Reef Sanctuary - View Single Post

Curtswearing · 11-20-2003, 03:01 PM

I'm swamped right now so I'm going to do a little cut and paste. My last meeting went over by 1 hour and I now have a Mantis sitting in a black bag on my desk that I want to get home.

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Quote:

Ours wouldn't grow at all under NO shop lighting (the Caulerpa had grown fine under it) - it seems to grow relatively well under VHO's, but still nowhere as quickly as Caulerpa.

This is me typing

I would like to discuss this a little. I think that I'm the oddity. Everybody seems to have moved to chaeto. I have quite a bit of chaeto and I like it for the benefits it provides. Amphipods love the stuff and seem to breed in it as well. It doesn't go sexual, and releases very little gelbstoff.

Caulerpa can go sexual if not trimmed regularly and when trimmed will produce gelbstoff. A lot of times people say their caulerpa went sexual when what it really did was die due to malnutrition. This malnutrition can be due to not having enough food or light for photosynthesis, or both. I don't think that people provide enough lighting for their refugiums or they don't trim enough.

Here is what I want out of my refugium. I want a place where critters can grow without predation. I want a place where some of these safe critters can also provide plankton for my display tank (coral food). I also want a form of nutrient export.

I keep BOTH macro's in my fuge. IME, chaeto provides an excellent habitat for critters to reproduce. It also absorbs some of the nasties we want to get rid of but is not nearly efficient at it as caulerpa's.

Caulerpa's have some downsides but they absorb a lot more phosphates and nitrates and grow readily (at least in my tank). Then I trim to export the nutrients. The gelbstoff issue is solved by running carbon after trimming so that is a non-issue IMO. When everyone says that it will go sexual, I believe that this is caused by improper lighting or they didn't trim enough.

As you can see, I have more than one goal out of a fuge. I want nutrient export, a way to insure safety for a number of critters, and I want coral food from plankton. I think that using both types is a good thing.

Feel free to disagree with me. I'm still learning too.

This is another RAGger typing

I tend to agree with you. I do like Chaeto. (works awesome for packing frags for shipping!), but I'm not sold on the fact that it's a good nutrient export. I used to pull boatloads of Caulerpa out of our 'fuge every week - it would probably double it's volume weekly. Chaeto, OTOH, barely doubles it's volume in 8-10 weeks. IMO, that's simply not enough growth for nutrient export.

I also tend to agree that good pruning practices go a long way toward keeping Caulerpa from going sexual. FWIW, I think that the *pruning* is closely tied to the 'sufficent food' issue. If pruned back regularly, there is less volume of algae which need nutrients - it doesn't have to 'share' with a larger volume. Less algae = less food needed = sufficient food for existing algae.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure I'm brave enough to attempt to keep it (Caulerpa) when it's not lit 24/7. I'd like to hear experiences of ppl who trim their Caulerpa regularly, light it well, but don't light it 24/7. Our tank adds considerably to our electricity bill as it is. I'm not whining, but I'd prefer to avoid the cost of lighting a 'fuge 24/7 - also considering replacing the VHO's every 6 mos if used 24/7. Also, I like to light the 'fuge at night only - to balance pH.

Again, I'm not thrilled with the Chaeto. It's great for the reasons you stated, but I don't necessarily view it as a good nutrient export. I've been sitting on the fence with the idea of adding some Caulerpa, and some other macros back into the 'fuge. However, I would like to avoid lighting 24/7.

11-20-2003, 03:01 PM	#7 (permalink)
Curtswearing Golden Moray Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: St. Louis, MO Posts: 2,596 View Gallery Karma Komment	I'm swamped right now so I'm going to do a little cut and paste. My last meeting went over by 1 hour and I now have a Mantis sitting in a black bag on my desk that I want to get home. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quote: Ours wouldn't grow at all under NO shop lighting (the Caulerpa had grown fine under it) - it seems to grow relatively well under VHO's, but still nowhere as quickly as Caulerpa. This is me typing I would like to discuss this a little. I think that I'm the oddity. Everybody seems to have moved to chaeto. I have quite a bit of chaeto and I like it for the benefits it provides. Amphipods love the stuff and seem to breed in it as well. It doesn't go sexual, and releases very little gelbstoff. Caulerpa can go sexual if not trimmed regularly and when trimmed will produce gelbstoff. A lot of times people say their caulerpa went sexual when what it really did was die due to malnutrition. This malnutrition can be due to not having enough food or light for photosynthesis, or both. I don't think that people provide enough lighting for their refugiums or they don't trim enough. Here is what I want out of my refugium. I want a place where critters can grow without predation. I want a place where some of these safe critters can also provide plankton for my display tank (coral food). I also want a form of nutrient export. I keep BOTH macro's in my fuge. IME, chaeto provides an excellent habitat for critters to reproduce. It also absorbs some of the nasties we want to get rid of but is not nearly efficient at it as caulerpa's. Caulerpa's have some downsides but they absorb a lot more phosphates and nitrates and grow readily (at least in my tank). Then I trim to export the nutrients. The gelbstoff issue is solved by running carbon after trimming so that is a non-issue IMO. When everyone says that it will go sexual, I believe that this is caused by improper lighting or they didn't trim enough. As you can see, I have more than one goal out of a fuge. I want nutrient export, a way to insure safety for a number of critters, and I want coral food from plankton. I think that using both types is a good thing. Feel free to disagree with me. I'm still learning too. This is another RAGger typing I tend to agree with you. I do like Chaeto. (works awesome for packing frags for shipping!), but I'm not sold on the fact that it's a good nutrient export. I used to pull boatloads of Caulerpa out of our 'fuge every week - it would probably double it's volume weekly. Chaeto, OTOH, barely doubles it's volume in 8-10 weeks. IMO, that's simply not enough growth for nutrient export. I also tend to agree that good pruning practices go a long way toward keeping Caulerpa from going sexual. FWIW, I think that the pruning is closely tied to the 'sufficent food' issue. If pruned back regularly, there is less volume of algae which need nutrients - it doesn't have to 'share' with a larger volume. Less algae = less food needed = sufficient food for existing algae. Unfortunately, I'm not sure I'm brave enough to attempt to keep it (Caulerpa) when it's not lit 24/7. I'd like to hear experiences of ppl who trim their Caulerpa regularly, light it well, but don't light it 24/7. Our tank adds considerably to our electricity bill as it is. I'm not whining, but I'd prefer to avoid the cost of lighting a 'fuge 24/7 - also considering replacing the VHO's every 6 mos if used 24/7. Also, I like to light the 'fuge at night only - to balance pH. Again, I'm not thrilled with the Chaeto. It's great for the reasons you stated, but I don't necessarily view it as a good nutrient export. I've been sitting on the fence with the idea of adding some Caulerpa, and some other macros back into the 'fuge. However, I would like to avoid lighting 24/7.