Chaetomorpha swamp????

[coralmex]

I have a 265 gal, mainly SPS, display tank.... It is about 3 yrs running as a reef tank... My parameters (nitrates, Phos, Silicates) have historically run near, or at, undetectable....

A few weeks ago I decided to add, in line, a refugium with Chaetomorpha and some live rock I had been preparing for the dispaly (never got around to use) on a 24 hr light scheme (1- 96 watt PC - 10K)... To my disbelief the tank has turned into a murky "swamp"..... The rock is convered in green hair algae, I tank is loaded with brown Algae, and the surface of the water in the tank had a slimey layer (skim).... However the Chaeto has grown 5 x 6X in the few weeks and the display water quality looks good, all params are undectable.. And the corals seem to have increase polyp ext.... I have "alot" of water flow through the refugium...

Have I created a nutrient sink that will hurt my animals (coral, fich, etc) later?

Or is this normal???

 

[Curtswearing]

Be thankful you didn't put that rock in your display tank. Otherwise, this mess would have happened there. It must have been absolutely loaded with phosphates and/or had substantial die-off.

I personally would pull that rock out and continue curing it in a separate bucket or tank but you never know....the worst might already be over.

 

[coralmex]

Curtswearing...

I would have thought the same but.... The rock has been curing for 2 months prior in a large container, the skimmer, and weekly water changes.... I cleaned the rock of dead material on a couple of occasions... The curing vessel had no lighting... I would think that the rock would be cured???

 

[Curtswearing]

Curtswearing...

I would have thought the same but.... The rock has been curing for 2 months prior in a large container, the skimmer, and weekly water changes.... I cleaned the rock of dead material on a couple of occasions... The curing vessel had no lighting... I would think that the rock would be cured???

OK....then it was just loaded with phosphates then. Currently the algaes are absorbing the P that is liberated. I would leave it then but I would recommend switching to a reverse fuge lighting scheme.

 

[Anthony Calfo]

Chaetomorpha and some live rock I had been preparing for the dispaly (never got around to use) on a 24 hr light scheme

Yikes! Chaetomorpha is NOT one of those rare algae that can remain in stasis with 24/7 lighting (you are thinking of Caulerpa).

Chaetomorpha needs to respire with a night (no light) period.

 

[coralmex]

Anthony,

I decided to go with the 24/7 lighting for the Chaeto after reading an article by Daniel Knop in the Feb 2006 Coral magazine... He made mention that Joe Yaiullo from Atlantis on Long ISland was lighting the Chaeto in that fashion????

What is your recommendation to lighting????

 

[Anthony Calfo]

some people do light their algae 24/7 and it works for many months. But it will usually nuke the colony prematurely. 24/7 illumination is extremely unnatural and few marine algae (nary photosynthetic organisms at large) can endure if even survive the exposure without a period of respiration (night).

Regardless... your colony will simply thrive better with a normal photoperiod. Do check out my list of fav links stickied atop this forum. In that list is a posty for "discussions" and an entry in the extensive alphabetical list for "refugia"

Therein you will find a huge thread on Chaetomorpha with recommendations on lighting, water flow and feedback from many folks to give you an informed consensus from more than just a single perspective.

 

[Curtswearing]

I hope you don't mind my 2 cents here Anthony. Once Caulerpa goes into 'stasis' it stops being as efficient. Sure, you're not going to have as many 'sexual' events but the efficiency of their nutrient absorbtion lowers too.

I personally don't recommend lighting any macro 24/7. If you want to run a macro that stops going "sexual" under that circumstance, there are MANY better ways to solve that than lighting 24/7.

 

[coralmex]

Thanks Anthony..... Curtswearing....

 

[reverendmaynard]

Excuse me if this is hijacking but...

I'm currently running my 'fuge on 24 hour lighting. It contains a variety of macros including cheato, grape caulerpa, feather caulerpa, and blade caulerpa (prolifera?). What can I do to change to a reverse lighting scheme without causing the caulerpa to go sexual? I have a seahorse tank (running 12 on/12 off lighting) that I transferred some of the blade caulerpa into, and, while it gerw well at first, portions of it went sexual once every 2 or 3 weeks before I pulled it all out.

 

[bbehring]

I run my cheato off cycle of my main tank lighting for only 8 hours. Seems to be doing fine. Is the 8 hour photo period ok?

 

[acrodesiac]

Wow, I've been running cheato on 24/7 lighting for 3 years now I had no idea this was not a good idea. I haven't had any problems yet but I'm definately going to look further into the matter. Thanks for the heads up

 

[Anthony Calfo]

acrod.... there are reasons for your success (possibly regular pruning)

Can you show us a pic of this Chaeto colony and application?