Algae gone sexual??

[moose8721]

This morning when I was leaving for work I noticed my tank was looking a little cloudy. I have some caulerpa racemosa ( I think) algae that I've let grow freely in the tank. There isn't a ton of it, and it grows pretty slowly in the back. This morning it looked like it was slowly spewing brown fluid.

I'm assuming I do water changes when I get home. How much of a problem is this going to end up being? And what should I expect to see when I get home? Thanks!

I recently changed by lights from pc to T5, would that have anything to do with it?

 

[coralnut99]

Caulerpa's in general are far less prone to meltdowns when under 24/7 lighting. That's the biggest reason that they are best left to the refugium where that's easily done. Drastic changes in lighting and water parameters will also trigger them. Occasionally even a bulb change will do it. Do some water changes and run some carbon, and you should be fine.

 

[moose8721]

When I got home it seemed like everything was normal. Protein skimmer not skimming any more than normal. A big clump of the caulerpa was bleached out looking. Guess I should probably try and take the stuff out, kind of a pita...

 

[coralnut99]

Yup, You should actually try to siphon it out. Large diameter hose works best. That should get as much of the toxins out as possible too, instead of just mashing it around while trying to manually yank it out.