Troubling growing Caulerpa

[toeside]

I thought growing some macro algae in my sump would add a point of interest, plus help with nutrient export. So, about three weeks ago, I bought a nice stand of Caulerpa, and anchored it with a few pieces of rock in the bottom of my 10g sump. I lit it with two 23W daylight spiral compacts, which are on 7am-midnight.

Like so many other "typical" reef husbandry techniques that work for everyone else, this has been nothing but trouble for me. :bash2:

About 60% of the plant has died off, shedding clear and brown junk which I must clean up constantly. The "leaves" (fronds?) remaining are a pale green, and many of the stems and roots are browning and covered with ugly bubbles. Nothing like what I see in other fuges. The plant is still alive, as it is sending out lots of roots and there is a bit of new growth, but it is an eyesore, not a pretty plant.

I'm about ready to give up on it. Any suggestions or ideas?

 

[rostato]

Some people have a hard time keeping some macros alive. I can't keep Gracilaria alive, but have had success with most others. Also depends on your phosphate level.

I know I added too much GFO when my chaeto starts to bleach out on me.

 

[smoothie]

That's alot of light. Try only one for the 10g.

 

[jeffmuse]

toeside;469910 wrote: I thought growing some macro algae in my sump would add a point of interest, plus help with nutrient export. So, about three weeks ago, I bought a nice stand of Caulerpa, and anchored it with a few pieces of rock in the bottom of my 10g sump. I lit it with two 23W daylight spiral compacts, which are on 7am-midnight.

Like so many other "typical" reef husbandry techniques that work for everyone else, this has been nothing but trouble for me. :bash2:

About 60% of the plant has died off, shedding clear and brown junk which I must clean up constantly. The "leaves" (fronds?) remaining are a pale green, and many of the stems and roots are browning and covered with ugly bubbles. Nothing like what I see in other fuges. The plant is still alive, as it is sending out lots of roots and there is a bit of new growth, but it is an eyesore, not a pretty plant.

I'm about ready to give up on it. Any suggestions or ideas?

Yeah, some people have a harder time with the Macro Algaes. If the Chalupra is dieing off, then it may be that it is not getting enough nutrients to sustain itself.

How new is the tank, and has it already cycled? I tried growing Chaeto back when my tank was cycling, and it also died off as there was very few nitrates for it to absorb. If not cycling, do you have a very light bio-load? (This can contribute as well) Also, if you have a phosphate testing kit, this may be helpful to see what the phosphate levels are like in the tank... if you are using RO/DI water and the phosphates are especially low, then this may be a reason why it is not growing as well.

 

[brianjfinn]

Isn't Chalupra something on the menu at Taco Bell?

 

[smoothie]

brianjfinn;469988 wrote: Isn't Chalupra something on the menu at Taco Bell?

That's the vegetarian dish for the next ARC cookout. Caulerpa Chalupa

 

[toeside]

rostato;469922 wrote: Some people have a hard time keeping some macros alive... Also depends on your phosphate level

JeffMuse;469969 wrote: ... it may be that it is not getting enough nutrients to sustain itself

That could be it. My phosphates have always tested zero and my RO/DI water tests zero TDS. I may be addressing a problem that doesn't exist, but *something* is keeping the hair algae healthy.:dunno:

JeffMuse;469969 wrote: How new is the tank, and has it already cycled? I tried growing Chaeto back when my tank was cycling, and it also died off as there was very few nitrates for it to absorb. If not cycling, do you have a very light bio-load?

The tank is two years old, although the bio load is light. No fish... some snails and crabs. Soft corals... frogspawn, xenia, ricordia, star polyps and unhappy zoas. Good suggestions Jeff...

Smoothie;469962 wrote: That's alot of light. Try only one for the 10g.

Agreed. I'm cutting it to one lamp.

rostato;469922 wrote: I know I added too much GFO when my chaeto starts to bleach out on me.

I've read where a guy doing vitamin C dosing started losing his Caulerpa. I've been moving to Reef Crystals which *might* have some VC in it. Salt mix and VC dosing is a whole other thread topic, but I kinda think I should've stuck to Instant Ocean.

Smoothie;470029 wrote: That's the vegetarian dish for the next ARC cookout. Caulerpa Chalupa

 

[toeside]

Tumblers? Sounds interesting. This Caulpera is behaving more like a regular plant... sending out roots like it wants to anchor to something. And the die-off is toward the top. I tried initially to float it, but it got in the way too much. Plus, I kinda want a "garden" look to this and the rock helps.

 

[acroholic]

Your system may be too nutrient poor. Not necessarily a bad thing.

I was talking with a fellow Member that installed a very good new skimmer on his system, and shortly after that all his macros died. Couldn't keep them alive any more with the new, higher efficiency skimmer.

Have you thought about cutting back on your skimming time? I would ONLY recommend doing this if you REALLY want to keep the macro.
Dave

 

[tgray3]

I can't keep macro's alive either. My Nitrates and Po4 are unreadable on Seachem and Salifert kits. If your looking to put something in there that looks nice you may want to look at grasses. They take a lot of their nutrients from the sand bed instead of the water column. I'm trying Shoal and turtle grass now with some success with the shoal grass but it's going real slow.

 

[toeside]

Great question Dave.

Skimmers don't collect much in my system (I've tried two) which is not entirely surprising as it is small with a light load. I'm about convinced that my HA problem is due to scattering debris by, 1) working in the sump and, 2) disturbing the sand bed. I think nutrient-rich "stuff" catches in my rock (and around the base of all my zoas) but doesn't stay suspended in the water, so isn't showing up in my water nitrate tests.

I conclude this because the HA grows vigorously on the sides of the rock hit directly by flow from the sump *and* on the undersides of the rock (a very low flow area) near the sand bed. In other places, there is virtually none.

I am being quite careful now about releasing nutrient "storms" by cutting off my pump when working in the sump, and using more care when vacuuming my sand. I have read and seen, however, that many reefers that do just the opposite. That is, they clean, scrape and vacuum with wild abandon, and view the resulting nutrient release as a benefit. To be honest, I would prefer to be in that camp... seems more "natural" and less effort. But, I haven't had to scrape glass hardly at all in six weeks, and that's a big relief.

I also read that some reefers, including those with great looking plants and zoas, have success running non-zero nitrates. I didn't notice that non-continuous skimming was a practice, but it would seem to be a way to let nitrates climb in a controlled manner.

I think though, other than cutting back the light, I'm not going to do anything else special for the Caulpera.

 

[toeside]

Well I've given up on the Caulerpa and have pulled it out of my sump.:sad: It was surviving, but not thriving. The die-off and brown junk clean-up was just too much. It didn't seem to impact my hair algae problem and the light in the sump started algae growth in there as well.

Actually the root system had grown pretty vigorously and had attached nicely to the rock pieces hold it down and it was sending runners out all over the place... illustrating why refugiums are often partitioned off. Oh well, lesson learned...

 

[dakota9]

I was just clicking on this thread to ask the question "Why Calerpa? "

It's one of the messiest macros in the hobby. My first choice would be Cheato, as it's low maintenance, and can adapt to the availability of light.

Don't give up on Macros, but do toss the calurpa to the curb.....

 

[nanonano]

Dakota9;472413 wrote: I was just clicking on this thread to ask the question "Why Calerpa? "

It's one of the messiest macros in the hobby. My first choice would be Cheato, as it's low maintenance, and can adapt to the availability of light.

Don't give up on Macros, but do toss the calurpa to the curb.....

Was just about to say this same thing. Get yourself a nice ball of Chaeto, all problems over.

 

[toeside]

NanoNano;472415 wrote: Get yourself a nice ball of Chaeto, all problems over.

Will do. I've had to take my sump offline and do a major clean-up. Swearing off Caulerpa forever. :yes:

Oh, and the change to Reef Crystals is actually not an issue like I first thought. I'm sticking with it.

 

[pamelahaley]

I'm wierd and have a tendency to taste strange things. Bought some caluerpa and had to try a nibble... I'f I could really propagate it, I'd ad it to my own diet, lol. I added it to the back the tank a couple month's ago, anchored it under some rocks. Can't say it's grown a ton but, it hasn't died either and the hermits are always picking at it so, if there is die off, it's getting consumed. Maybe try some lush greens in the tank under the display light?

 

[toeside]

I like the way you think. :yes:

In my early teens I had an 18g tall freshwater, and grew Elodea right alongside the angels and ceramic castles. I thought it looked cool. I want plants (even algae) to be part of my little eco-system... just need to re-think it... maybe stick a piece of Mangrove in the back of the display...

Acroholic has an

 

[pamelahaley]

I had a couple of mangroves in my old 54 gal. They did great for a few months then hermits started eating off their leaves then, the trunks got 100% covered in purple coralline algae and stopped growing altogether. It's worth a shot though, I'd try again but, I have a canopy attached to the top of my current tank.