Bryopsis Help

[WDLV]

I was planning to buy the MAG flake anyway for suppliment purposes. I have some epsom salts at home already. So, I may do the mix of 7.25 cups of MAG and .75 cups of epsom salt per gallon of water. I'm debating if I should just mix up a 55 gallon drum of the stuff and put it through my LiterMeter III. Its a ~200 gallon system.

 

[michealprater]

I have had excellent success in the past using Mexican Turbo snails. They love it!

 

[ncox38]

I beat it with pure epsom salts a few years ago, so it is possible.

 

[WDLV]

What the heck; I figure I've been scrubbing this tank for the last couple months anyway. What's one more? I'll try cheap first. If it doesn't work, I'll have some mag suppliment.
What do you all think about volume? Should I make a little at a time or just mix up 40-50 gallons and let the LiterMeter do the work over the next couple weeks?

 

[WDLV]

I have had excellent success in the past using Mexican Turbo snails. They love it!

Bryopsis or regular hair algae?

 

[michealprater]

Bryprosis. I seen them completely irraticate it before. My results may not be typical, but that was what worked for my.

 

[Dadekster]

Relax, I never said the Kent product didn't work for you or anyone else. I have read the whole thread, plenty of people have had success using off the shelf stuff and it still raises mag if that is what you are looking to do, or to maintain it. Plenty of people have also said the Kent stuff doesn't work as well either. Just to me it makes more sense to try the less expensive 'possible' solution first, especially if the primary effect does what it is supposed to. To each their own. From what I have read not many things eat it as part of the regular menu either, which is why it is such a PITA.

Oh and as for a better solution,

I tried closing my eyes, waving my hand at my tank and saying, "This isn't the tank you want to infest."

Can't really claim that as a solution though

 

[jbird69]

What do you all think about volume? Should I make a little at a time or just mix up 40-50 gallons and let the LiterMeter do the work over the next couple weeks?

Let me share MY experience with Bryopsis.

When I had a moderate outbreak, I used the TechM, it was painful for my wallet because, as with an mg suppliment, it takes a LOT to raise the levels. Especially to the numbers we're after for bryopsis. My magic number was 1500. The bryopsis turned to ash and disappeared in a few days. I didnt (should have) hold that level for long. I brought the MG back down with water changes. 6 mo later I hade a small area of bryo crop up, I figured Id go the cheap route, I raised the mg to 1450 with BRS magnesium and then continued to 1650 with the TechM. It did not work at all. I honestly believe you have to add TechM from the beginning so you add a larger volumn of the stuff. It may have worked if I kept going with it, but my algae was minimal and I was out of TechM. The next chapter was a tank upgrade, so I just scrubbed the guilty rock before transfer and my new tank is 100% free of the devil weed.

If I get it again I will get a gallon of techM and use it alone to do the job.

If you read all the way thru that thread, youll see the percentage of success with other mg suppliments working is miniscule and not worth the time, effort and money IMO. Also you can easily stress your tank if you take the Mg WAY up with the cheap stuff, bring it back down with water changes and bring it way up again with TechM if plan A fails....

 

[jbird69]

Oh yeah. Heres the calculator for how much youll need.

http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chemcalc.html

 

[WDLV]

In the end I have ordered the Kent marine product for $20.77 plus $17.00 shipping using Marine Depot's price match guarantee.
My reason fo going this route is that the OP from the provided link used this product. However, I will likely start dosing Mg after this process using MAG flake.
I don't like spending this kind of money on suppliments, but I'm considering it a "medication" to justify it in my own mind.

 

[WDLV]

Oh yeah. Heres the calculator for how much youll need.

http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chemcalc.html

Based on this info, I will need more than 1 gallon. I have two 45 gallon displays connected to a 100 gallon sump. I estimated that I have a total of 170 gallons of actual water volume. It looks like I have two options.

1. Take the tanks off line, empty and bleach the sump and dose the one that needs it individually.
2. My other option is to drop the sump volume during the "treatment phase."

For lack of better info I will keep the Mg level elevated to about 1600 + 50 for three weeks. I'm thinking I will go with option 1 since I was planning on moving the system in the near future anyway. Only one of the two tanks is really affected and I have plenty of sumps, heaters and skimmers laying around to run them independently for a while.

BTW, I'm not really asking advise here, I'm just putting my thoughts down on paper so to speak. It helps if I can see my options in front of me. :idea:

 

[TWallace]

What eats this stuff consistantly besides tangs???

I don't know who told you tangs eat bryopsis, but you were lied to. I've never seen anything but lettuce sea slugs eat it, but they're such slow eaters they're unable to control it. Plus they're easily killed by any powerhead. I tried all kinds of snails, hermit crabs, slugs, a rabbitfish, tangs, etc. Nothing touched it. Nitrates and phosphates always measured 0. I reduced feeding drastically, added a phosban reactor, carbon, bryopsis kept right on flourishing with no sign of slowing. The only thing that worked for me was Kent Tech M. It's worked in multiple tanks and is very reliable. It will kill bryopsis. You should leave your Mg at a high level for a couple of months after eradicating it, though. It has a tendency to pop back up if you reduce the levels immediately.

I currently have a powder blue tang and a purple tang in my 120. I have a small spot of bryopsis that pops up on top of a birdsnest colony. The tangs have no interest in it at all. These are fish that I've witnessed eating fish poop...they won't touch bryopsis.

 

[WDLV]

I don't know who told you tangs eat bryopsis, but you were lied to.

I've seen it myself in my own tank on frags I had brought in... that said, they won't touch it or hair algae unless it is clipped very close to the rock. In other words, they will not decimate it but they will keep it under control. As with anything else, I'm sure it's hit or miss. I have found that tangs with the rasping mouths like clown tangs and orange shoulders do far better with neusance algaes than those with mouths like sohols and hippos.
The problem as I stated before is that my existing system is too small to keep tangs. My tuxedo urchin has done some work on it but as you stated with the lettuce nudibranchs, it has not been able to keep up with it.

BTW, I appreciate your thread that was linked early on in this thread. Good info. It saved me a lot of time.

 

[njdevilsfan]

please keep your eye on salinity
it will rise with higher levels of mag in your tank

you can also use a turkey baster to dose and squirt the biggest patches to kill it faster

also raising the mag slower seems to work better than doing the max daily dose

good luck

 

[WDLV]

Yeah, I just had a discussion with Randy and Boomer. It doesn't appear to make a huge jump but I will take SG measurements none the less.

 

[deangelr]

taggin in on this one.. ive been in a bryopsis battle for over a year!!

 

[deangelr]

alright.. T wallaces thread is a long one, couldnt read it all.

Seems like any magnesium supplement would work.. why do you have to use kent marine?

 

[pitako8]

It seems that there is an element in Kent Tech M that kills the bryopsis itself, but no one has identified which one specifically. There has been some anecdotal success with high MgCl levels in tank that may eliminate bryopsis temporarily.

 

[deangelr]

but other people in t walls previous thread report success with elevated Mg levels from other mg supplement including things like de-icer

 

[pitako8]

Some have reported some success with elevated Mg. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. Not consistently at level x (say, >1600 ppm). If you read the long thread on this topic, you will appreciate what I'm taking about.