How much caulerpa mexicana is too much ?

randL524

New member
My live rock from Tampa Bay Seawater had some mexicana on it and it is doing fine. Really well. Hvae had the tank running for about three months, mostly inverts (on small crystal goby hitchhiker) and the water seems very stable. Tank is starting to get crowded with plant - what is the right amount to keep in a 24 Gal tank or is it purely asthetic?
 
It's illegal in the state of California... or at least some of the caulerpa species are. The can be pretty invasive and if it makes it into the natural ecosystem it could be a disaster.

Most people don't want any macro algae in their display. They grow macro out of view in a sump to deplete the nutrients so that it is less likely to grow in the display. But there's nothing unhealthy about it... you can have as much as you can tolerate. There are quite a few species of fish that will eat it.
 
I agree, caulerpa can become quite hard to get rid of once it establishes itself in your tank. It also can spread very fast, covering corals and other organisms in your tank. My suggestion would be to prune it every week or even more depending on how fast its growing. Read these FAQ's for more info http://www.wetwebmedia.com/caulerpacomp.htm
 
Caution when pruning, I've had runners that would run themselve behind all the rock work where I couldn't see and one day came home to find lot's of macro trying to grow up from behind eerything. Had to remove 1/2 my rock to rip it out.
 
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