Grape Caulerpa ? (1 Viewer)

[jimR]

I recently added some Grape Caulerpa to my refugium and the plants looked healthy enough. But after 2 weeks the plant is slowly shrinking away. The tank is 2 month old and the caulerpa was added to bring down the nitrates which were running abour 5 parts. the remaining paramiters are 0 trites and 0 amonia. Refuge is 17 gallons with a 36 watt PC Light for 12 hours a day.
Has any one elsa had trouble with the Grape Caulerpa ?

 

[slyfox]

what light have you got on there?

 

[doubletap4311]

36 watt PC Light for 12 hours a day

That is what he typed. I bet your gonna tell him thats too much light huh?.

 

[decimal]

36 watt PC Light for 12 hours a day

That is what he typed. I bet your gonna tell him thats too much light huh?.

?

i personally hate calerpa. it is a pain to control ans god forbid it ever goes asexual. i would stick with cheato or the like.

 

[Hanson77]

I have some in my HOB refugium and it's spreading literally like weeds. I only have a little 10-15W flourescent fixture over it and it's over taking the fuge with the quickness. I've only had it for about a week and it's time to trim.

 

[AquaNerd]

i love caulerpa. for some reason chaeto never would do well for me. i've been using grape caulerpa since day one and i've never had it go sexual and i do trim it every once in a while. the best way to keep it from going sexual is to trim the oldest parts of the caulerpa. also, don't do 24 hour lighting cycle on it either since it does require a dark period.

chaeto is better at nutrient export, but caulerpa is right up there with it.

as for lighting, i think caulerpa will grow under anything. i've tried a coralife 65 watt pc (both 50/50 and 10000k bulbs), and now i'm using a home depot shop lamp with a 6500k compact fluorescent bulb at 75 watts. this stuff grows like a weed.

 

[SaltwaterSilly]

It must vary from tank to tank. I have the opposite situation from Brandon (Camaroracer). I have tried grape calupera and it never survives... Chaeto on the other hand, does very well. It doesn't over run or anything but it does do very well. I also have 3 mangroves growing in each of my sumps.

 

[decimal]

i just hate pulling it off the rocks etc. it starts to choke anything around it. in the fuge its ok, but in the tank its not so great.

 

[jdeveaux]

i just hate pulling it off the rocks etc. it starts to choke anything around it. in the fuge its ok, but in the tank its not so great.

I started to see it in my display and was fighting a losing battle so i put a scribbled rabbit fish in a my tank and it was all gone with-in a week. I actually feed him from my fuge and he goes crazy over the stuff.

I have both growing my fuge and they seem to grow at the same rate from what I can tell.