removing Prolifera toxins??

darrellh · #1 07/05/2005, 05:41 PM

I have a 215 FOWLR aquarium with 75 refuge/sump that I recently tried to introduce Prolifera macroalgae to. I have a 300W 'white' halogen flood lighting one end of the refuge 24/7 where the macro was supposed to grow. I'm not sure what I did wrong, but the macro apparently went sexual, and before I realized it, killed most of my fish (mostly Damsels, but two tangs surprisingly survived). Things seem to have stabilized after performing several 20% water changes and running carbon and poly filters, but the remaining fish are still acting somewhat stressed after 3 weeks.

My question is whether or not I'll be able to sufficiently remove the Prolifera toxins with just filtering, or if they have been absorbed into the sand and live rock and will be around for a long time. The refuge has a 2 year old DSB and 50 lbs live rock from when it used to be my main tank. The 215 gal main tank has a 1" coarse (1mm - 2mm) sand bed with 100 lbs of 'dry' rock and 50 lbs of older live rock. Should I dump all of the sand and live rock and start over, or will the toxins from the Prolifera eventually dissipate enough to support more delicate angels or even LPS and/or soft corals?

Thanks,
Darrell

Acroholic · #2 07/05/2005, 05:55 PM

Hey D,
Anthony Calfo recomends carbon to absorb caulerpa toxins. I know regular trimming/pruning will also help prevent the Caulerpa from going sexual. Good luck.

darrellh · #3 07/06/2005, 07:20 PM

Thanks CapeCoral. Actually I never got a chance to prune...it started crashing as soon as I put it in. Carbon and poly filters seem to have made it tolerable for the fish that survived, I'm just wondering how long it will be before I can add more delicate fish and/or corals. Do these toxins get absorbed into live rock and corals and leach out over time?

Thanks,
Darrell

Acroholic · #4 07/06/2005, 07:53 PM

Hey D,
I have been doing some substantial reading on the subject lately. But I do know there is no way to measure the toxicity within our aquaria. No where have I read about toxins being absorbed into live rock or sandbeds.
Why don't you try, and see if you can catch Anthony in his forum, or at least post this question there and maybe if Anthony himself doesnt chime in, maybe someone there can give a more educated answer. While doing research on the subject, I found that Anthony's articles and research on Caulerpa and its associated toxins is the most thorough. IME