Did I get ripped off?

[Ram_Puppy]

Richard, the red seaweed on rock...

Botryocladia sp

my favorite macro so far. (not becuase it's good at sucking out nutrients, but because it's perty!)

[brewercm]

Ram_Puppy
If Cpreefguy doesn't have any give me a yell. My Cheato doesn't grow as fast but I do have enough I can spare some. Now if you decide you want some razor caulerpa I usually have some that can be pruned. I don't do grape caulerpa any more since I had an outbreak get into my main tank one time.

Warning: I have seen some aptasia on some of the caulerpa from time to time when pruning, can probably just remove that section though.

[GaryP]

Well here are a few things I noted from your last post.

I thinned out my fuge the other day and found I had some cyano growing on top of the caulerpa. So much for that theory. Since it was isolated in the fuge I wasn't worried about it. and manually removed it. I have a mixture of macros in my fuge. Maiden's cup seems to have out competed 2 other types of caulerpa (feather & bubble) in there. I also have Chaeto in the fuge.

The mysis and pods are probably feeding on the detritus in your sump. I would consider just siphoning out the detritus and leaving the sand bed alone. You don't want to make that sort of major change in the middle of your experiment anyway.

Testing for phosphates - Unless you are using some sort of instrumentation besides a regular hobbyist test kit, testing will only give you results for ortho phosphate. The real culprit is usually meta phosphate. If you get a positive for ortho you usually have a really big problem.

Cyano - the cause of cyano is usually detritus buildup and a resulting decrease in localized Redox in areas where detritus accumulates. The best solution for this is detritivores (small hermits, microstars, nassarius, Kole Tangs) and increased circulation. The cyano may be getting the phosphates directly from the source (detritus) and not from phosphates in the bulk water. Circulation is a bit tricky because where you need it the most is in areas that are protected from flow such as the base of rockscape and in recessed areas of the rockscape. In addition, especially in the case of at the base of the rockscape, increasing flow here can result in blowing sand. HTH

[GaryP]

One more thing. You mentioned tap water as being a source of phosphates. Tap water may have a small concentration of phosphates. However, that is microscopic in comparison to the amount you put into your tank in the form of food every day. Food containes around 1% phosphate on a dry weight basis. Uneaten food and fish waste are the real culprits when it comes to phosphates. Not tap water.

[discuspro]

I don't have anything to feed so nothing is put in, so I wouldn't know where extra phos gets into the system. The only thing that goes into my tank is new water for water changes, kalkwasser, RO-DI topoff.

[discuspro]

Just had an idea. Maybe a whole bunch of aerobic bacteria died when little oxygen had been provided on the sand bed, creating the detritus in the sump, and has thus provided nutrients or something to feed cyano? Also, what are the effects, on the tank, of Sulphur or what ever sulphur product the anoxic zone may make?

[cpreefguy]

hey Cpreefguy, how is theat Cheato doing BTW? since my 30 crashed I am fresh out... soon as I get my refugium up, if you still have some, I might hit you up for a re-fill.

It did great, but I sold it along with my 58 gallon, sorry :(

[Ram_Puppy]

no biggie! there are plenty of people I can get some from!

Brewer, If you like Macros for being pretty, the Botryocladia is a grape algae, but it is NOT related to caulerpa, it is infact a red algae. It's slow growing (from my experience). just a very prety macro.

I want to get ochtodes as well, just cause it's perty.