Chaeto alternative

[Darth.Daddy12]

Completely agree. Found a tiny sprig of cualerpa growing on a rock a few months back, immediatly ripped it out and scrubbed the spot and long story short it completely overtook the tank. took a complete tank overhaul and the addition of a one spot foxface and now I am happily cualerpa free. Never ever will have cualerpa anywhere near my tank again. Now cualerpa Prolifera I may try in my anenome/macro/mangrove lagoon tank because I don't care if its overun.

Yeah it is the salt water version of duck weed. It works but the issues don’t justify the results..

 

[JustAnt]

I know many with advanced systems like using lighting like this but it’s way overkill imop.. a cheap grow light for $10 is plenty and you adjust lighting times to nutrient levels. That’s why I personally like cheato as lighting source make little difference unless you over light and have to start dosing back. Harder to do with say a kessil then a $15 bulb.. kessil are way over kill for any fuge with a 2-300gallon tank or smaller.

The kessil h80 is designed for fuges and this particular model is only 15 watts and I get great growth on the growth setting. I think the problem with cheap grow light is they are not designed with the ideal spectrum. But the spectrum is close enough that they work. I purchased the light used for 75$ so it didn’t break the bank. New it sells for around 120. Now I agree that the h380 is overkill for anything but the large tanks. Especially at 300$

 

[Nano man]

I have the same dang problem along with hair algae growth and have been very succesful with another type of macro algae. Dragons breath! I’m going to list some by tomorrow in the market forum.
But here it is. Before and after 30 days!
Simply gorgeous specimens!

 

[jd371]

I have the same dang problem along with hair algae growth and have been very succesful with another type of macro algae. Dragons breath! I’m going to list some by tomorrow in the market forum.
But here it is. Before and after 30 days!
Simply gorgeous specimens!

Wow! That's impressive. I added some to my main tank's fuge to see how it will do. I have a WC coming up for the anemone tank that has the chaeto. I'm going to clean out the sump of the chaeto or what's left of it and try this. I'll also try some sea lettuce and pick some up next time I go to the beach.

 

[lapin]

Thanks for the tip! I definitely want to try this, because I hate how nasty cheato gets. What should we be wary of when using it as opposed to cheato? Could I use my cheatomaxx light for the lighting, or does sea lettuce have different requirements?

Sea Lettace (ulva) likes to float on the surface with a lot of light for best results

 

[Bret Brinkmann]

I ran Phosban to the point of getting dinos. My phosphorus was 0 on the Hanna ULR. In my experience you absolutely can run nutrients into the ground without macro just chemical removal. But it's so much more fun to use macros. Plus the other benefits of having a planted fuge.

I never had issues with any of the caulerpas over running my tank unless I got lazy with pruning. After a prune and harvest things got back under control very quickly. I do see nutrient rises after a large prune and harvest though. So I can see how that would be problematic if you had a lot of sensitive corals. Most caulerpas will have something that eats it. So I'm not worried about losing a tank to it.

I'd like to learn more of the details behind macro care in general and specific species in particular. Can anyone recommend some books? I'm kinda done with hunting for info on forums and videos.

 

[brawthy]

Sea Lettace (ulva) likes to float on the surface with a lot of light for best results

I'll give it a go! This way my sump might stay a bit cleaner lol

 

[Sump Crab]

500% what are you talking about

Hey @EW_Fish don't even try reasoning with that guy. He just did the same thing to me in another thread and when I disagreed with him he went on about how he was right and I was wrong. Then he said I was the one who discounted other peoples ideas and that HE was the one who was open minded LOL. I honestly think he is a troll!

 

[Lifelongaquaria]

I know you asked for macro but in my opinion micro is where it is at. Turn the problem into the solution.