razor caulerpa disappearing

[desi04]

Hi!

My fuge for close to 8 months has razor caulerpa & basically grew rampant in the fuge even though I trimmed every 2- weeks. Some figi rock I purchased from an lfs had macroalgae on them but under metal halides the macroalgae (sargassum) exploded in the tank to the point that it looked like a kelp forest. I noticed the caulerpa receeding a little bit but now it is almost gone except for a small patch. Could the sargassum eat all of the nutrients because it was in the main tank thus starving the caulerpa?

thanks,

Dan

 

[kmk2307]

Hi Dan,

I think that it is very possible that the Sargassum outcompeted the Caulerpa for nutrients. It may also be that the razor caulerpa attempted to reproduce sexually aka went sexual. I believe that species is prone to attempting to reproducing sexually in marine aquariums. What kind of lighting do you have on your 'fuge? Do you test your nitrates and phospahtes? If they are both very low / undetectable that would go along with your hypothesis. Do you have a pic of your sargassum? I think its pretty spiffy that it made a kelp forest in your tank.

Kevin

 

[desi04]

sargassum

sargassum

HI! Kevin:

I pulled out about 70 lbs of live rock & cured it in my backyard for 3 weeks so the kelp forest is gone. I currently have a rock with sargassum on it that I just trimmed it was about a 18 inches long.I will put the rock in my mud filter, I also just added 3 red magrove plants to see how that will do in the sump. The kelp forest had alot of pods on it but it started to cover the light from the metal halides to the corals had to take them out. I have a 65 watt pc on the refugium. I like the look of the kelp forest but the problem with the sargassum is that it has a root structure that even started to attach to some corals & my sand. I will see how it does in the fuge.

thanks,

Dan

I will try to take picture of the rock with the sargassum before I put it in the fuge.

 

[kmk2307]

Thanks for sharing Dan. I'd love to see the rock. I've never seen sargassum roots / rhizoids before.

Kevin

 

[mellen]

Sounds like the sargassum would be perfect for an algal scrubber! Contact Inland Aquatics to get specs. I'm jealous; my house and pocketbook are too small to set one up, so I depend on smaller species.

 

[desi04]

sargassum

sargassum

HI! Guy's:

I am trying to post a picture of the rock with the sargassum but I have to make the file smaller. It grew almost 4 inches in a week.
To me the sargassum seems to absorb the nitrates at a greater pace than the caulerpa. 90% of the razor caulerpa is gone from the mud filter. I will try to reduce the size of the photo to show you the sargassum. Nice looking macro-algae.

Dan

 

[desi04]

sargassum photo's

sargassum photo's

Hi!:

Hopefully the pictures are not too small & hopefully i did it correctlly?