Basic questions
- Thread starter Gastro
- Start date
kmk2307
Active member
Hey Andrew,
96 will keep caulerpa alive but it won't grow very fast. I would recommend more. I usually float algae in the bag it came in to get the temps the same but as long as it was in saltwater it should be able to adapt to your tanks salinity just fine. I don't believe either fighting conchs or queen conchs would eat caulerpa prolifera. Caulerpa prolifera will grow on sand just fine but if it will be on your sandbed you will probably want more light that 96 watts. If you already have that lighting certainly give it a try but the algae might do better with more light.
GL & HTH,
Kevin
96 will keep caulerpa alive but it won't grow very fast. I would recommend more. I usually float algae in the bag it came in to get the temps the same but as long as it was in saltwater it should be able to adapt to your tanks salinity just fine. I don't believe either fighting conchs or queen conchs would eat caulerpa prolifera. Caulerpa prolifera will grow on sand just fine but if it will be on your sandbed you will probably want more light that 96 watts. If you already have that lighting certainly give it a try but the algae might do better with more light.
GL & HTH,
Kevin
I have 60w on my 55 gal tank. The caulerpa grows on the crushed coral (and everywhere else.) I prune it approx every 2 weeks. Nothing I have in the tank will eat it, but it's a seahorse tank so the snails & inverts are pretty small.
I have (or have had) prolifera, mexicana, taxifolia, feather, grape, halimeda and many others unidentified. Of the list, I only feel halimeda didn't get enough light. I keep my lights on (4 regular 15 watt soft white bulbs) from 6:00 am to 10:00 pm. It stays at a PH of 8.2, salinity of 1.020, 78 degrees, and the only additives I add are DT's. These horses eat live ghost shrimp, so there is never dead food just laying around.
Caulerpa's seems to be pretty forgiving and easy to grow.
I have (or have had) prolifera, mexicana, taxifolia, feather, grape, halimeda and many others unidentified. Of the list, I only feel halimeda didn't get enough light. I keep my lights on (4 regular 15 watt soft white bulbs) from 6:00 am to 10:00 pm. It stays at a PH of 8.2, salinity of 1.020, 78 degrees, and the only additives I add are DT's. These horses eat live ghost shrimp, so there is never dead food just laying around.
Caulerpa's seems to be pretty forgiving and easy to grow.
I had prolifera under 40 watts of NO lighting in my 55 gallon seahorse tank and it grew slowly. I upgraded to 130W of PC and it took off, it grew several inches a day per plant, almost uncontrollable at times. I've recently upgraded again to 2x175w metal halides plus the 130 PC and I think I'm going to have to remove huge sections weekly to keep it at bay. I kept almost a dozen macro's in my main tank under 130W of PC, all on or very near the bottom with good growth out of most. Botryocaldia, gracilaria, halimeda, and penicullus all seem to grow just fine under that lighting in my nutrient rich tank. My horses eat frozen and are very messy. My seagrasses didn't do as well under that lighting. Your 96W would be 2.13w/g mine was 2.36w/g almost the same and I had great growth from prolifera, and good growth from all the others as well. I agree if you don't have the lights purchased, go more if you can you'll be glad later. If you do have the lights I'm sure you'll be fine, it just won't grow as fast as it could. You might also want to look into the article about iron suppliments for macro algae. I believe I got increased growth when I started dosing with calcium, iron, and iodine, but it was probably the iron that did it for the macro's.
