What's your opinion on Caulerpa???

[Rune]

Hi everyone!

I have one question: how do you like Caulerpa???

I know lots of people grow these, and I've also read in a few books (don't know if they were good books, though) that they are very usefull in a tank because they remove nutrients from the water.
However, I always read the threads in the coral forum here at RC and from what I understand,Eric Bornman seems to hate this algae. Apparently they can realease chemicals in the water that can do a lot of harm to corals.

So....what is your opinion??

Thanks!

 

[Mike_Noren]

Re: What's your opinion on Caulerpa???

Hi everyone!

I have one question: how do you like Caulerpa???

I hate it. IMO most common species of Caulerpa are pests - nothing much like it, it's toxic, and it grows like wildfire over all available surfaces, including sand. There are exceptions, but they tend to get overgrown and outcompeted by the pest species.

 

[wizardgus®]

My favorite for in the refugium. From what I've read, and what I've seen in my own fuge, it is top gun hands down for nutrient export. It is not a set it and forget it proposition however as turning sexual is a risk.

I wouldn't want it in my main tank.

 

[Frick-n-Frags]

IMO, a little bit of as many different species as possible is a good thing(out of the main tank FOR SURE!!). A huge mass of one species of Caulerpa scares me. I have peltata, serrulata and this fuzzy bottlebrush looking one i can't ID. I routinely throw most of it out when any one species starts taking off to keep it in line with everything else.

FWIW, my main macro is some kind of Cladophora(I think, like a dish scrubby texture ), probably over 50% of the algae mass I have growing. I throw out a lot of that too.

 

[Mike_Noren]

My favorite for in the refugium.

Good point. I've nothing against it as a nutrient exporter; I just dont want it in my main tank.

 

[Rune]

Thanks for the replies!

Uhmm....Keeping it in the refugium will certainly prevent it from growing over other stuff and attaching to your live rock, but I guess this wouldn't stop the algae from releasing substances in the water that could harm corals, for example. Is this correct? Or maybe the algae is not that toxic afterall???

 

[Frick-n-Frags]

I would be more worried about it crashing and seriously altering the effectiveness of the algae portion of your filtration because it can't filter if it's dead. Let's say you caught it going sexual and pulled it all out in time, otherwise you would have the huge injection of organics from the spawning/dying Caulerpa in addition to no more Caulerpa to process nitrogen etc. I would say this could go a long way toward crashing your tank or at least stressing it and causing micro algae blooms and possibly some animal dieoff.

I know that when Caulerpa grows over Acros they die where they are touched by the Caulerpa. Other softies and stuff don't seem affected by Caulerpa in close proximity. Maybe if you shredded a whole pile of Caulerpa you could release enough juice to cause problems, but I don't think normally Caulerpa will "poison" the water to any great degree.(unless it crashes and releases all that stuff)

 

[wee-reefer]

:blown: I can just hear Mr. Mackey saying "Calerpa's bad, mmmkay??" I had it in my display for 2 months, it overgrew almost everything, and when I did finally get rid of it,the rest of it that I missed got slimy. No, it's not bad for nutrient export, in a refugium, with a reverse photoperiod, and regular clipping, but who wants to mess with it that much...? I pick halimeda or gracillaria or some other macro algae hands down.

 

[Mike_Noren]

[B I pick halimeda or gracillaria or some other macro algae hands down. [/B]

I totally agree.

 

[TJG]

Its like every thing else........

Its like every thing else........

some of its good and some of its bad, it depends on the tank and the type.

As to rather I would use it or not: at this point with Ca going nuts about it and ppl getting find for it with 50 miles of my house its just not worth the risk.

 

[piercho]

The thing with the caulerpa I've tried is, they move aggresively up onto the rocks, where it is hard to contain it. Any bit of it that breaks off can drift and start growing wherever it settles. Sort of like a aquatic version of Kudzoo.

Sargassum showed up on some rock in my tank and I like it, a lot. It grows like a bush, from a single holdfast. It doesn't spread, IME, either by creeping or by fragmentation. Just grows back like a bush from it's "trunk" after you harvest it. Not as attractive or fast-growing as caulerpa but manageable in the main tank.

 

[saltshop]

For those who venture to a university library on occassion here are some pretty good references for Caulerpa and why you just might not want to let it near your tank or at the very least run some carbon quite often. Caulerpin is quite a nasty substance and is released in droves each time you or a fish prunes this stuff. Personally I favor other marine algaes such as Chaetomorpha.

Hodgson, L.M. 1984. Antimicrobial and antineoplastic activity in some South Florida seaweeds. Botanica Marina, 27: 387-190.

Meyer, K.D. & Paul, V.J. 1992. Intraplant variation in secondary metabolite concentration in three species of Caulerpa (Chlorophyta: Caulerpales) and its effects on herbivorous fishes. Mar. Ecol. Progr. Ser., 82: 249-257.

Paul, V.J. & Hay, M.E. 1986. Seaweed susceptibility to herbivory: chemical and morphological correlates. Mar. Ecol. Progr. Ser., 33: 255-264.

Paul, V.J. & Fenical, W. 1986. Chemical defense in tropical green algae, order Caulerpales. Mar. Ecol. Progr. Ser., 34: 157-169.

Vest, S.E., Dawes, C.J. & Romeo, J.T. 1983. Distribution of caulerpin and caulerpicin in eight species of the green alga Caulerpa (Caulerpales). Botanica Marina, 26: 313-316.

 

[Travis]

I will never touch the stuff again. I just spent 3 hours getting mine out of my refugium and trying to salvage the critters attached to it. This was my first time growing the stuff and I must have let it get too long. I was killing aiptasias in my main tank so I had all pumps off. I looked in my refugium and it looked like a bottle of DT's. The water was so green you could'nt see more than a couple inches through it. My guardian angel must have been watching over me because this all happened while my pupms were off so I pulled it all out and changed all the water in my refugium.

Not fun.

Travis

 

[kmk2307]

I like Caulerpa especially prolifera but not in my main tank.

Kevin

 

[skylsdale]

I can't stand the stuff...avoid it like the plague.

 

[jcopp]

lights on

lights on

I heard/told that if you have a 24hour photo period you do not have to worry about it going sexual, apparently its related to lighting period?? Anyone have a reference for this statement?

Jason