carbon-mantis Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 For whatever reason, it seems that I can never get caulerpa and gracilaria to grow in my tank, but for now I'm focusing on caulerpa. I'm beginning to wonder if it's my salt mix(Oceanic) or something. On a 10g tank I've tried both 130w CF lights and ~96w T5ho light fixtures, 1" sandbed, 4" sandbed(standard caribsea aragonite), and planting in sand and on rocks. I've had it shipped and I've grabbed specimens from the LFS with the same results(cactus caulerpa and C.prolifera). After planting/attaching the plants(cactus was planted in the sand, prolifera was once in sand, another on rock, same with grape caulerpa) just slowly lose color and whither away. I keep nitrates around ~10ppm, tried both high-ish po4 and no po4, calcium around ~420ppm, salinity 1.025-1.026, with photoperiod from 8-12 hours. Four attempts so far over the last year have been met with the same results. Anything I might be missing? I'm still wondering about something in(or lacking) the salt mix. It isn't bad luck with the shipping, as the same thing happened to the LFS specimens. Specimens were nice looking, with good "stems" and "leaves"(I forget the terms at the moment) on all of them. As far as successful algae that have grown in the tank, I've had luck with Codium(both taylorii and the long type), Halymenia(H.floresia I think it was), Red Titan(forgot the generic name), Chaetomorpha, and all manner of pests inbetween rebuilds/rescapes. Link to comment
captainbastard Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 It grew like a weed in my 40br with a t5 dual bulb fixture. Also grew like crazy in my sump with just a 6500K flood light. In retrospect I can't get chaeto to grow much at all under either of those conditions. Weird Link to comment
spiderjeru Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 For whatever reason, it seems that I can never get caulerpa and gracilaria to grow in my tank, but for now I'm focusing on caulerpa. I'm beginning to wonder if it's my salt mix(Oceanic) or something. On a 10g tank I've tried both 130w CF lights and ~96w T5ho light fixtures, 1" sandbed, 4" sandbed(standard caribsea aragonite), and planting in sand and on rocks. I've had it shipped and I've grabbed specimens from the LFS with the same results(cactus caulerpa and C.prolifera). After planting/attaching the plants(cactus was planted in the sand, prolifera was once in sand, another on rock, same with grape caulerpa) just slowly lose color and whither away. I keep nitrates around ~10ppm, tried both high-ish po4 and no po4, calcium around ~420ppm, salinity 1.025-1.026, with photoperiod from 8-12 hours. Four attempts so far over the last year have been met with the same results. Anything I might be missing? I'm still wondering about something in(or lacking) the salt mix. It isn't bad luck with the shipping, as the same thing happened to the LFS specimens. Specimens were nice looking, with good "stems" and "leaves"(I forget the terms at the moment) on all of them. As far as successful algae that have grown in the tank, I've had luck with Codium(both taylorii and the long type), Halymenia(H.floresia I think it was), Red Titan(forgot the generic name), Chaetomorpha, and all manner of pests inbetween rebuilds/rescapes. I'm guessing this is Murphy's law. I totally discourage caulerpa growth in my fowlr tank and it won't disappear with nitrates/phos at zero. It disregards herbivores, constant pruning, and nuclear warfare. Link to comment
Chimpo Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 +1 to SpiderJeru This stuff was down right nasty. I made the mistake of introducing it my first FOWLR tank and it just exploded...Never again. On the subject, there was an episode about it on Discovery Channel documenting the horrible consequences of this stuff being dumped in the Med. Totally took over the entire ocean bed.... Link to comment
Builder Anthony Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 You have to mactth he salt level from the exsisting tank when placed in your tank.You need good lighting. Link to comment
FishStrings Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 Caulerpa is fine imo as long as you don't let it get out of control. The only problem I thought was the fact that it only grew in vines and can overtake the tank real easy. There are just better macros out there like octo and gracialaria. Trick is to get a good grooming tool and pick out the macros you don't want and have plenty of coral to take up space before the macro does. Link to comment
spiderjeru Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 Caulerpa is fine imo as long as you don't let it get out of control. The only problem I thought was the fact that it only grew in vines and can overtake the tank real easy. There are just better macros out there like octo and gracialaria. Trick is to get a good grooming tool and pick out the macros you don't want and have plenty of coral to take up space before the macro does. Agreed. Second problem: once it goes in for 1/1000th of a second, it's in there for good. You can prune it down, pull it out, stock herbivores...it'll be back. Link to comment
johnmaloney Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 On the subject, there was an episode about it on Discovery Channel documenting the horrible consequences of this stuff being dumped in the Med. Totally took over the entire ocean bed.... different species though, that species they have problems with was created by man Link to comment
carbon-mantis Posted March 3, 2011 Author Share Posted March 3, 2011 Actually I wouldn't mind it going California-style all through a larger tank, it'd give me an excuse to get a bunch of those neat little caulerpa-munching nudis if it didn't have a sexual event. Link to comment
captainbastard Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 Agreed. Second problem: once it goes in for 1/1000th of a second, it's in there for good. You can prune it down, pull it out, stock herbivores...it'll be back. Got mine completely gone but that was just because I replaced almost all my LR. The real trick is to make sure there's no runners in the sand Link to comment
johnmaloney Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 what color are your lights? Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.