When to prune caulpera

[abe77901]

How does one know when its time to prune back caulpera in a refugium. And how much do you prune back and how much do you leave. i have some die off on top of the water in my fuge... :sick

[GaryP]

In the wild Caulerpa is constantly grazed by herbivores. By being grazed it is constantly growing at a rapid pace. Rapidly growing plants will absorb more nutrients than those that are static. Based on this, my suggestion is to remove the caulerpa on a regular basis, perhaps weekly. Depending on the type of caulerpa and the inhabitants of your tank you might want to feed it to the tank.

Think of it in terms of your lawn. If you mow regularly the grass grows more rapidly amd absorbs more nutrients and water. If you let it stay long it doesn't grow as fast.

[NaCl_H2O]

I "prune" my fuge about once every two weeks or when it is crowding out the surface of the water and blocking light. I "prune" by yanking out handfuls of caulerpa until i'm down to 50% or less of what was there - a very precise task ;)

[GaryP]

I like NaCl's pruning method. It sounds alot like my own.

My wife and I spent the better part of Sat. trying to get all of the Caulerpa out of my fuge. I'm going to try to go with Chaeto only. My Tangs are as fat as I have ever seen them. They have a lot to graze on and I still threw away a bucket full.

[Tim Marvin]

I'll have to second NaCl. If it is turning clear you should take those parts out when you prune.

[NaCl_H2O]

Tim's right, pull out the stuff that has gone asexual (white or clear ... lost its color).

Also, look through what you yank out a little - probably lots of tiny stars and other goodies you may want to pluck out and put back into the fuge. But don't get too carried away - this can be very time consuming!

[christerrell2k3]

well, if anyone has some stuff to throw out and little time to relax i would love to get some of that from you, just got my new tank so im gettinf my fige ready

[GaryP]

I think some folks were going to bring some spare macros to the meeting this weekend.