What is meant by going "sexual"?

[mmcaleer]

I have heard the term going "sexual" when talking about macros and I was wondering what it means.

Thanks,

Mike

 

[sjvl51]

When a plant goes asexual, it converts all its energy reserves to special seeds (I forget the name for them right now) and releases them. The plant itself will go white to transparent. This usually happens extremely quickly (overnight) and many feel it is caused by stress - poor water conditions - overcrowding - not enough light - etc. This mass release will cause your tank water to go very cloudy.

Once the search function is working again, do a search. There are many threads discussing this with the technical terms and one thread that I remember actually had pictures of the macro algae prior to releasing the "seeds".

Vickie

 

[mmcaleer]

Thanks Vickie.

Mike

 

[HippieSmell]

Algae can reproduce asexually and sometimes sexually. When it's asexual, the plant reproduces by simple fragmentation or budding, and this is how you want your algae to reproduce. When it reproduces sexually it releases gametes, and the reason the water turns cloudy is that your tank is essentially filled with algae sperm. The release of gametes is a massive source of pollution, basically releasing a lot of the nutrients it has absorbed over time, which is one of the main reason for growing it in the first place (nutrient export, not recycling).

 

[SaM dA MaN]

Hate to hijack the thread but this has confused me aswell.
Any way,
So how does one avoid macro algae blowing its load through the tank?
thanks

 

[jor8888]

I heard adding iron will help stop it going sexually not really sure about this.

 

[HippieSmell]

Well, I don't have any practical experience, but if you keep the lights on 24 hrs and/or keep the algae trimmed down and don't let it grow too large, you should prevent it from going sexual. I don't think adding iron will prevent a money shot on your corals , but I've heard it helps them grow faster.