Macros going sexual/fuge lighting

[natman2]

How long a photo period is necessary to keep macors in a fuge from going sexual and is this a common thing for them to do?

Right now I am running a 24/7 lighting but I would like to bring that down to maybe 18 hours a day.

Has anyone ever had there macros go sexual and damage water quality or is this more of an urban legend type thing? How much damage can they do if they do go sexual.

My macros are cheato which I have been told are no worry but the caluper is taking off like gang buster and have been told they can go sexual.

 

[Hara]

it is not an urban legend. your tank will become cloudy when it happens and you will need to do some major water changes and add carbon to get it under control. You can help prevent this by trimming back the caulerpa every now and then. The caulerpa vines tend to turn clearish looking just before the event takes place, although this is easy to miss. I keep my fuge lighting on 24/7 and it has not happened in the tank with the fuge. I have had it happen in my cube tank that had normal light cycles.

 

[natman2]

Ok; I guess I will phase out the caulerpa in my fuge by feeding it to my tang. If left with just cheato I should then be alright with an 18 hour lighting period??

I bought the yellow tang to take care of my hair algae but didn't realize he would mow through it as fast as he has (about 4 days) maybe I didn't have as much of a hair algae problem as I thought.

 

[Hara]

yes, chaeto is safe as far as that goes.