New Tank, One Month Anniversary

Just wanted to let everyone know our new tank is doing very well! Again, all of your help has been very appreciated! We have lots and lots of beautiful purple, pink, and green Coraline going wild in there, and a "test" rock anemone, who is doing very well. I do have a question about the caulerpa though, what the heck is it?? We bought a very small (two fingers) grape caulerpa fragment from the LFS, and every single bit of it is gone. Now this "whatever" type of Caulerpa is growing like wildfire. It doesn't match any picture I've found anywhere, so we were just wondering what it is?
Thanks again for all the tips and advice, you guys rock!
Mark

 

Very nice tank! However, I would reconsider keeping macro in the Caulerpa family out of the main tank! It grows very fast and MOST fish and inverts won't eat it as it is toxic to some degree! If you have arfugium, I would place it in their to be safe and be able to keep on top of it under a reverse daylight scenario IMO!
Caulerpa is a type of Macroalgae, however, their is a nice assortment in which to chose from, that are hardy and offer a wide variety of benefits, texture and color...

 

I agree with CR. I have had it get way out of control on me and took over my old reef

J

 

Looks like you are off to a fine start! The tank looks great. You must be very happy with your results so far, I know I would be. I will be starting a reef tank in the near future with the help of this wonderful reefing comunity. Congradulations on your tank! Have fun with it. Like I have to tell you that. : As Matt would say, "go slow and let it grow!" Hopefully if all goes well I will have a starter tank soon as nice as yours!

 

Thanks! Yes, we are a little afraid of the Caulerpa. What you see there has grown to that size in just two weeks! I can definitely see how it could take over in short time. I guess a "pruning" regimen to control it would be impractical?
We have Chaetomorpha in the refugium, and are planning on replacing the bio balls with live rock slowly (after the tank is a little more mature). Would it be practical to put this stuff in there too, or just get rid of it altogether? What are some good macros for the display?
Thanks in advance!

 

Their are some nice Macroalgae choices to put in your main tank! Gracilaria, Botryocladia(red Grape), Halimeda, red mangrove, Laurencia, Ochtodes, chaeto, Maiden hair and cup, shaving brush, Codium, and coralline algae!
Yes it is practical to put Caulerpa in your refugium ONLY as you can control it better and not worry about it as much going sexual under reverse daylight lighting!

 

It is my understanding that Caulerpa can reproduce as long as there is a day/night lighting schedule (even if it's reversed). I thought the only definite way to prevent that is with 24/7 lighting. Again, too many different opinions out there, so it's hard to sort them out sometimes. What are your experiences? Have you ever personally had Caulerpa go sexual in your tank? What were the conditions? What type of Caulerpa?

 

I believe that any type of Caulerpa can go sexual! The way of combatting this is to use a reverse lighting scenario! Caulerpa can only go sexual with lighting remaining off as far as i know!
I have never had mine go sexual, as I employ the reverse daylighting schedule!

 

Well, the reason we chose grape Caulerpa was that back in the day (about 17 years ago!) I kept it in my fish/anemone tanks and never had any problems. Yes, it did grow quite rapidly, but there were never any issues with it reproducing, dieing, or otherwise causing problems. This time, the stuff seemed to die off, leaving behind this type of Caulerpa shown in the pics. It's obviously a type of Caulerpa, but I have yet to get a positive identification.

I've not heard anything about these problems (Caulerpa going sexual and wiping out tanks) until my recent re-introduction into the hobby. Matter of fact, back then there were no "refugiums", reverse daylight lighting schemes, or many of the modern day "tricks". We used wet/dry filters, lots of Caulerpa in the main tanks, VHO and actinic bulbs 12 hours a day, and good protein skimmers. That was about it! I remember when people started pushing UV sterilizers, Ozone reactors, etc., but they all seemed to be more voodoo to sell, so I never spent my money when my tanks were doing great). With all these newer experiences and opinions, I feel like I'm having to re-learn everything....but there's still a part of me stuck in the ways I used to do it (and quite successfully I might add).

coral reefer, you stated: "I have never had mine go sexual, as I employ the reverse daylighting schedule!"

At the same time, there are many others (including myself in the past) who do not employ the reverse daylight schedule, and have also never had it go sexual. Also, the LFS I buy from is owned by a gentleman who has over 27 years experience in the hobby (and some of the most beautiful reefs I've ever seen!)....and he stated that he uses 24/7 lighting in all of his fuges, but even in all of his years in the hobby has never had any species of Caulerpa go sexual anyway. Like me, he's heard of it, but never experienced it.

So, I suppose the problem here is opinions, with no real scientific evidence of the hows and whys (just like in the old days! LOL!)

Even though I'm rather new at wanting to keep Corals and some of the more delicate inverts, I'm far from new to the marine aquarium hobby. It's so confusing, I really feel sorry for the complete newbies.

 

Beautiful tank, Great job. I hope to have one like that someday.