caulerpa allelopathy

[andycook]

Is caulerpa allelopathy real? I have a caulerpa whose common name is Cactus caulerpa. I have another called split blade. Both in the same tank. I dose KNO3 and FE daily. I have to thin the cactus caulerpa more often than the split blade, about 3x-1x.

Could the cactus caulerpa be on the winning side of a chemical battle or is it just a faster grower?

Both are used for nutrient export.

I just added some cup/chalice caulerpa to the mix. See what happens then.

 

[Plantbrain]

A simple control is to use activated carbon, this is what researcher's use studying alleopathy. Something also aquarist commonly use, there's not much evidence for this in natural aquatic systems. If you grind up plants or algae and pour the extract into test cells, well, that's supportive of natural live plant/macro algae allelopathy, but some pass it off as it is.

AC will remove the chemicals in question pretty effectively.
Aquatic Plant/macro competition is really about who can use the most light and overpower the other, but different conditions favor different plants/macros.

This genus will do a lot of growth if you feed it NO3, if not, then not nearly as much. You can trim it back more often, or chose a different macro.

Or add more food, fish etc and less KNO3 and do one of the above also.

 

[andycook]

Thanks Mr. PlantBrain.

I swear that if I didn't want the caulerpa to grow it would be out of control but because I want it to grow I'm struggling.

 

[Plantbrain]

Thanks Mr. PlantBrain.

I swear that if I didn't want the caulerpa to grow it would be out of control but because I want it to grow I'm struggling.

This is a common reverse psychological horticulture method.

 

[snorvich]

this is a common reverse psychological horticulture method.

rotflmao