Caulerpa in brackish, die back

[bamaud]

Hi,

To preface, I am a total noob with macroalgae. I have extensive experience growing carnivorous plants and some other plants, so I am looking for help.

I am taking care of the volcano shrimp (opae ula, Halocaridina rubra) in a brackish aquarium, ~2.5 gallon. The salinity is 1.014. I do not have other water quality info but I can take a sample to my LFS if this will help narrow down the issue. I read Caulerpa can tolerate around this range of salinity (but I realize it's at the very lowest end of the range and not ideal).

Lighting: 24W full spectrum LED grow light on for 12hr a day. This is quite intense, for my carnivorous plants it is sufficient (which typically require 12+ hrs of extremely intense lighting).

I've tried introducing Caulerpa prolifera and what I believe is C. sertularioides into the tank, but both have eventually whitened and died. This bushy Chaetomorpha (https://www.petshrimp.com/product/supershrimp-macroalgae/) remains alive, but kind of yellow.

The C. prolifera came from an etsy shop before I had the shrimp, so the tank wasn't really cycled yet. The C. sertularioides were cuttings from a mangrove lagoon in Jupiter, FL, which I assumed was brackish due to presence of mangrove trees and puffer fish.

Here is how C. sertularioides looked after introduction:

And today (after a few weeks):

The other algae Chaetomorpha seems quite yellow honestly. So maybe it is a nutrient issue.
I thought it was low nitrogen due to information from the original etsy shop I got the other species at, but now that the tank is several months old with shrimp and a cycled sponge filter, I'm not sure. There was a lot of microalgae growth previously due to a copepod overgrowth, but that went away, which led me to believe that N and P were probably high.

Any ideas? Thanks for taking the time to help,
Ben

 

[Dan_P]

Hi,

To preface, I am a total noob with macroalgae. I have extensive experience growing carnivorous plants and some other plants, so I am looking for help.

I am taking care of the volcano shrimp (opae ula, Halocaridina rubra) in a brackish aquarium, ~2.5 gallon. The salinity is 1.014. I do not have other water quality info but I can take a sample to my LFS if this will help narrow down the issue. I read Caulerpa can tolerate around this range of salinity (but I realize it's at the very lowest end of the range and not ideal).

Lighting: 24W full spectrum LED grow light on for 12hr a day. This is quite intense, for my carnivorous plants it is sufficient (which typically require 12+ hrs of extremely intense lighting).

I've tried introducing Caulerpa prolifera and what I believe is C. sertularioides into the tank, but both have eventually whitened and died. This bushy Chaetomorpha (https://www.petshrimp.com/product/supershrimp-macroalgae/) remains alive, but kind of yellow.

The C. prolifera came from an etsy shop before I had the shrimp, so the tank wasn't really cycled yet. The C. sertularioides were cuttings from a mangrove lagoon in Jupiter, FL, which I assumed was brackish due to presence of mangrove trees and puffer fish.

Here is how C. sertularioides looked after introduction:

And today (after a few weeks):

The other algae Chaetomorpha seems quite yellow honestly. So maybe it is a nutrient issue.
I thought it was low nitrogen due to information from the original etsy shop I got the other species at, but now that the tank is several months old with shrimp and a cycled sponge filter, I'm not sure. There was a lot of microalgae growth previously due to a copepod overgrowth, but that went away, which led me to believe that N and P were probably high.

Any ideas? Thanks for taking the time to help,
Ben

What are nitrate and phosphate levels?

 

[Subsea]

Hi,

To preface, I am a total noob with macroalgae. I have extensive experience growing carnivorous plants and some other plants, so I am looking for help.

I am taking care of the volcano shrimp (opae ula, Halocaridina rubra) in a brackish aquarium, ~2.5 gallon. The salinity is 1.014. I do not have other water quality info but I can take a sample to my LFS if this will help narrow down the issue. I read Caulerpa can tolerate around this range of salinity (but I realize it's at the very lowest end of the range and not ideal).

Lighting: 24W full spectrum LED grow light on for 12hr a day. This is quite intense, for my carnivorous plants it is sufficient (which typically require 12+ hrs of extremely intense lighting).

I've tried introducing Caulerpa prolifera and what I believe is C. sertularioides into the tank, but both have eventually whitened and died. This bushy Chaetomorpha (https://www.petshrimp.com/product/supershrimp-macroalgae/) remains alive, but kind of yellow.

The C. prolifera came from an etsy shop before I had the shrimp, so the tank wasn't really cycled yet. The C. sertularioides were cuttings from a mangrove lagoon in Jupiter, FL, which I assumed was brackish due to presence of mangrove trees and puffer fish.

Here is how C. sertularioides looked after introduction:

And today (after a few weeks):

The other algae Chaetomorpha seems quite yellow honestly. So maybe it is a nutrient issue.
I thought it was low nitrogen due to information from the original etsy shop I got the other species at, but now that the tank is several months old with shrimp and a cycled sponge filter, I'm not sure. There was a lot of microalgae growth previously due to a copepod overgrowth, but that went away, which led me to believe that N and P were probably high.

Any ideas? Thanks for taking the time to help,
Ben

“but that went away, which led me to believe that N & P were probably high”

@bamaud
I suspect the opposite. You need to measure your inorganic nutrients: N, P & K.

What are you feeding a cannivoress plant?

Why such an intense light? 24W over 2.5G
This 10G tank has 24W!



When I grew Gracilaria Hayi commercially, I sent it off to be analyzed by a regional agriculture laboratory: N/P ratio was 30/1 and my big surprise was K/N was 5/1. So the K/N ratio was 150/1.

 

[Kmst80]

I second Subsea's comment about the light. I reckon the caulerpa may have melted.
I lost Caulerpa Chemnitzia by putting it under to much light. Turned white/clear and just disolved.
Next batch i started with less light and its going great.

 

[Subsea]

“I read Caulerpa can tolerate around this range of salinity (but I realize it's at the very lowest end of the range and not ideal).“

With such low salinity, I also suspect your trace minerals are too low with particular emphases on iron. In all of my seaweed growout tanks, I add ammonia every day, then every other day, I add liquid kelp concentrate which includes trace minerals.

What do you feed carnivorous shrimp and why macroalgae in your brackish system.?

Check out this information link for macroalgae from GulfCoast EcoSystems

Marine Plants In The Aquarium: An online guide to the identification and care of marine plants and macroalgae in the aquarium.

An online guide to the identification and care of marine plants and macroalgae in the aquarium.

www.marineplantbook.com

 

[bamaud]

What are nitrate and phosphate levels?

THANKS EVERYONE FOR YOUR HELP! Hi, they're both zero apparently - just brought in a sample to the LFS. I just added 1mL of NeoNitro which is supposed to bring the level to around 3ppm. I don't have a test kit atm but I'm realizing I'll need one if I plan to take this more seriously...

(I feed my carnivorous plants fish food mostly, either freeze dried bloodworms or sinking pellets. I also occasionally mist with MaxSea liquid fertilizer.)

Okay, I'll work on getting a less intense light. I had a lower wattage one but I figured algaes wanted intense light so I gave them what I had laying around. Say 10W for this 2.5g? That would be half.

The shrimp - I don't really feed them except occasionally the hikari sinking wafers. I read from their super shrimp website that they mainly eat algae and bacteria and they have generally survived without addition of much...is that bad?

Why macroalgae? I think it's beautiful! I want to try to get it to work as the shrimp tank is somewhat boring without photosynthetic life (imo). I have that Chaetomorpha sp. mass of growth but it's been yellowing too. I suspect it absorbs most of the nutrients in the tank. I heard from a macroalgae grower that Caulerpa sp. might be able to tolerate brackish. As I mentioned, I found these clumps in a mangrove stream near the sea here in FL, so I figured it'd be brackish. I'll test that water soon and keep you updated.

I didn't do much research prior - and I'm suffering the consequences. But to be honest...this is kind of how I learn what to do and what not to do. Thanks for your patience.

 

[Subsea]

Try Gracilaria Hayi

Marine Plants in the Aquarium

macroalgae, marine plants, caulerpa, refugium substrate, marine macroalgae for sale

www.marineplantbook.com

@bamaud
Gracilaria Tikvahiae would be a better option, if you can find it.
l

Gracilaria, Graceful Redweed

One seaweed genus that is used as a table food and an extract is Gracilaria, a red seaweed that’s crunchy like celery with after taste of ocean.

seaweednetwork.id

“One seaweed genus that is used as a table food and an extract is Gracilaria, a red seaweed that’s crunchy like celery with after taste of ocean. Found in most seas Gracilaria tikvahiae (Graceful Redweed, above) in particular is common around the water of where I now live, Florida. In fact, it is one of the major seaweeds — with G. confervoides, left — in the brackish lagoon called Indian River, about 50 miles east of here.”

 

[Reefing4L]

I've had trouble keeping them alive, sometimes parts will just die randomly. Not sure exactly why

 

[stewy14]

Can I ask what you are using as substrate? Is h that stratum?

 

[bamaud]

Try Gracilaria Hayi

Marine Plants in the Aquarium

macroalgae, marine plants, caulerpa, refugium substrate, marine macroalgae for sale

www.marineplantbook.com

@bamaud
Gracilaria Tikvahiae would be a better option, if you can find it.
l

Gracilaria, Graceful Redweed

One seaweed genus that is used as a table food and an extract is Gracilaria, a red seaweed that’s crunchy like celery with after taste of ocean.

seaweednetwork.id

“One seaweed genus that is used as a table food and an extract is Gracilaria, a red seaweed that’s crunchy like celery with after taste of ocean. Found in most seas Gracilaria tikvahiae (Graceful Redweed, above) in particular is common around the water of where I now live, Florida. In fact, it is one of the major seaweeds — with G. confervoides, left — in the brackish lagoon called Indian River, about 50 miles east of here.”

Thanks! I'll see if I can find these. The substrate is just black sand.