Caulerpa Prolifera

[itzrulez]

does anyone uses this in refugium? Here in Brazil, people say, that this do the same as ATS, removes phospates and nitrates, and for me, its really easyer to set up!
whats the difference?

[Ace25]

It goes sexual and releases spores into the water. It roots itself deep inside rocks so if it ends up in your display it is very hard to eradicate. It has about the same filtering power as Chaeto but with more potential issues.

Here is how I see it, ATS and Macro algae are the same thing, only difference is space required. ATS screen takes up much less room. As a comparison, in my opinion Santa Monica's 100 scrubber probably equals the filtering power of a 55G tank stuffed with Chaeto or Caulerpa.

This is how my tank used to look, I used to use Caulerpa as my algae filter. Tank did fantastic, but like any true reefer, I am never satisfied and always have to change things. But I also did 50% WEEKLY water changes on this tank to keep things in check. The amount of caulerpa I had was not enough to filter that size tank.
75G tank
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2451/3914071932_58f5203c8d_z.jpg?zz=1

15G sump
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3059/2567998433_73ba46fdab_z.jpg?zz=1

[itzrulez]

uhm... soo chaeto arent so harmful, compared with caulerpa?
i want to make a pico tank, with 10 gallons display, and a 2 gallons refugium, with chaeto(if arent so probabily harmful), would that be the necessary?

[Ace25]

This is where the problem comes in. In my opinion, it will take a 20G sump stuffed with Chaeto or Caulerpa in order to properly filter a 10G tank. Any macro that you can sustain is better than none, but with the setup your talking about I wouldn't rely on the Macro algae you choose to be able to handle more than 25% of your filtering needs. Add a reactor with some GFO and Carbon along with at least 1 pound per gallon of live rock would probably be enough filtering on that size tank, but then you run into the cost of constantly replacing carbon and GFO (carbon only lasts a few days/week tops before being all used up).

Chaeto also requires room to grow and move, chaeto likes to be tumbled gently for best growth, so it is not good to put in a small chamber although many people still do that. With both types of Macro algae, you must trim it constantly to keep it growing good, just like having to clean the ATS screen.

[itzrulez]

uhm, ok...
just one more thing!
this hair algae, that we say, are lichens?
if they are, i think that people who have hair algae, could send it(by post) to others, because algae everybody have, but not the appropriete fungae!
i'm in Brazil, that would not help me =/
i'm trying ;D
i'll update my topic tomorrow!
see ya !
tnx!

[SantaMonica]

Main difference with a fuge is that the macro only gets (weak) light on one part of the mass; the rest of the mass is dark. And, the water flow is way to slow. Filtering is proportional to light X flow.

Not to mention when you harvest a fuge, you break strands.