelly work on it. Cheato doesn't.

 

[mr_X]

well, do the benefits outweigh the risk? for me they do, and i'm no professional refugium keeper. i say what i say with the idea that most of us have the ability to keep more than a goldfish bowl healthy.
are you stating that keeping bubble caulerpa is only for experts?
i disagree.
what do you call "actively working on it"? ripping some out about once a month and dropping it off at the LFS for credit? c'mon...it's not as high maintenance as you are making it seem.

 

[Anonymous]

Not at all a matter of "high maintenance or difficulty in keeping" mr_X, it's the fact that caulerpa (not the "bubble" kind so much, but the other types-see link below) can, and often does nuke a tank when it does sexual and dies off. It does so with little or no warning, and for a host of reasons.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004- ... /index.php

If someone doesn't know the warning signs, and what to do when it does foul the tank the results are well known. I don't get why you would deride people for giving prudent advice just because you do things differently and haven't yet had problems :?

 

[hotrodder]

Thanks so much for the replies. Yes it is turning clear. I removed most of it. I do have some of the wirey stuff in the fuge as well. I think I will stick with that.

 

[hotrodder]

One more note, my tank never got cloudy.

 

[camaroracer214]

according to anthony calfo, at a meeting from my local reef club, caulerpa has a tendency of going sexual after it's been in the fuge for a couple of months or so. it doesn't take any kind of stress or water parameter changes to cause it...it just happens after it has been in there a while. he recommended to remove the older portions of the caulerpa when pruning.

 

[mr_X]

i was speaking of bubble caulerpa for one. it acts exactly as i stated. i simply shared my opinion, and experience about bubble caulerpa.
hotrodder was asking why people think his macros wilted. GreshamH mentioned that he felt that "chaeto is the preferred macroalgae for refugiums". of all the refugium keepers i know personally, only 1 uses chaeto exclusively. it's mainly because he's lazy. that's about .5 percent. it's certainly not a giant network to be basing the rest of the planet on, but it says something.

i still disagree that bubble caulerpa is as unpredictable as some people make it out to be. and i will go out of my way to tell my experience, so that people can have complete information about it. :wink:

 

[camaroracer214]

i love grape caulerpa. it grows perfectly in my refugium and i've used it for years without it ever going sexual (knock on wood). i tried to do a switchover to chaeto a little while back and i ended up with a huge cyano outbreak and the chaeto never did well at all. i ended up going straight back to the grape caulerpa and my cyano vanished immediately. the caulerpa, imo, was also more full of life. i rarely saw pods/bristleworms in my chaeto, but my caulerpa is jam packed.

i wasn't bashing caulerpa...just stating what the great anthony calfo said.

 

[shavo]

I have everything growing in my fuge right now, I have things that look like ferns, I have razor i have cheato and bubble, I don't find it to be high maintenance to pull some out and bring to the lfs and get a credit voucher. that is the fun part actually. Anyhow I never had any issues at all and everything is working great. the fuge grows I pull it out and take to the lfs then it grows back. And I didn't even have to walk on fire to do it. isn't it great?

 

[Anonymous]

according to anthony calfo, at a meeting from my local reef club, caulerpa has a tendency of going sexual after it's been in the fuge for a couple of months or so. it doesn't take any kind of stress or water parameter changes to cause it...it just happens after it has been in there a while. he recommended to remove the older portions of the caulerpa when pruning.

Yep! (I hope he's doing well, haven't had communications with him for a while now. Sure would like it if he would get started on the #2 book!)

Now, waaayyy back when (way back when C. taxifolia was legal to have and copious), way back when I had my first reef tank I simply grew the Caulerpa right in my tank, and my baby tang did a pretty good job of keeping it pruned back. However, I also did a LOT of hand-pruning, almost daily, and I was sure to get the old stuff first.