HElp, Caulerpa outbreak

[thegeneral]

Went on vacation for two weeks. my son was supposed to take care of the 125 reef, but did not do a very good job.I have now got 2/3 of my rock absolutly covered with grape Caulerpa, and another type of cover that looks like thick clovers.I am wanting to take them out 1 at a time and scrub them off in a rubbermaid tub filled with saltwater. will this be ok?Tank has been running 8 mo. deep sandbed.

allen c

[Yukon]

You could prune it all by hand the best you could, and see if a tang would keep it under control. This may take a few prunings, depending on the tang. I've done this in a 55gal, and now there are no signs of it. Like I said though, it depends on how much the tang likes caulerpa algae.

[Potsy]

As my tank evolved I had numerous macroalgae plagues - sargassum, feather caulerpa, and grape caulerpa. Right now I have some grape caulerpa with a lot of halimeda (which I like) and when it starts to get unsightly, I just prune it by hand. I like to keep some growing behind the rock for nutrient export.

If the caulerpa population gets too dense, some of it will go "sexual." You'll see a milky tinge to your water and some caulerpa will appear transluscent and shrunken. So, keep pruning.

[thegeneral]

well, I have been pulling it out like crazy, but it is really stuck to tight to the rock, as for the other, it is like a thick mat of clover compltetely covering the rock. will not pull off.

[thegeneral]

[thegeneral]

[thegeneral]

[thegeneral]

anyone else had this trouble?

[stlmustangz]

Do you want to bag some up & sell it to me.I'll need it shipped to Pa.????

[moosejac]

looks like the aiptasia don't mind...haha
The caulerpa is feeding on something to make it grow like crazy....so usually cutting down on nutrient levels and cranking up the skimmer does the trick.

[jimbo045]

I feel that you should leave it in. Lots of people don't have any or much.

[kirei]

looks like the aiptasia don't mind...haha
The caulerpa is feeding on something to make it grow like crazy....so usually cutting down on nutrient levels and cranking up the skimmer does the trick.

The big problem is that macro algae is able to survive in very low nutrient levels. I mean so many super successful SPS tanks have refugiums that still grow macro, so killing it off by reducing nutrient levels is difficult to say the least. I have a grape caulerpa problem as well that I am trying to deal with, the low nutrient levels do contain it to some degree, and definately reduce the growth rate, in some ways I think my tank has reached an equilibrium in terms of macro growth which is good, but even with weekly 15% water changes with RODI and an H&S skimmer (105 gallon external) on my 65 with a low fish load (1 solar wrasse, 1 lionfish) it will not die off, I have tried everything short of blacking out the tank, I think I need to buy a foxface or tang and hopefully that will kill it. It isn't spreading quickly so I only have to prune it back once a month... but I am still not a huge fan.

[sammiefish]

wow, the macro went from desireable to out of control in just 2 weeks? WOW...

I have caulerpa in my sump and put a handful in my tank every couple weeks and my yellow tang eradicates it in short order... great food source for those guys.

[CanesDave]

I had grape caulerpa taking over my tank and the solution was to manually prune it rock by rock and using tweezers to get every visable piece. I pulled each rock out of the water for about 10-15 minutes to pick each piece clean. It was my last resort and it worked. The naso tang in my tank would pick at it but it grew out of control and just pulling out what I could see did not work. The algae grows into all the holes in the rock and becomes a nightmare.

It has been a year and there are no signs of it now. Any little straggler pieces have been eaten by the tang.

Reducing nutrients, wet skimming, etc. were not enough. In your case your bioload with lion and lunare wrasse may be higher than you think. With caulerpa it really comes down to manual removal and a foxface/rabbitfish or a tang to clean up the rest.

[kirei]

My rock is too porus to manually remove, I have taken out all the rocks before and scrubbed the crap out of the them with a tooth brush, it always comes back. But I also don't have any predator... so I do need to get a tang or foxface, what do you think is the best grape caulerpa predator? The lionfish might create some waste, i doubt the solarensis wrasse really creates that much waste. I don't even feed the thing, it lives off the pods in my tank...not that it means it doesn't poop, but I think that my skimmer can handle that kind of bioload. My point is more that it is impossible to nutrient starve macro because its starvation point is so low you would basically have to kill everything else with it.

[sjm817]

My Foxface would be in Heaven in that tank! Put one in there and it will mow it down.

[kirei]

Would a foxface lo be okay in a 65 tall, it is only 3 feet long... which is why I was thinking a yellow tank might be more appropriate. I also heard that rabbitfish are difficult to remove (which fish isn't), and also tasty... appearantly.

[sjm817]

That is a small tank for either. Neither would be fun to get out. I dont think a Foxface is as much of an open water swimmer as a Tang though. I grow Caulerpa in my fuge and put some on a veggie clip. The Foxface loves it.