Where'd that cloud come from...?

[TANGOMAN]

Ever have one of those days when you're "kikkin'" around the house and the tank lights come and it's like "what the %@~! is goin' in there ? Well todays MY day. My tank, the 60g corner, is clouded in like the Vancouver airport. The Caulerpa growth that was doing so well is "bleeding out". A similar occurance happened a couple of weeks ago but minor in comparison and it was clear the next morning. I did do a 5 gallon water change yesterday and I noticed a slight smell that was different. I haven't seen my Emerald Crab for two days and I figure if I don't see it in another day or two a search team may have to go in to gather the remains. Or should I leave it and let the hermits clean it up ? The tank has been without fish for a few months thanks to some un-invited parasites I'd rather not talk about. My "beginner corals",mushrooms,and inverts.(aside from MIA "Gringo the crab") are all doing VERY well. I haven't been adding Iron supplements for the Caulerpa as it was doing well without and it's not the only form of algae that benefits from it... I do my partial water changes religiously and I am using Iodine, and Strontium/Mb supplements.
Foam production in the skimmer is nil today, a result of the oils released from the Caulerpa can I presume ?
So, Bla,bla,bla,,,Should I supplement with Iron in the absence of fish ? Should I remove the Caulerpa that is dying or all of it ? Increase flow through GAC canister ? Or should I just turn the lights off and go do some maintenance on my 90g ? Thanks for any input. Doug.

[Delphinus]

Sounds like your caulerpa sporalated aka "went sexual."

Unfortunately it just happens. When it happens to me, I just run some carbon, but basically, it just clears on its own in a day or two.

The one real kicker though, is that all the NO3 and PO4 that the caulerpa had sucked out of the water .... is right back in the water now. Some things don't do too well with a sudden jump like that, if the increase is big enough. So, watch out for stressed out critters, if it takes longer than a day or two to come back to normal then you might need to do a water change, or something.

That's the one drawback of caulerpa. Halimeda too -- although not as often. About the only things that don't sporalate, reputedly, are sea grasses/eel grasses, and that spaghetti type algae (super strong strands, tough like a brillo pad .... the proper name escapes me right now).

[ron101]

If you mean that your tank is a cloudy green color and the caulerpa is going white then it is going 'sexual'. Periodically it will release, for lack of a better word, spores for reproductive purposes.

When it happened to me I just cut it right back and eventually the skimmer cleared up the water. Supposedly regular prunings can keep the reproductive behavior in check but have not verified that personally.

[Delphinus]

I've kind of wondered about the pruning issue. It seems to me there are two possibilities: 1) the caulerpa is constantly regrowing the parts that it lost, so it "forgets" to sporalate. Or.. 2) the caulerpa is pruned back to the point such that "at any one time" there isn't a whole swack of caulerpa in the tank (because left unchecked this stuff grows and grows and grows), and thus "less caulerpa" == "less chance of sporalation" or at least "less of it TO sporalate, so less noticeable."

Or something like that...

[Bob I]

Funny stuff that Caulerpa. As most of you know I grow tons of it in my refugia (is that the plural of refugium :?: ) It has not sporulated for a long time. I do throw handfuls away quite often just to keep it in check.
(Please note I said nothing about anyone possibly not spelling sporulate correctly) :P

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by rcipema

refugia (is that the plural of refugium :?: )

It is...

[Troy F]

Originally Posted by rcipema

(Please note I said nothing about anyone possibly not spelling sporulate correctly) :P

[Delphinus]

[TANGOMAN]

Hey Tony, I'm unclear on the message you are trying to send with that little hand. Isn't the index finger used to state "your'e number one !" ? I always thought the middle finger meant...Ooops, now I get it...
I'm sure you all woke up this morning wondering how things were lookin' in my 60g. I was too, so "sunrise" came a little earlier than usual today and you can all rest easy now as I'm happy to report the "cloud cover" has dissipated and the "sun is shining brightly" today. I "cranked" up the flow through my GAC canister yesterday. My Caulerpa looks like the produce one might find in the dumpster behind Safeway though. And before you jump on that one, no, I don't go rummaging through dumpsters behind Safeway ! Should I clean out the "sexually exhausted" stuff or does it just need to have a smoke now and rest... What do ya'all think about Iron supplements for Caulerpa in a system without fish ???
Oh ya', I'm calling off the recovery team for "Gringo the Crab" as he was waving to me this morning through the glass. Perhaps he went lookin' for a rendevuos of his own...?

[Delphinus]

Good to hear the water's cleared!

Yes, I would pull out the "spent" caulerpa. It's done, all it's going to do is decompose. As long as you leave a little bit of green stuff behind, it will recover. When I was actively pruning caulerpa in my systems, I would pull out literally about 90% of it. Due to laziness I've stopped. I wish I hadn't stopped. It is going to be a very large effort of cleaning my 75g of it (and kelp). The stuff is everywhere!!