Caulerpa going sexual

P

psteeleb

Premium Member
It looks like some of my Caulerpa in my 29 gal went sexual over night. I got up this morning to a very cloudy tank with most of this one species of Caulerpa looking very pale, like it died off. I usually cut this stuff back once a week to prevent this from happening, but apparently that isn't enough.

I'm going to do a water change today. I'm not sure if this stuff is a polutant or just makes the water cloudy. So looking for any other suggestions and/or insights.

I believe it's Caulerpa taxifolia
I also have cheto and grape caulerpa in the tank

I cut back on my lighiting schedule a few weeks ago as the stuff was groing crazy. But going back and reading Ashlars sticky it looks like I should bump it back up, I may also add another maxijet to increase water flow.

thanks for any feedback
 
Is the Caulerpa in your tank or sump? I would never put it into the tank just for this reason. If you keep the lights on the Caulerpa 24/7 it will not go sexual.

I have had Caulerpa in both my tank’s fuge for a total of 7 years now and never had this problem. Do you keep the lights in 24/7 as this will prevent this from happening? Also check you PH and make sure that there was no big change, Caulerpa does not like that.

Caulerpa is one of the best ways to pull nutrients out of the water and makes a really good organic filter when placed in the sum/fuge even better than Cheto.

I would do a water change and run carbon in the tank for a few days.
 
Dave

thanks for the information

this tank does not have a sump - I built in a refugium, thinking I would try a sumpless design for this tank. I'm not against the sump, just thought I'd experiment a little, but if this is an issue I'll most likely add one.

I was running the lights for about 12 hours. Unfortunatly one of the light sets was turned off the entire week. I'll have to mention to my wife to watch for this when I'm out of town, as we often turn off a set when we feed the seahorses.

I haven't checked the parameters, and already did a 15% water change and will probably do one or two more 15% changes over th course of the day

again thanks
 
Carbon carbon and more carbon. Most of the caulerpas not only release their gametes into the water when they 'go sexual' but also the stored toxins that they produce to discourage browsing.
 
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