plant life in refugium is dying

[Sea Turtle]

I have noticed that a lot of the plant life in my refugium has been thinning out and even dying. What usually causes this to happen. My tank is doing very well now and I have removed most of the neutrients from the water. Could they be dying off from a lack of phosphates?

 

[Len]

Lack of nutrients certainly could do it. What algae are you using in your fuge?

 

[Sea Turtle]

Mainly Feather Caulerpa, then some Grape Caulerpa and some Chaeto. The Feather Caulerpa is the one that seems to be having the trouble.

 

[Anonymous]

It's got to have something live off of, Turt. You'd better clean out what's dying before it goes all sexual on you and infects the whole set-up. Bring it back really hard, then let it grow back, I think that it will 'grow into' available nutrients and stop there.

 

[Sea Turtle]

Ahhhhhhhhhhh if I get that stuff in my tank there will be hell to pay. I think that I might just remove all of it and just use the chaeto.

 

[Len]

Caulerpa do this all the time. The feather Caulerpa often go "sexual" and will turn white, release gametes, and die off. Caulerpa is not a good choice for refugiums. Use the Chaeto or find some or Gracilia ... they're much better, and tang-edible too

 

[Sea Turtle]

Do you think that I should be able to remove it from the refugium successfully?

 

[Len]

I would remove Caulerpa (as much of it as you can). I just don't like Caulerpa. You probably won't get it all, but no harm if you don't remove it all.

 

[Len]

I forgot: it's important to dispose of it properly. Don't dump it in sewage or any place it can find its way to the ocean. Caulpera infestation is a big problem around the world now.

 

[Sea Turtle]

oooooooops. :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

I think macros do go through a cycle even without the sexual thing.

If you nitrates drop down then they will slow down growth and you can start having cyano.

also the display algae like corraling and even the corals may have expanded enough they are starving the macros.

It is also possible that the tank is iron starved and dosing small amounts can help the macros. I use ferris gluconate from the drug store dissolving a capsule in a 12 oz bottle then adding a capfull each week.

my .02

 

[Sea Turtle]

I think macros do go through a cycle even without the sexual thing.

If you nitrates drop down then they will slow down growth and you can start having cyano.

also the display algae like corraling and even the corals may have expanded enough they are starving the macros.

It is also possible that the tank is iron starved and dosing small amounts can help the macros. I use ferris gluconate from the drug store dissolving a capsule in a 12 oz bottle then adding a capfull each week.

my .02

This won’t bring back nuisance algae will it?

 

[Anonymous]

I think macros do go through a cycle even without the sexual thing.

If your nitrates drop down then they will slow down growth and you can start having cyano.

also the display algae like corraling and even the corals may have expanded enough they are starving the macros.

It is also possible that the tank is iron starved and dosing small amounts can help the macros. I use ferris gluconate from the drug store dissolving a capsule in a 12 oz bottle then adding a capfull each week.

my .02

This won’t bring back nuisance algae will it?

Cyano is the real concern.

The iron dosing is supposed to help the macros but not the hair and cyano.

 

[Sea Turtle]

Ok, I'll give the iron a try and see if that helps at all.

 

[Sea Turtle]

Ok, I removed all of the Caulerpa last night from the refugium. The only thing in there is Chaeto. I am just a little worried though becasue when I did this, small pieces were floating around in the display tank. I hope that they don't settle somewhere and start growing.

 

[Anonymous]

Caulerpa do this all the time. The feather Caulerpa often go "sexual" and will turn white, release gametes, and die off. Caulerpa is not a good choice for refugiums. Use the Chaeto or find some or Gracilia ... they're much better, and tang-edible too

Caulerpa does and it doesn't "do this all the time". If it's well-fed it won't. If it's kept trimmed back HARD, it generally won't. I my experience with it (looooooooong before it became illegal to have it in Cali) it responds to abuse, cut it DOWN, and it'll come back stronger and harder, often looking fantastic.

But, I agree that Chaeto is probably a better choice, along with some other macroalgaes that aren't quite so problematic as the Caulerpa genus is.

Do you think that I should be able to remove it from the refugium successfully?

Likely not a 100% removal. But if you keep at the stuff (go ahead, just yank it out, it doesn't mind) then you can/should be able to prevent it from getting all sexy on you.

 

[Sea Turtle]

Yes, there are small roots in the sand that I wasn't able to remove. I am sure that they will probably grow right back. I will try my best to remove it as it grows. I just hope that it hasn;t made its way into the main tank.

 

[Anonymous]

As I said, in my experience you can keep it going for quite a long time (several years for my systems) if you keep it trimmed back really hard. If it does grow back just yank it out, it likes it.