Bryopsis Help

[WDLV]

I've been reefkeeping since 1997 and this is the first time I've had a bout with this turd of an algae. I thought it was hair algae at first and have been scrubbing the tank walls every week and performing massive water changes to no avail. I recently took a good close look and saw that it was growing in fronds.

What eats this stuff consistantly besides tangs??? I have a 24x24x19 tank so large free swimmers are out of the question.

I have a pretty good hold on the basics like water chemistry, lighting etc and have waaaaay more filtration than is necessary for my bioload so I'm thinking it has less to do with husbandry and more to do with this crud simply being on steroids! As such I'd like to steer the thread's direction toward natural predation.

I'm about to the point of shutting the system down and bleaching or burning everything in it that I didn't put there on purpose. :furious: :furious: :furious:

 

[jbird69]

If you find something that eats bryopsis consistently, you will be nominated for the nobel peace prize of the reefing community. Tangs (unless completely neurotic) will not eat it. Sea hares, no. crabs, snails, asians....NOT! And youre right, bryopsis can live on very little nutrience. Once it takes a foothold you are constantly beheind the 8ball.

Never fear. The vile weed can be defeated!

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1113109

 

[unbreakable]

Sea hares, no. crabs, snails, asians....NOT!

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1113109

lol what?

 

[WDLV]

Sweeeetttt!!! Me likey. I'll get crackin' on that.

 

[mogley1]

unfortunately you have it growing out of control for a reason. Usually it's high nutrients that are the problem. Other factors that could add to it are excess iron in your system, old lighting and lack of flow. You need to find the source of the problem or you will be in for a headache after headache.
Have you added any new live rock lately?

 

[WDLV]

mogley1,
You're killin' me. Tell me honestly, did you read the thread title and skip right over the first post or are you just a joker?

 

[Fizz71]

lol what?

I saw that too. I couldn't decide if it was a joke or an abbreviation/slang for something else.

I love the MAG idea on that thread. I'll have to pocket that information for later days if I ever need it. Thanks for the link jbird.

 

[jbird69]

lol what?

Sorry I was just thinking that people in asia probably eat more seaweed than all marine fish combined.....It was a joke.... a bad one

unfortunately you have it growing out of control for a reason. Usually it's high nutrients that are the problem. Other factors that could add to it are excess iron in your system, old lighting and lack of flow. You need to find the source of the problem or you will be in for a headache after headache.
Have you added any new live rock lately?

Yes it is abundant nutrients that breeds bryopsis but from the experience of MANY hobbyists, Even after getting your perameters under control, bryopsis has the ability to retain a foothold in the tank. It needs very little food to thrive compared to other nusinece algae.

 

[discocarp]

I beat it with Kent Tech-M.

 

[rbnice1]

I had it pretty bad in my old 90 once. I used cheap mag chloride form BRS and kept mag at 1600 and it went away.

 

[WDLV]

Some of you may already have heard me say this before, but I as a general rule do not find it necessary to test my water. There I said it. I generally think it's a waste of time if you know how to identify symptoms of high and low levels.

THAT SAID: I went to the LFS today and did something I have not done in many years. I bought a marine test kit and individually bought test kits for PO4 and Mg. I bought an ELOS test kit for PO4 because Salifert was unavailable. I bought a Salifert test kit for magnesium and an API marine test kit that incorporates pH, Alk, Calcium and some other stuff (probably Ammonia nitrate and nitrite) Just in case I get curious down the road.

As part of the first step I measured my PO4. It was >0.05ppm
I also bought a $55 can of ROWA phos. This also goes against every fiber of my being. I believe that water changes are the most effective means of removing undesireable elements from a system.

I did these two things to proactively appease any skeptics that don't understand my usual means of troubleshooting. My next course of action is to employ the ROWA phos until my PO4 levels are undetectable with my test kit.

Two questions:
1. For those of you who have used ROWA phos, should I splurge and buy a fluidized reactor or is normal diffusion acceptable for this application?
2. Should I scramble out to the local HD and pick up some mag and cal flake before they stop carrying it for the season or further damage my bank account with the Kent Marine stuff?

Please bare with me. Spending $185 on things I generally do not believe in is very difficult for me. Especially when the manager offered me 5 BTAs (one quite large) for $200 and there were a nice harem of 4 blue stripe clowns just begging me to pull the trigger.... and yes I have about 14 empty quarrantines sitting in the basement just begging for it.

Additional question:
I have never cared much about Mg before this week and thus have limited knowledge on the subject. Will raising my Mg level affect the SG on my refractometer? In other words, will i need to compensate by removing tank water and adding FW while i raise the Mg???

 

[euromomtx]

I beat it the first time with Kent Tech-M but my current batch seems to be immune to it. So don't count on it as a cure all.
Guess bryopsis has an ability to get tougher and adjust as well?
Lettuce nudibranches are supposed to feed on bryopsis exclusively. I am trying that one next.

 

[Dadekster]

I am no chemist by any stretch of the imagination but this will get you pointed in the right direction...it might even get you a degree in something if you understand all of it. But scroll down and you'll see stuff about mag.

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=102605

This is the one you might find most informative.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/oct2003/chem.htm

In short, it is a very good idea to test for mag on a regular basis. I am like you a lot in that I don't test much being able to figure out what is wrong by just careful observation of my tank and its livestock. That said, mag is not one of those things that you can figure out directly. Good luck.

 

[WDLV]

Thanks for the links. I scanned the article. I'll be heading to HD this evening to get some MaCl and some CaCl flake. I'll figure out how to use the CaCl later but for my current need I'll be disecting that article tonight. No I understand how Mg interacts with Alk. Good stuff!!!

 

[mfinn]

Not sure if I'm reading this right, but you need to buy the Tech M brand of mag.
This is the only (so far) one that will work.
There is suppose to be a impurity in the Tech M that does the work. Not the mag itself.

 

[jbird69]

not sure if i'm reading this right, but you need to buy the tech m brand of mag.
This is the only (so far) one that will work.
There is suppose to be a impurity in the tech m that does the work. Not the mag itself.

+1

 

[WDLV]

OK. I checked the first few pages and didn't see anything resembling that statement but that's a really long thread to read through. Would one of you please shoot me a link to the page that covers that claim?

 

[Dadekster]

Not sure if I'm reading this right, but you need to buy the Tech M brand of mag.
This is the only (so far) one that will work.
There is suppose to be a impurity in the Tech M that does the work. Not the mag itself.

This is true, but I would buy the cheaper stuff first and try it. If that doesn't work I'd gnash my teeth and buy Kent's product and hopefully that would do it. I just look at it this way, even if the off the shelf DIY stuff doesn't work against the bryopsis, you still have what you need to keep your mag in line in the future.

I am also one of the few that are suspicious about the whole Kent thing as well. If it is some impurity, why in the world have they not released a product that takes advantage of this? I have a feeling that they have looked into it and that this impurity doesn't work 100% of the time which others have experienced as well. If it didn't work as advertised by Kent they can't really bottle it and sell it either.

I am hoping the DIY method works for you WDLV, let us know if you would and good luck again.

 

[mfinn]

This is true, but I would buy the cheaper stuff first and try it. If that doesn't work I'd gnash my teeth and buy Kent's product and hopefully that would do it. I just look at it this way, even if the off the shelf DIY stuff doesn't work against the bryopsis, you still have what you need to keep your mag in line in the future.

I am also one of the few that are suspicious about the whole Kent thing as well. If it is some impurity, why in the world have they not released a product that takes advantage of this? I have a feeling that they have looked into it and that this impurity doesn't work 100% of the time which others have experienced as well. If it didn't work as advertised by Kent they can't really bottle it and sell it either.

I am hoping the DIY method works for you WDLV, let us know if you would and good luck again.

NO, I would not buy the cheaper stuff. Many people have tried and it is a waste of money.

Kent sells this as a mag supplement. It does that very well.
That is what the product is for, to raise the mag level in your tank.

They do NOT advertise this product as a bryopsis cure.
You will not see this from the company.
This is just from reefers who have tried it and had success with it.
There may be others that didn't have as good a luck with this.

But Do You Have A Better Solution?

 

[mfinn]

Oh by the way,
I claim that it works.
I used the Tech M in my tank and it did work for me.