Added Feather Caulerpa - Skimmer Goes Nuts

[SkinnyPete]

Any reason why my skimmer would fill the collection cup in a matter of hours following adding a small amount of feather caulerpa to the main tank? I noticed that some of the "feathers" were opaque. I don't know if that's a bad thing. I'm not sure what "going sexual" actually looks like, but I'm wondering if something happened and part of it went sexual, causing my skimmer to wig out.

I know - it's kind of vague but any help would be....well....helpful.

- Skins

[Hara]

when the leaves go opaque, that is a sign of it going getting ready to go sexual. The spawning event itself will turn the water milky looking.

[SkinnyPete]

So, I removed the caulerpa that looked opaque. I have only a few tiny strands in there now. The water DOES look a little "milky". It just looks cloudier than normal and my skimmer continues to go NUTS. It's taking out light green tea looking skimmate and I have to reduce it way down so it doesn't overflow.

Could these events be related? Just wondering if some of this caulerpa could have gone sexual before I removed it. Would this be how my skimmer would react? I just did a water change before this so I don't have any water on hand. I'm going to try to make some up now and do a change tomorrow. I hope everything will remain stable. I have about 140 gallons of water in this system so I'm hoping if it is a sexual event, it isn't too drastic.

[Devilishturtles]

Yes. I agree with Hara. The plants likely had a sexual event where they released a lot of gametes into the water, which is the cloudiness you see and is what you skimmer is trying to pull out. A big water change would help a lot. They can starve oxygen out of your water too, so I would mix water for atleast an hour then do your water change. There shouldn't be any issues with the water so long as it's well mixed/aerated and the temperature is correct.

[SkinnyPete]

I'm making up more water now. I'm just not sure how, if some of this DID go sexual, this will affect my tank in the short term. I probably won't be able to do a WC until tomorrow. Is this considered an emergency? Are there specific parameters I should check?