Few macros in my fuge,"going sexual" risk? Help!

[miserkris]

Hi
I have feather caulerpa, nummalaria caulerpa (green discs),halimedia (green),
Devils tongue red macro algae.

These are in a fuge tank connected to dt....its a 20g fuge with 5k cfl 100w bulb which is ON
always.....24/7.
They r in a dsb which is 6" deep. Fuge has good flow.
Is there a risk of any of these going sexual and polluting the tank?

How can I prevent it from happening?

Thanks
Kris

[ReeferJam]

There is always a risk...in every decision we make regarding our tanks. The real question is, does the gain outweigh the risk? As far as refugiums go, I think yes...but that's me. Just keep an eye on your macro. In my tank some have done well, others not so much. As soon as a macro starts to go translucent, I yank it. Keeping things trimmed up helps. So long as you're keeping an eye on things, you should be fine.

[BluespotLady]

Keep tha caulerpa trimmed regularly.

If your halimedia goes white, you are probably low on calcium.

I'm not familiar with the devils tongue, please show me pics!

[SushiGirl]

As ReeferJam said, keep an eye on the caulerpas & keep them trimmed. Also, an opposite light cycle from the DT is said to be helpful with keeping them from going sexual rather than 24/7 lights. Algaes can benefit from a "resting" period without light just like everything else. We have dragon's tongue in our fuge (the turbos eat it so can't put it in the DT LOL), not heard of it going sexual and we've not had any issues with it so far, but it's only been in there 9 months.

[miserkris]

Thx all, no wonder my club members only use chaetomorpha.
btw, devils tongue is an awesome looking redmacro.
Right now c.nummalaria is grown lot and some translucent, do I trim a lot or yank the whole macro?
Or remove just translucent parts?

[SushiGirl]

At least yank the translucent parts.

[AuroraDrvr]

If you leave your lights on 24/7 there is a 99.9999% chance the algaes will go sexual on you. They don't like it, and will usually grow much faster with an 14-18hr photo period.

[miserkris]

How do I know if they went sexual, will it be easy to detect?

Also is there a rooting macro that won't have this issue in afuge?
Thx

[SushiGirl]

If it's turning translucent, it's releasing stuff back into the water, including spores (aka going sexual).

[miserkris]

If it's turning translucent, it's releasing stuff back into the water, including spores (aka going sexual).

Are those spores harmful to sw quality or to livestock? Thanks