Caulerpa sporulated

[graveyardworm]

This morning a little while after the lights came on I went to the fish room to check stuff out and noticed my refugium was a little cloudy. It must've just happened cause the cloudiness hadnt gotten to the other tanks yet. I yanked out the offending caulerpa, and started water testing. The caulerpa was the C. Serrulata/Scalpelliformis. None of the other caulerpa's seem to be affected yet, even a similar one growing in another tank. Anyway here's the results of my testing.

Temp - 79
SG - 1.025
NO3 - 8 ppm
PO4 - und
Fe - und
Si - und
Ca - 440
Mg - 1440
Alk - 8.6

All test kits are Salifert except Fe is Seachem.

My dosing routine.

Every day - add 1 ml Si ( Sodium Silicate ), and 50 ml alk Randy's 2 part )

Every other day - Add 3 Tbsp KNO3, Add 5 ml Kents Iron, Add 5 ml Kents Iodine.

As needed - Ca, Mg, and every week or 2 Kents essential elements.

Water changes - infrequent, generally when water is taken from this system to do something else, 10-20% per month. Salt Tropic Marin.

Some recent events - Extreme cold spell outdoors, tank temp dropped to 75 for several days, Si dosing is new started with 1 ml every 3 days with no result and Si und so dosing was increased to 1ml per day a week ago. I have discontinued pruning cheato to combat cyano, and also Si dosing is for this purpose.

All micro algae in the system is quickly disappearing aside from some cyano, and diatoms on the sand in one tank.

Thats alot of info hopefully someone can make something of it. Fish get fed every night and Suncorals so there shouldnt be limited PO4, possibly not enough Fe ( I could dose alot more per Kents dosing instructions ) I think my system has finally adjusted to the added feeding of the suncorals so perhaps I could be feeding more. Perhaps Cheato is outcompeting Caulerpa. Caulerpa growth in this tank has been slow lately. Perhaps I need more flow through the refugium.

 

[Samala]

That is VERY interesting news David. I'm glad you've shared it. At first glance it seems to discount ideas that sporulation may be governed by availability of nutrients from a system. Your water quality tests show plenty of nutrients in the water column with the slight exception of PO4.

Alkalinity, nitrates, and other factors I've found to be important look good. I wonder if its really the PO4. It seems such an odd idea given your feeding regime. Perhaps it is something else in the environment as you suggest - water flow, or competition between other algaes.

Have you noticed any of the Caulerpas doing better than the others since you've started to see microalgae growth decline? I guess I'm asking, does there seem to be a dominant type of algae in the system at the moment?

>Sarah

 

[graveyardworm]

Its wierd that each tank in the system seems to be its own little microcosm. They all share the same water but definately each one has different stuff going on. Lighting, flow through and within seem to have huge impacts on what grows and how it grows.

I dont think its PO4 because I do still have plenty of nuisance algae, although it has thinned out alot recently ( more specifically it the green turf which has declined ). PO4 has never been detectable.

In this particular tank the caulerpa's have been slow growers any way, cheato just grows really fast ( this may be it ) and recently I've allowed the cheato to grow much more without pruning. Caulerpa in another tank seems to be doing well, C. Peltata, and C. Serrulata/Scalpeliformis, both require regular pruning, while the Caulerpa's in the refugium havent required pruning in a long time ( aside from what got inadvertantly ripped out the last time I pruned the Cheato ).

I could prune the cheato down to a smaller ball, and see what becomes of the caulerpa.

 

[3D-Reef]

A month or so ago we had a cold snap,For some reason unknown, My house thermostat had been turned down to 64.By the next morning the tank temp was down to 74.8.Normally it's(the tank) at 79-80 degress.
For the next week I had different patches sporulate,just before/as the lights came on,in the fuge.
I might also mention that the N03 was lower than normal. 2.5ppm Normally it's 5ppm.

 

[graveyardworm]

I was kinda wondering if the temp swing could also be one of the signals for caulerpa sporulation. It would be interesting to know if other people have had similar events under similar circumstances. It's really the only thing which has changed. The rest of my parameters are pretty steady and have been for long time, including my feeding/dosing regime.

 

[Samala]

I didnt experience temperature swings in my tanks up North but I did have hot days after I moved to FL. Unfortunately, I didnt have Caulerpa. The seagrasses weren't too fond of 86F water though.. (can you blame them?)

>Sarah

 

[graveyardworm]

I'm thinking of setting up an experiment.

 

[piercho]

I've had Udotea sporolate of what I call old age. The blades persist a few weeks, get old, suddenly turn white. For Caulerpa I've seen patch sporalation on sections that were older and not in the best light an current. I've never had a mass sporalation of Caulerpa that has been established for a few weeks or more.

I'm having a hard time rationalizing why a Caulerpa would fail to do well with a surplus of nitrate, assuming enough light and current are provided. Maybe one of its competitors can inhibit it chemically? Maybe I'm oversimplifying the requirements of the genus? Maybe I need to dump in a crapton of nitrate into my tank to see if the %@#$@!! peltata thats plaqued me for 3 years will poop itself.

 

[graveyardworm]

The cheato has been creating more shade for some of the caulerpas including this one. The others have yet to show any adverse effects. It also wasnt the entire plant which was shaded, but it was the entire plant wich sporulated. I'm thinking the temp change may have had something to do with it, but again none of the other plants were effected. It is possible that PO4 became limited. Perhaps late the prior day, due to some diatom/cyano growth which grows fast. I have begun silicate dosing to promote more diatom growth so perhaps the diatoms are out competeing the caulerpa?

I dont know, I have begun to up my iron dosing, and I intend to begin feeding more. So we shall see. I thought about setting up an experimental tank and messing with the temp to see how the caulerpas react.

 

[graveyardworm]

An interesting observation only a few days after the event, I have upped the amount of iron dose, and have yet to change anything else, my nitrates had gotten alittle high prior to the evnt so until it comes back down I havent been dosing NO3, also I havent increased my feeding.

With the increase in my iron dosing the remaining caulerpa's have extremely accelerated growth rates. Where before growth was very slow, now all of the caulerpa's are adding inches every day. The caulerpa which had sporulated wasnt much more than a handful so I cant imagine that its loss has allowed an overabundance of nutrients for the rest.

Another theory which might back up that iron had become limited. If iron is a requirement for green plants more specifically, iron limitation might help to explain where the green turf on the glass went the higher plants simply outcompeted the turf. This also may have allowed the nuisance stuff to come in on the sand bed where possibly cyano is adapted to thrive even when iron is low.

So we'll see, if the green turf comes back without changing my routine other than dosing more iron, then perhaps that was it.

 

[Plantbrain]

Temp changes cause dramatic shifts in the macro beds where these weeds come from.

I've seen it in my own tanks. 4F is enough to do it.
Most species are fairly tough, some greens and some reds sporulate when temps go up or down or both.

If the NO3 test kit you have is calibrated(Is it? Do you know how to do this?) then you can make the assumption this is the most likely culprit near as I can tell based on what's been detailed.

Folks really need to calibrate test kits since you rely so heavily on them and make the assumption that they are accurate and seldom do water changes. The basis for that is an uncalibrated test kit?

That's never good if so.

I don't care if it's a 70$ kit, it still should be calibrated, especially at the lower ranges many marine and FW plant folks use.
You might consider measuring the food itself as well.

I use calibration solutions and use the 3 point measure, 1ppm, 10ppm and 100ppm to make sure the spect I use is accurate. At the extreme upper and lower ranges, most test methiods tend to get squrriley.

Be careful in the assumptions.
Often times, using the algae as the test kit is the best approach.
Takes better observations and skills though.

Fe dosing.
I've noted for sometime that the chelators used in most Marine mixes are terrible for the Alk and pH's we keep.
They are no better than adding Ferric sulfate into the tank.

So what you dose, only perhaps a tiny fraction actually gets to the algae.

If you added Fe and had the macros grow, but had a rise in NO3(assuming the test kit is correct). Why would something start growing well but not use any NO3?
Something is not adding up.

I would add the Fe certainly(a must for any well growing macro tank), and up the dosing, or add it more frequently.

I've been using another trace metal mix I developed and it works much better than the EDTA versions.

I'd also suggest calibrating those test kits for NO3 and PO4.
Alk and Ca look good, probably okay there.

Regards,
TomBarr

 

[graveyardworm]

If you added Fe and had the macros grow, but had a rise in NO3(assuming the test kit is correct). Why would something start growing well but not use any NO3?

My plants are definately using NO3, I regularly dose a KNO3 solution.