Grape Caulpera - Sexual / Asexual (?)

[Reef GE]

Could someone please explain to me what it means if Grape Caulpera goes sexual or asexual? I'm new to the hobby and was given some caulpera that is mixed with chaeto in my refugium. Should I remove it?

Some of the pods are turning white. Most of the rest is dark green.

It seems to me I could just keep the chaeto and wouldn't need both.

 

[sixty_reefer]

The term asexual is normally referred in the hobby to the die off of the algae, some will release harmful chemicals in to the water column

 

[Fishyfish22]

When it goes sexual, it means that the caulerpa is unhappy and in a last ditch effort reproduces my belting and releasing itself into the water column. Because caulerpa is a single celled organism, the same cells makes up the roots, leaves, and stem of the plant so all it takes for the caulerpa to continue growing is one cell.

Now, in the wild this works because the cells have so much space to float off and start new caulerpa colonies. In tanks, it usually pollutes the water as there is a lot of die off when it goes sexual, including increased algae growth on class and rocks from different kinds of algae due to both the diminished nutrient consumption/competition of the caulerpa being gone, and because it's being fed from the decaying caulerpa cells.

 

[Reef GE]

How do you keep the caulerpa "in" your refugium then? The smallest piece that floats off into the DT via the flow of water could theoretically start a new colony in my DT. Is this a risk or can I control it manually? (I ask because I inherited a tank with caulpera and chaeto mixed together in DT.