strange, my cal is slowly withering away in my main. it's actually coated in
cyano now. I am wondering if this is a sign of a problem in my tank, that I can't grow macro, but I'm overrun with
cyano. any ideas?
What's the waterflow like? Do you have your powerheads at random angles? Do their flows intersect? You need a lot of chaos to combat the
cyano outbreaks. Watermovement wise, that is. And caulerpa like any macro, even though it does eat up nitrates, too high of a nitrate presence will inhibit its growth. 65lbs of liverock might not be enough either, I run 140lbs in my 58. And yes, there is plenty of room left for fish and coral!
Back to the caulerpa thread... for those who say it's a "ticking time bomb" I have to say I think that's a bit dramatic. I've had reef tanks for 10 years now, and never a nuking incident save once, long ago, with a not well researched sea cucumber (seemed like a good idea at the time). To those who say that yes, it's rampantly prolific, I have to agree, but the only time I've ever witnessed caulerpa go sexual was when it began to compete itself for light. Hey, it's a big ocean though, and I can think of other reasons not to use it, but for me, it's been a great addition. Pruning it is great if you're patient, but be warned that small pieces grow into big pieces, and if you're going to prune by hand remove ALL The fragments that result or else you're actually going to end up with more than you started out removing to begin with. Please DON'T FLUSH YOUR CAULERPA PRUNINGS!!! This stuff can very quickly and easily devastate natural ecosystems, especially all you coastal folks. When I do cut mine back, I cut it in long streams, and I let them dry out before throwing them into the garbage, which goes to a above ground landfill. Foxfaces and tangs are great natural grazers, and seem unbothered by caulerpa. My blenny seems to eat it too. You can keep it to the refugium as long as it doesn't get into your return pump. If you're into seahorses caulerpa and sea grass can be utterly invaluable, since it is a GREAT habitat for little shrimps.
And I really don't know why the chaeto sucks so bad in my tank... I have a few balls of it rolling around but it just doesn't remain. It utterly failed in my refugiums. I use
RO/
DI water and have great parameters, so it's beyond me. Maybe it just hates
pc lighting.