Macro algae turning white

[savannafish]

Does anyone know why my macro algae has been turning white? I tried looking it up but I got lots of different answers. Is it bad? Good? I’m just not sure. I want to add some coral into my tank soon but now with this I’m not so sure of this is a good idea.

Thanks to anyone who helps

[coralbandit]

Your caulerpa is going 'sexual' .. Dying off. Not unusual at all.
http://r.search.aol.com/_ylt=AwrJ6ys...4I0mf5zu3dRlA-
Not sure what you found but if you look up macros going sexual you will find plenty of info...

[savannafish]

Originally Posted by coralbandit

Your caulerpa is going 'sexual' .. Dying off. Not unusual at all.
http://r.search.aol.com/_ylt=AwrJ6ys...4I0mf5zu3dRlA-
Not sure what you found but if you look up macros going sexual you will find plenty of info...

This is what shows up when I open your link :/. I will do more research when I get home but is that a bad thing? And what can I do to stop it?

[savannafish]

Ok so from what I am understanding is that this is just part of the life cycle of the algae and the release of nutrients? I watched a video of this guy with an all macro algae tank and he said it was normal and to just prune the “clear” pieces out. I have noticed an increase of Cyanobacteria in my tank...could this be the reason? I also saw somewhere else that it could crash my tank?! Ahh I honestly had no idea this could happen my tank has been doing so good these past few months now when I finally get some plants in it it goes crazy

[Sniperhank]

This is why caulerpa is an awful macro. Going sexual cam kill systems if it all goes.
People avoid this by using alternating lighting and 24 hours of light on them.

[coralbandit]

I only now keep cheato in my sump..
Your caulerpa is 'prolifera' sp. which is not so hard to get rid of ,but if you had racemorsa you would probably eventually be very sorry...It took months to completely kill with daily H202 in my last set up ,and some how it is in my sump now growing on my algae turf scrubber !
Most usually really regret ever letting it in their tank even though it looks 'nice '...

[savannafish]

Originally Posted by Sniperhank

This is why caulerpa is an awful macro. Going sexual cam kill systems if it all goes.
People avoid this by using alternating lighting and 24 hours of light on them.

So if I buy a different type of macro algae this shouldn’t happen? Just that species? Also should I take it out?

[savannafish]

Originally Posted by coralbandit

I only now keep cheato in my sump..
Your caulerpa is 'prolifera' sp. which is not so hard to get rid of ,but if you had racemorsa you would probably eventually be very sorry...It took months to completely kill with daily H202 in my last set up ,and some how it is in my sump now growing on my algae turf scrubber !
Most usually really regret ever letting it in their tank even though it looks 'nice '...

Yes it’s so pretty I would never of imagined this ever happening to my tank! My god! Maybe that’s why I had problems in my other tabk, I always had caulerpa in it🤨 should I take it out of my tank and do massive water changes?

[Sniperhank]

Cheato is algae that won’t go sexual on you and dump the nutrients back into the water column.
I’d remove the caulerpa and replace it with cheato, since it is much safer to use.

[savannafish]

Originally Posted by Sniperhank

Cheato is algae that won’t go sexual on you and dump the nutrients back into the water column.
I’d remove the caulerpa and replace it with cheato, since it is much safer to use.

Ok thank you, I will take it out when I get home from school. Are there other types of macro algae’s besides cheato that won’t go sexual?

[Sniperhank]

Not to my knowledge. I don’t use these algae as nutrient management. I have an algae turf scrubbers and use hair algae.

[coralbandit]

The Prolifera you have and Mexicana are the least invasive and not as bad as the 'grape' macros like racemorsa…They are the worst and hard to get rid of often..
The cheato will not look as nice in your tank.It is like green tumble weed and does not grow roots or leaves...
For most they use the macros or algae for nutrient removal like hank said and not as 'deco'. Few place them directly in tank .You may be able to control the prolifera if you just clip leaves off it regulary instead of waiting for it to loose them naturally ,but all macros go sexual eventually .

[savannafish]

Originally Posted by coralbandit

The Prolifera you have and Mexicana are the least invasive and not as bad as the 'grape' macros like racemorsa…They are the worst and hard to get rid of often..
The cheato will not look as nice in your tank.It is like green tumble weed and does not grow roots or leaves...
For most they use the macros or algae for nutrient removal like hank said and not as 'deco'. Few place them directly in tank .You may be able to control the prolifera if you just clip leaves off it regulary instead of waiting for it to loose them naturally ,but all macros go sexual eventually .

Hmm that’s real bummer the store I buy all my sw fish from use macro as decorations so I just assumed it was ok. I’m still learning haha so this is good info. I will take it out this weekend and do some water changes. Do u think the water should be ok to put some coral in? I was planning on buying it this week but now i will work on getting the macro out. I will but it next weekend if all goes well.

[savannafish]

Originally Posted by Sniperhank

Not to my knowledge. I don’t use these algae as nutrient management. I have an algae turf scrubbers and use hair algae.

Alrighty, thanks for the info!

[melosu58]

I have it in my tank but only to feed my tangs. Just don't overtake the tank with it.

[savannafish]

Originally Posted by melosu58

I have it in my tank but only to feed my tangs. Just don't overtake the tank with it.

Yea I didn’t plan on adding any more macro to the tank before this thread even started, I’m not going to anymore. However, will the tank be ok to put corals in? I’m adding some in next weekend and I just want to make sure everything is safe before I add some in.

[Autumnsky]

I have had all the nice looking Macro Algae and ended with bad experiences in the Grape or bell looking one, greatly.

Bad

pics from 2016


I have a hard head so didn't get rid of most of it and kept some and just did it over again and have had huge melt downs about 3 times. (only have nano tanks)

Now have Prolifera like yours which I pull out to leave just a few leaves every month probably. It gets mad when changes happen. Like in evap and refilling with a larger amount of RO in a day, or changes in light and who knows what else causes this to blanch.

Sometimes it is just the tips from maybe too much lighting. There is a tiny bit of Mexican fern which pops up once in awhile I will pull out during the clean ups.

One I DO keep and really, really love so far have had since I got a little bit from a guy at MACNA Late summer 2014 is Black Codium there is also some referred to as Green, Mine has green tint to it too. It is all the way to the top of the Edge tank now. Planning on a nano upgrade so it might grow taller.
2016


I don't seem to have a current pic loaded atm, but here it is when I added a couple chunks to the more recent tank. This was a part near the sand and it got much less light so more green looking.

It stays sort of globe shaped and very mannerly some small parts will break off but it is a kind of slow grower but nice shape and looks so interesting. I do not have a high output light in the tanks (6.6G Edge and 12G rimless)

Pods love it the little fish and crabs will hang out in it and especially the Dwarf Brittle stars like it.

[Autumnsky]

You can check with John at Reef Cleaners.

I haven't seen it anywhere for sale around my lfs.
https://www.reefcleaners.org/growing-guides

[savannafish]

Originally Posted by Autumnsky

I have had all the nice looking Macro Algae and ended with bad experiences in the Grape or bell looking one, greatly.

Bad

pics from 2016


I have a hard head so didn't get rid of most of it and kept some and just did it over again and have had huge melt downs about 3 times. (only have nano tanks)

Now have Prolifera like yours which I pull out to leave just a few leaves every month probably. It gets mad when changes happen. Like in evap and refilling with a larger amount of RO in a day, or changes in light and who knows what else causes this to blanch.

Sometimes it is just the tips from maybe too much lighting. There is a tiny bit of Mexican fern which pops up once in awhile I will pull out during the clean ups.

One I DO keep and really, really love so far have had since I got a little bit from a guy at MACNA Late summer 2014 is Black Codium there is also some referred to as Green, Mine has green tint to it too. It is all the way to the top of the Edge tank now. Planning on a nano upgrade so it might grow taller.
2016


I don't seem to have a current pic loaded atm, but here it is when I added a couple chunks to the more recent tank. This was a part near the sand and it got much less light so more green looking.

It stays sort of globe shaped and very mannerly some small parts will break off but it is a kind of slow grower but nice shape and looks so interesting. I do not have a high output light in the tanks (6.6G Edge and 12G rimless)

Pods love it the little fish and crabs will hang out in it and especially the Dwarf Brittle stars like it.

So you have had good and bad experiences with macros?? I still haven’t taken it out because I wanted more inputs. I think I’m just going to prune the macros and keep the good parts and see what happens. I’ve checked all my water parameters and everything is normal so I’m not quite sure what to do.