Split Pea Soup

[sumpfinfishe]

Well it finally happened to me, instead of usually reading about other members of the board dealing with the head ache

I came home from working my first graveyard shift in almost four months(meaning I'm really really tired), I was just about to climb into bed when I entered my room to see my reef in a green haze

After taking a few deep breaths I began to run the checklist from one side of the brain to the other. I could barely see three inches so it was hard to figure out if a coral had spawned or if something else had crashed.
After about 5minutes of poking around I finally felt the mushy slime, my 8 inch cluster of green sawblade claurpa had completly bailed out. I removed the claurpa and the rock it was attached to and when I pulled it out most of it was already bleached white. I tested the water for Ph, Nitrates, and Phosphates and all test read as normal.

I have now started mixing 15 gls to do a 50% water change after I wake up this afternoon. If anyone else has more suggestions on the proper actions to follow, I would love to hear them. All fish are fine, with no rapid breathing or any other stressfull signs. The corals have all remained closed, so I imagine this event took place over night.

I will post some pics of the "soup of the day" later this week, after I get the reef back to norm. I was also told that because I had not trimmed back this bush, that this may have been the reason why it simply bailed out.

Any thoughts

cheers, Rich

[christyf5]

Aww that sucks Rich. I hope everything is okay.

[Delphinus]

I find the explanations for caulerpa to sporulate (and the advice to prevent it from happening) to be fairly speculative. Ya gotta light it 24x7. Ya can't light it 24x7. Ya gotta prune it lots. etc. etc.

In my opinion, lighting/photoperiod is likely not really a factor. (Just my opinion, and I have nothing to back me up on that). Pruning it ... I don't know if it really helps "prevent" but it certainly does help "mitigate" (if that makes any sense). Maybe it helps prevent ... I don't know. Is an algae smart enough to know that it needs to spend energy regrowing after pruning instead of going into sporulation?

Ordinarily, a water change and maybe some new carbon is enough to clear the tank within a day or so. So expect a day where you wouldn't want to show off your tank to your friends but you'll be back to normal soon enough. You do want to watch your NO3 and PO4 because there is a chance they do go up after an sporulation event and if you have a lot of NO3 intolerant creatures (e.g. SPS) you could have a problem.

So my advice is: water change, clean your skimmer, run some new carbon. If you really want it to clear up quickly go get some filter-floss/polyfilter and try running that for a few hours.

Good luck and let us know your experiences in the end.

[Samw]

I had one a while ago. Does it look anything like this?

I changed 10% of the water and added a new bag of carbon. I didn't lose anything as a result though. It cleared up pretty much by nightime.

[Quinn]

Are you implying that halimedia can go sexual?

[Samw]

Originally Posted by teevee

Are you implying that halimedia can go sexual?

No, I'm not sure what caused my first algae bloom. Only thing I can think of is the salt switch.

[Delphinus]

Originally Posted by teevee

Are you implying that halimedia can go sexual?

Make no mistake: Halimeda can go sexual.

[sumpfinfishe]

Hi all, thanks for the concerns

I'm pleased to report that 10 hrs later everything seems back to norm.
After waking up this afternoon I performed a 30% water change and also clean and emptied a full 2 cups of skimate. Carbon and filter floss were already put in place first thing this morning.

The reef has cleared up and all fish seem to be doing well. As for the corals, the acro's and gorgonians seem just fine. The large green open brain, red donut, and the green frogspawn however all remain completley closed. I will keep my "fins crossed" and hope that the LPS corals bounce back in the morning.

Tony: thanks for the suggestions on cleanup, and I think you hit the hammer on the nail when you said that:

Pruning it ... I don't know if it really helps "prevent" but it certainly does help "mitigate" (if that makes any sense). Maybe it helps prevent ... I don't know.

I have always kept this bush small and in control, however over the last few months I let this claupra get to about twice it's normal size. So I'm guessing that is what happened. A few others have told me that this type of event is some what common if claurpa is allowed to grow too large.

Sam: Wow those images look like a carbon copy of my reef this morning Are you sure you didn't drop by and shoot my tank while I was sleeping this morning

I will try to get an image up tomorrow

cheers, Rich

[Samw]

Rich, you didn't starting using CS again did you?

[Jack]

That sucks Rich. I'm always worried about my caulerpa because I've been messing around with photoperiods and now both my 55w bulbs broke on me so it has little light. I'm gonna ditch 3/4 of it tonight with my water change. Glad things cleared up for you and hope your LPS turn around!