Caulerpa nightmare - need advice for recovery

[funkmuffin]

EDIT: Key question: Caulerpa gone invasive, including in the sand bed. How best to get rid of every bit in the sand?

Hi - My tank has been up and running for 2 years. It's fairly stable. Except for when something breaks out and takes over.

First it was dinos - lost a bunch of corals in that fight. Eventually solved with a strong, permanently installed UV sterilizer. In the process of fighting it though, I tried adding a couple pieces of 'real' live rock. MANY MANY hitchhikers came along for the ride. Brittle stars, 3 new snail species, bristle worms, etc. Most importantly though, also bubble algae and a prolific caulerpa species...

Fast forward. After proper recovery from the dino problem, the macro took off. That was OK at the time - I was letting the tank sorta settle down and mature.

So I pulled each piece of rock off to a bucket of tank water and removed every bit of the macro with tweasers. Tank looked great, the new corals I added did well until the macro came roaring back, and in so many places that I simply can't keep up, mainly because I can't keep removing all the rocks every couple weeks to pick macro off of them. As it grows, N and P drop to undetectable and all my SPS wither and die. LPS doing just fine, oddly.

So now, I want to deal with the scourge once and for all. It's got a foothold on every piece of rock in the tank, it's in the sand, it's on the back wall. I can change out the rock (letting new pieces culture in the sump so I don't have any ammonia spikes), but what on earth do I do to get rid of every bit of macro hiding in my sand bed? Remove it? "Sift" it?

TIA

 

[Doctorgori]

funny, or not so funny, this was. a common scenario 20yrs ago....it’s happened to a few of us I’m sure,.... I hate to tell ya ...you just gotta keep pulling...and pulling

 

[gentlefish]

That’s difficult and I don’t want you to give up on the hobby. Long route -elbow grease. Short route- Caulpera may well be fluconazole sensitive (pls do more research here), some people swear by Vibrant for bubble algae. Try to do all the research you can possibly do before deciding on the right way forward for yourself.

 

[Doctorgori]

oh yes, Vibrant can melt macros, not so much on ulva but it melted my chaeto, I say try it

 

[Awesome Dennis]

How big is the tank? Sounds like you need an herbivore.

 

[funkmuffin]

How big is the tank? Sounds like you need an herbivore.

It’s a 55 gallon 24” cube. Not much room.

 

[OrionN]

24 gal is easy. Just take the rock out and clean them of algae. It take you 30 mins

 

[funkmuffin]

24 gal is easy. Just take the rock out and clean them of algae. It take you 30 mins

55 gal, but anyway, I’ve done that multiple times. It comes back. And it’s a super pain with corals mounted to the rocks

 

[OrionN]

55 gal, but anyway, I’ve done that multiple times. It comes back. And it’s a super pain with corals mounted to the rocks

Take care and remove everything. Redo it before it get out of hand.
For a small tank like your, there is no option other than elbow grease.
I never use Vibrant, becasue I don't trust the stuff. Only large hungry tangs will eat Caulerpa. I have been there and done that. Believe me, it not any where rear deserving the "nightmare" label as far as reef problems or reef pests are concern.

 

[brandon429]

Look what we did against tankwide ulva here

Reef2Reef Pest algae challenge thread hydrogen peroxide

Thank you for the quick reply and guidance. it Is a Waterbox 100.3 so a take down is fairly easy. Went through it to get all the fish out a month ago and is no problem. All corals on plugs aside from the nem so that is also a non issue. Conchs, snails, hermits, fire and cleaner shrimp is all...

www.reef2reef.com

* do a test rock

take out one rock with target


squirt or pour peroxide across the surface and hit the algae but don’t remove it

wet it with peroxide. Let sit in air 3 mins rinse off put the algae rock back

i bet it zaps the algae most caulerpa are highly susceptible to peroxide. Pre test first

then do it all, there’s pages of patterns above.

if your test rock works, we would remove the rocks and still physically remove it but now with peroxide on clean spots, killing holdfasts.

post pics of this tank to check for neomeris, the unbeatable strain. If not neomeris annulata I bet we can beat it.

 

[OrionN]

My tangs and foxface love Caulerpa. I grow these in my refugium and put them in the main tank as treat for them.
Here are pictures of my algae rock in my tank over three days. I remove them at the third day stage so they can regrow in my refugium to be use again.
There are a lot of worms in the rock too and the CBB also get his fill of food. One of the best way to feed fish IMO.
day 1

Day 2

Day 3

 

[CMMorgan]

My tangs and foxface love Caulerpa. I grow these in my refugium and put them in the main tank as treat for them.
Here are pictures of my algae rock in my tank over three days. I remove them at the third day stage so they can regrow in my refugium to be use again.
There are a lot of worms in the rock too and the CBB also get his fill of food. One of the best way to feed fish IMO.
day 1

Day 2

Day 3

OK That is impressive... and super fun to watch the progression. I second... or third... the recommendation that you need an herbivore and elbow grease.

 

[sixty_reefer]

Have you got any pictures of the algae? I think for starters we need to know what specie we dealing with as for your description doesn’t sound like caleurpa prolifera, especially wend this is one of the easiest algae’s to remove from the main display as the rhizoids come free from the rock quite easily

 

[najer]

My guess is C brachypus and if it is a herbivore should love it.

 

[Snuggs]

Emerald crabs from Reef Cleaners decimated my large patch

 

[OrionN]

Sea urchin will eat macroalgae also.

 

[vlangel]

It’s a 55 gallon 24” cube. Not much room.

I have a 56 gallon column tank and I have a tomini tang. They are a bristle tooth that can live in a smaller tank and will graze on caulerpa. You should still manually remove but the tang will go after those little sprigs and keep them from turning into invasive colonies.

 

[sfin52]

Seahare or urchin.

 

[OrionN]

The problem is the OP tank is a cube tank. 24 “ cube which is about 60ish gallon. It is really too small for a tang even the Tomini tang. Consider a Lawnmower Benny. However I don’t think these guys eat Caulerpa. The only real option is frequent manual removal.

 

[vlangel]

The problem is the OP tank is a cube tank. 24 “ cube which is about 60ish gallon. It is really too small for a tang even the Tomini tang. Consider a Lawnmower Benny. However I don’t think these guys eat Caulerpa. The only real option is frequent manual removal.

You are correct in the 24" is a bit small. Live aquaria recommends a 70 gallon tank for a tomini tang. I however have one in a 56 gallon and it is thriving and it does eat caulerpa.