caulerpa

[chris_h]

Will caulerpa grow faster if illuminated all day long?

 

[Goldmoon]

I see no one answered you yet.

So I will try to describe my experience.
We have a refugium with all kinds of caulerpa in it with the normal lights that comes with small aquarium on 24/7. And we have another aquarium with pc lights (2x65 watts etc) with grape caulerpa, money plant and blue ball in and some unknown macroalgae growing on the rocks. The lights are on about 12 hours a day. I do not really see much difference in the growth. In both tanks the plants are growing like crazy.
I know this is not of much help

since I can not tell if the amount of hours on one compensate for the watt the other offers. Or if we would not keep it 24/7 if it would grow as fast. Hope you will have more accurate answers. Good luck

 

[randy holmes-farley]

IMO, there is no simple answer to that question. It will depend upon what is limiting the caulerpa growth, which might include lighting, or a whole host of nutrients.

 

[McFred]

my freshman college botany class said that plants use the dark period to take all of the sugars made during the light period and regenerate and grow off. in other words there should be a dark period but as to how long i do not know. hope this helps.

 

[McFred]

my freshman college botany class said that plants use the dark period to take all of the sugars made during the light period and regenerate and grow off. in other words there should be a dark period but as to how long i do not know. hope this helps.

 

[ShipMate]

I switched from a 24/7 to a 14h on/10h off reverse cycle with the tank and the caulerpa in particular looks much healthier with more growth then before although not a spectacular change as far as growth imo.
'hope this helps.

 

[esmithiii]

McFred,

Most plants do not require a "Dark Period", but the "Dark Cycle" refered to in your biology class simply means that it can occur in the absence of light, not that it must be dark for the cycle to occur. Most biology books take care to point this out.

E

 

[esmithiii]

Also, I have a reverse cycle refugium that is lit 14 hrs and my caulerpa grows like crazy. I think the growth is due more to the level of nutrients in the water column in my case, though. I also think that dosing kalk appears to help mine grow as well, but I could not explain why.

E

 

[mweber]

When I switched from 24/7 to 16/8 it caused a total breakdown through reproduction. I was left with just a few scraps to rebuild with. I would suggest harvesting most before you switch, and then gradually cut back. Possibly 22/2 for 3 days, 20/4 for 3 days, ect.