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I have read to trim the grape caulerpa every two weeks to prevent reproduction.Can or should I use the "left overs" to feed the fish? Any drawbacks to this?

If memory serves, they can be poisonus if to much is eaten.

I could be wrong, but for some reason that sticks in my head.



Dan

I think that most people that have caulerpa in their tank, do so for nutrient export more so than for feeding the herbivores within their system. If you were to feed the trimmings to those herbivores, they would now have a choice of eating the free floating grape algae or the stuff growing in stocks. This leads to a couple of drawbacks in my opinion. One, not all the free floating algae will be eaten, then contributing to the waste matter within the tank. Two, the more trimmings they eat, the less they will be feeding on the growing caulerpa, thus causing you to trim more. Thus, it is my opinion, since there is nothing to gain from feeding the trimmings, why do it?

I think for toxicity, they may affect some fish, but if they do, the fish just won't eat it. I have heard that they have the most impact on corals, especiallly their growth. I could be mistaken, but seem to remember reading something about this.

John

Yank the caulerpa and get some Chaetomorpha algae...less intrusive, grows just as well, and doesnt go sexual.

Caulerpa should be lit 24/7 and trimmed atleast weekly to prevent it from going sexual.

Also, Dthurs is correct...caulera produces caulerpins which are toxic to fish if they are eating them all the time.

It's in the refugium only right now.I like the idea of not having to worry about it going sexual so I will remove it as soon as I find some algea DRO suggests.