Bryopsis and Kent Tech M

[Auston]

Hey there. so I've done some reading and many people have had success using Kent Tech M for the fight against bryopsis. I tested my tank for magnesium today with the my new test kit and I had the sad resut of 1000ppm mag. Several sources say to raise the concentration no more then 22ppm per day.

So at that rate it will take almost a month just to get the levels up to standard sea water levels 1350-1450, and another 3 weeks to get it to the levels that kill bryopsis.

My questions are:

How much can you raise the magnesium per day without ill effects?

Does anyone have a success story of this and the dosing numbers you used?

I've heard of snails and inverts dying from this method, is this common? And common or not is this caused by poor execution of the treatment? (Not maintaining proper buffer)

 

[thegrun]

You can raise your magnesium 100ppm per day without any ill effects. I use Kent Tech M a few years ago to kill a bryopsis infestation. I raised my magnesium to 1900ppm and held it there until all the bryopsis was dead which too about three weeks. I did not loose any livestock during the treatment.

 

[soeminpaing]

Agree with 100 ppm a day. I have small outbreak and sprayed tech M directly on affected area while all the water circulation are off. It just takes a few hours to notice that bryopsis shrink and die.

 

[Waters40]

I just read another thread stating that the formula for Tech M changed, and it now longer has the "secret" ingredient for killing bryopsis.....any truth to that?

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Waters I heard the same thing

soeminpaing that spraying directly on the pest might just work even with the new formula they say won't work

 

[dkeller_nc]

Does anyone have a success story of this and the dosing numbers you used?

I've heard of snails and inverts dying from this method, is this common? And common or not is this caused by poor execution of the treatment? (Not maintaining proper buffer)

I used the method about 6 months ago. It didn't completely eradicate the bryopsis for me, but came very close - close enough to wipe out the remaining small patches manually by scrubbing and treating the spots with hydrogen peroxide (out of the tank). I purchased the Tech-M about the same time (6 months ago).

I raised the Mg concentration from about 1300 ppm to 2000 ppm at a rate of 100 ppm per day, and kept it there for 4 weeks.

I did lose some snails and a conch, but no other ill effects.

 

[Jhuneke]

I used the method about 6 months ago. It didn't completely eradicate the bryopsis for me, but came very close - close enough to wipe out the remaining small patches manually by scrubbing and treating the spots with hydrogen peroxide (out of the tank). I purchased the Tech-M about the same time (6 months ago).



I raised the Mg concentration from about 1300 ppm to 2000 ppm at a rate of 100 ppm per day, and kept it there for 4 weeks.



I did lose some snails and a conch, but no other ill effects.

Following along.. My seahorse tank is covered with this crud! :/
Could you possibly post a pic of the bottle of Tech M you used? I bought some online and not sure if it's old or new version ( was a while back) . Really want to try this, but am unable to find info regarding any ill effects in seahorses and pipefish. I'm over scrubbing this rock (w peroxide!) every 2-3 weeks. It's relentless

 

[Grkgod36]

I just read another thread stating that the formula for Tech M changed, and it now longer has the "secret" ingredient for killing bryopsis.....any truth to that?

This is news to me I haven't seen anything on that .

 

[dkeller_nc]

Could you possibly post a pic of the bottle of Tech M you used? I bought some online and not sure if it's old or new version ( was a while back) . Really want to try this, but am unable to find info regarding any ill effects in seahorses and pipefish. I'm over scrubbing this rock (w peroxide!) every 2-3 weeks. It's relentless

Sorry, I don't maintain a cloud-based photo service that would be required to post pics to Reef Central. Kent did change their labels a while back, but I don't think that corresponds to any formulation changes. Regardless, TechM doesn't "go bad", so there's no particular need to buy more - just use what you have.

 

[Auston]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I will be raising 100ppm a day until reaching 1800. If Kent happened to change their formula then I would imagine we will all see a new Kent product hitting the shelf soon to kill bryopsis. There is no way they have not noticed the spike in sales or have got wind of what we use tech m for. If it has changed I'd guess they isolated what impurities are killing the bryopsis and will make something tailored for bryopsis control.

 

[Auston]

Sorry, I don't maintain a cloud-based photo service that would be required to post pics to Reef Central. Kent did change their labels a while back, but I don't think that corresponds to any formulation changes. Regardless, TechM doesn't "go bad", so there's no particular need to buy more - just use what you have.

You can always just upload as an attachment. It's the paper clip icon when you are in the reply screen. Here is an example

 

[Dkuhlmann]

You can always just upload as an attachment. It's the paper clip icon when you are in the reply screen. Here is an example

This is how I always post pictures unless using a picture from online, then I use the little picture icon and paste the URL for the image

 

[dkeller_nc]

You can always just upload as an attachment. It's the paper clip icon when you are in the reply screen. Here is an example

Hmm - so it is. This is a change that I hadn't noticed; RC preciously didn't host images.

With respect to Kent coming out with a specific Bryopsis-killing product, I wouldn't count on it. They've previously said that they know which trace contaminant is responsible for killing the Bryo (it's not the magnesium), but that to introduce a product specifically to kill algae would require USDA licensing (and testing) which is prohibitively expensive.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Hmm - so it is. This is a change that I hadn't noticed; RC preciously didn't host images.

With respect to Kent coming out with a specific Bryopsis-killing product, I wouldn't count on it. They've previously said that they know which trace contaminant is responsible for killing the Bryo (it's not the magnesium), but that to introduce a product specifically to kill algae would require USDA licensing (and testing) which is prohibitively expensive.

It's not a change, it's built into the software of the site, you can only access it from the "go advanced" page This paperclip feature is to pick a picture from your hard drive and download it, it also shrinks the size of the file for you as long as its under 2mb if over you will have to reduce it to under 2mg

 

[dkeller_nc]

Hmm - well, it is a change from when I first joined, though perhaps not from when you first did. Thanks for the tip...

 

[Art13]

I've used it recently for bryopsis and it worked just fine for me. 100ppm per day and you'll start to see it die back on day 2-3. i did space mine to 4 doses but i did each dose every half hour, so 4 doses took about an hour and a half.

 

[Auston]

They've previously said that they know which trace contaminant is responsible for killing the Bryo (it's not the magnesium), but that to introduce a product specifically to kill algae would require USDA licensing (and testing) which is prohibitively expensive.

They would make a killing... No one buys Kent Tech m for the dosing. They could charge 100$ a bottle.

Hard to believe they would not pursue that avenue. Many smaller companies create algisides, how could it be justified for them?. Kent can afford it.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Hmm - well, it is a change from when I first joined, though perhaps not from when you first did. Thanks for the tip...

I'm a member of a couple of websites that use this exact same software vBulletin and it was already in the software package. It could be that RC use to use a different software maybe?

 

[soeminpaing]

I heard continium aquatic maganesium also kill bryopsis.

 

[Grkgod36]

Well I'm in day 4 I went from 1500 to 1800 and nothing has changed at all non of it turning color and dieing or receding . I'll take up to 2000 and see if that helps and keep it there for a few days ..not optimistic though