You Know Your Reef Is Thriving When....

[atonaltheory]

Caulerpa grows naturally and abundantly and your Leather Coral has twins! :thumbsup:

 

[IslandCrow]

I don't know how happy I'd be about caulerpa growing abundantly, especially in my main tank. That stuff would probably thrive in a bucket of pure ammonia as long as it gets at least 5-10 minutes of light from a 20w incandescent bulb once a week.

 

[atonaltheory]

I don't know how happy I'd be about caulerpa growing abundantly, especially in my main tank. That stuff would probably thrive in a bucket of pure ammonia as long as it gets at least 5-10 minutes of light from a 20w incandescent bulb once a week.

Interesting context for your comment. Considering I have exactly zero nitrates and corals multiplying in captivity, I doubt there is an ammonia problem in my tank. Perhaps you might consider imposing your incredible knowledge of conditions supporting caulerpa on someone who needs advice about their poor water quality.

 

[jackde]

Hope this isn't the start of a ****ing match. Regardless, I think the tank looks great. Wish mine looked that good.

 

[atonaltheory]

Hope this isn't the start of a ****ing match. Regardless, I think the tank looks great. Wish mine looked that good.

Not at all mate. Just a little tired of regular forum junkies posting needless negative banter that doesn't help anyone. Thanks for the compliments and feel free to hit me up if I can help get your reef doing better.

 

[capysolo]

Very nice! I can't wait to set up mine, i just hope i can get it looking as good as yours

 

[IslandCrow]

Dude, it was just a joke about caulerpa, not an assessment of your water quality. It's just that most people don't choose to keep caulerpa in their display tank. That said, I've purposely done it myself in a dedicated macro algae tank. Its tendency to grow out of control aside, I think it's a rather attractive macro algae. It just required a lot of pruning. . .which you'll really want to do on at least a semi-regular basis if you're not already.

Anyway, if I offended you, I apologize. That was not my intent.

 

[atonaltheory]

Dude, it was just a joke about caulerpa, not an assessment of your water quality. It's just that most people don't choose to keep caulerpa in their display tank. That said, I've purposely done it myself in a dedicated macro algae tank. Its tendency to grow out of control aside, I think it's a rather attractive macro algae. It just required a lot of pruning. . .which you'll really want to do on at least a semi-regular basis if you're not already.

Anyway, if I offended you, I apologize. That was not my intent.

All good, its easy to misinterpret intent in this forum (and others).

The tank was about 6 years old when it first showed up. Maybe it hitched a ride on a piece of rock I introduced at some point. I never would have opted for keeping it in a display either (and at the time, I didn't realize what it was) but it seems it was bestowed on this aquarium naturally so when I learned about it, I figured, why not. I do have to prune it every month or two or it does definitely overtake the tank-- but it's worth it as I do believe it is the reason my nitrates are zero.

 

[haftafish]

That looks cool. Is it a grass? Do the fish or anything eat it? Your tank looks great.

 

[atonaltheory]

That looks cool. Is it a grass? Do the fish or anything eat it? Your tank looks great.

Caulerpa is a macro algae. A few types are actually illegal in many places for LFS to sell it because it is very difficult to control and there is a high risk of it clogging up an entire city's plumbing system. I have to prune mine every 60 days or so to keep it from getting out of hand and no, none of the fish/inverts eat it. Its primary purpose for my system is to trap nitrates. It just began growing one day seemingly out of nowhere but I'm down for keeping it at bay in return for 0 Nitrates. Plus, it looks nice when under control.