Any Tricks to Pruning Caulerpa?

[shealygg]

This may or may not be a dumb question, but I sure feel dumb asking it....are there any do's or dont's when pruning/harvesting caulerpa? I have a small fuge w/ both caulerpa and chaeto. I know that you just grab a handful of chaeto and pull it out. Can you do the same with caulerpa? Just grab a handful and rip a bunch out? Thanks.

 

[TippyToeX]

It's always been my understand that because caupera is a unicellular algae you should not break or cut it. Because that will sap out all of the nutrients it took up back into the tank. So you should always pull out whole lengths.

 

[trippyl]

This is true, but trust me, you certainly wont kill it by cutting or breaking it.

 

[LeslieH]

More importantly, you'll never get rid of it if pieces break off when you remove start to remove it. Caulerpa reproduces vegetatively. It can regrown from very small fragments.