Eradicating Grape Caulerpa

[danno]

My 24g nano is now growing grape caulerpa at a rather good clip. I harvest it out on a weekly basis but that's a maintenance chore I'd like to quit.

My nutrients are low, I think. I grow tons of purple coraline algae. I'm going to replace my compact MH 150watt bulb and see if that helps since its 8 months old.

Are there any <u>small</u> livestock that will eat this stuff?

Thanks.
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[danno]

Thanks for the reply. That pic is not actually my pic, its just a stock picture of some bubble caulerpa. Sorry for the confusion. I'm running purigen and phosguard now. I change 5gals of the 24g every two weeks. I get very little microalgae. I'll try going to a higher K bulb and stepping up the water changes to weekly.

I wonder if a cherub angel would eat macro?

 

[stickx911]

it'll take a little while, but an emerald crab should make a good meal of it. I had a little of that and mine removed all of it before moving on to the bubble algae (the reason I bought it in the first place )

 

[phoenix20]

I had this same issue. I ended up pulling the rock that was covered out and replaced with some other cycled rock.

Then, I tried out the rock for a few weeks and now its cycling in my 120. You can't get this stuff of the rock, its impossible. This really is a bad macroalgae to use as its spreads everywhere.

You might want to think about getting a yellow tang or foxface rabbitfish to help pick at it. Unfortunately, your tank is pretty small for either of those two fish. Also, i've heard that eating this stuff is not very healthy for the fish to eat -- but they will go at it.

 

[stickx911]

from another forum

Most fish will give Caulerpa a taste, but they are not going to want to eat it after that. That's one of the reasons Caulerpa is so successful, it's toxic to fish. For me, manual removal and emerald crabs finally got rid the stuff.

in your size tank, I can't think of any fish that would help, but a few crabs to take care of it. If you get more than one, you can pass on the rest to another member once the problem is under control.

They worked for me too.