My Grape died off.

I wanted some feather and grape caulerpa. I got some sort of bladed caulerpa from my LFS, and some grape. The blade grows. The grape has been kind of puny. Does not grow to the light as fast. I have thought the blade was winning.

Well, looked at my fuge tonight, and two big clumps of grape where white. Towards the bottom of the tank. The grape at the top of the tank is long stringers. Even saw a couple of blades of the other dieing. So, I guess I have reached a limit.

My nitrates were generally zero to start with. Never detected PO4 on a test. I started feeding more. 4 cubes/day, veggies every now and then, and plankton. I wasn't sure how much growth I was going to be able to support. This pic is about a week old.



I found out my flow was about 70-80 GPH. A week ago I moved it down to half that. worms are finally visible. Pods galor. Let the water flow during feeding. I use a 65 watt equivilant flood.

Any comments or suggestions?

 

I had chaeto, sorry, but I'll bump the thread to get it noticed!

 

i would see what john maloney at reefcleaners has to say, hes kinda a marine plant guy.

but if you figure anything out please keep us posted. I am interested because i have some grape caluerpa

 

how long ago did you start the algae in the fuge? - my chaeto didn't grow much for the first 4 weeks or so but now grows quickly

 

i actually started growing cheato. and there must have been a small twig of caluerpa in it. so i noticed that plant after a month or so. its 3 months old i almost have a ball of it which is pretty good considering i started with basically nothing and the very small bioload in the tank. i think it is growing around the same speed as chaeto.

 

My fuge is at 7 weeks.

My LFS where I bought the caulerpa from also had cheato in it. I made sure to get every strand out. I still don't know what kind of caulerpa I have. I got the grape from my coworker that has it in his tank.

My only problem is it is a new fuge and I had very low ntrates and PO4 before the fuge. So I really have no idea what to expect on growth rate or what limits I'm at. Nutrients, light, flow.....

 

One question I have is... how do I ever tell if I am over feeding, if I never have NO3s or micro algae?

 

i would say if the algae in your tank gets worse, as thats the most common result.

 

seemed like it took forever to get it going, but once it did, it took off! about 2-3 months, I guess, it filled up the compartment. I attribute the slow growth to under-lighting and possibly because it was a "new" tank and I didn't have the nitrates to feed it....

oh and...as long as your algae is still green and in the fuge, it's working. leave it in there. Also, you say you feed 4 cubes a day? how many fish and what kind of cubes? how old is your tank?

 

Tank was 10 months when I bought it. That was 7 months ago. Coral B, Hippo, Yellow/Scopas, 3 chromis, Maroon CL, 6 line, blue blenny, watchman. All of them are on the small juvie side. The hippo and Coral B were the last ones bought and were small. large clean up crew.

3 cubes a day before. Now 4. Mysis, prime reef, emerald entrée. Some DTs and sea vegies every now and then.

Before I was paranoid about over feeding. Turned off pumps, chnged filters weekly. Now with fuge and sump, no more filters, leave pumps on.