Why refugium?

[Lisaod12]

I have a Wet/dry that hangs over the back of my tank and I guess it might be good to slowly remove the bio balls, add a new really good skimmer and keep the Wet/dry about 1/2 filled with water on the back as a refugium?

I have no intention of putting light over this, will this be a problem?
It's close enough to the tank that if I remove the prefilter, it will get some light, but maybe not enough for Caulerpa. I guess I'm not sure what the benefits are of having this. Either with or without algea in it.

Anyone have any thoughts on this? My big issue is reducing my Nitrates, that's why I want to get rid of the bio balls.

[RedDragon]

well Lisa thats what the caulerpa do, it takes in the nitrates,and if you use a refugium you want to put it after the before the skimmer, so the caulerpa gets the most out of the water than go throw the skimmer and into your tank, here's a link http://www.fishpalace.org/C_racemosa.html

[fx300]

I am having problems keeping my calurpa alive. Is it because I was not trimming it lately? It started growing a lot when I had just gotten it but now no more. I have actually found many pieces broken off on the ground and I don't want to lose it all. One thing I did notice is this fine alga that started growing on it. Very fine looking hair type of algae with green color. Your advice is greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,
Fabian
:?

[fx300]

mjm.. I guess I must start triming it more ofthen and giving it away to someone.... Once the pieces break off they start turning white does this means it is turning sexual? :shock: What is sexual any ways? Does it mean it is becoming a male/female? I am just a bit confuse that is all.

[Charley]

As I understand it, Caulerpa goes “sexual” by releasing gametes into the water column, along with other nutrients. This lowers the pH of a tank as well as the O2 levels as it pollutes the tank with these gametes. In addition, these gametes can attach themselves to rocks inside the aquarium and begin growing there. So aside from the low O2 / pH issues, there is the potential of having a bloom of Caulerpa in the main system.

Charley

[Charley]

As a follow-up to my last post, the sites where I found this information contained some interesting notes. Many of them mentioned running a RDP (reverse daylight photoperiod), as a way to level off pH swings in a tank, and slow down the instances of sexual reproduction. They also mentioned running a 24/7 lighting setup which they claim keeps Caulerpa from going sexual.

Another site pointed to maintaining Iron (Fe) levels in the tank as a way to keep Caulerpa happy in a tank without it feeling the need to spread. Through non-scientific polling of users, they have determined that people maintaining Iron in their tanks were less likely to see blooms.

It appears as though there are more than a few ideas from folks out there like us.

Charley

[fx300]

All of this is very interesting, I must reseach it also to know the full effect of this interesting plant. Thank you for your great info. I will get back with you on what I will do. I have done the RDP (reverse daylight photoperiod), as mentioned here for a few weeks already. The process continues to ocurr and hope that by researching more on it I can have more sucess with this plant.

Fabian

[Lisaod12]

Joshua,
where do you find the chaetomorpha? I'd be interesting getting some.

[TexasState]

Here's some reprint from different reef/marine magazines:
http://www.ecosystemaquarium.com/html/News.html