Bryopsis & Kent Marine Tech M

[Nrupaw]

I'ev got Bryopsis popping up in my tank. Although it's not reached Epic proportions, it is still something i feel i should nip in the bud.

I am opting to go the Kent Marine Tech M route because it seems folks have had good luck with eradicating Bryopsis with it.

Had some questions for people who have successfully utilized this method. wondering if people could give me their input on this

1) To what level did you raise your Mag to using Kent Marine Tech M.
2) How long did you leave your tank running at this elevated Mag. level
3) Did you do water changes while raising Mag. levels? or did you leave your tank running dirty?
4) Did elevated Mag. throw your Alk and Cal levels out of whack?
5) Any negative reactions to your SPS, LPS, Inverts with elevated Mag using Kent Marine Tech M?

And the most important question.....
6) Did Bryopsis come back?

thanks!

 

[thegrun]

1. To at least 1800ppm, I had to take mine to 2000ppm
2. Until the bryopsis is substantially dead
3. I did water changes and dosed Tech M to the water change saltwater to bring it up to 200ppm
4. No
5. Snails and invertebrates seemed sluggish
6. No

 

[Nrupaw]

1. To at least 1800ppm, I had to take mine to 2000ppm
2. Until the bryopsis is substantially dead
3. I did water changes and dosed Tech M to the water change saltwater to bring it up to 200ppm
4. No
5. Snails and invertebrates seemed sluggish
6. No

thanks for the info. much appreciated. anything else i should keep an eye out for while going this route?

 

[Xxero]

anything else i should keep an eye out for while going this route?

Yes. Increasing your Magnesium levels will increase your specific gravity, so let your new saltwater mix very well if you add the Kent Tech M to it. The SG will raise gradually, so make sure to measure it several times before adding it to your tank.

 

[Nrupaw]

Yes. Increasing your Magnesium levels will increase your specific gravity, so let your new saltwater mix very well if you add the Kent Tech M to it. The SG will raise gradually, so make sure to measure it several times before adding it to your tank.

got it. thanks. any ideas as to how much does it raise it by? i use RC for my salt mix

 

[Xxero]

Unfortunately, I'm not sure.

The last batch of water that I made was 20 gallons, and I mixed it to 1.026 SG. I raised the Magnesium in this new water by 300 ppm, and the SG jumped up to 1.030. I lowered it back down to 1.026, and the next morning it had raised back up to 1.030. Lowered it again and it stayed put.

Maybe others will chime in who can give you more specifics. I just wanted you to be aware of the effect because it caught me off guard.

 

[Nrupaw]

Unfortunately, I'm not sure.

The last batch of water that I made was 20 gallons, and I mixed it to 1.026 SG. I raised the Magnesium in this new water by 300 ppm, and the SG jumped up to 1.030. I lowered it back down to 1.026, and the next morning it had raised back up to 1.030. Lowered it again and it stayed put.

Maybe others will chime in who can give you more specifics. I just wanted you to be aware of the effect because it caught me off guard.

thanks for sharing. will keep that in mind

 

[davocean]

The level the mag is brought up to may vary depending on what your mag level was to begin with, it's not the increased level of mag so much as how much of that mag is Tech M.
It's worked for me on my personal tanks and tanks I took care of, every time it's worked for me w/out any ill affects, usually going from about 1300 to 1700/1800 and it began to sluff off, about 2 weeks in.
I did not notice any rise in SG

 

[Nrupaw]

The level the mag is brought up to may vary depending on what your mag level was to begin with, it's not the increased level of mag so much as how much of that mag is Tech M.
It's worked for me on my personal tanks and tanks I took care of, every time it's worked for me w/out any ill affects, usually going from about 1300 to 1700/1800 and it began to sluff off, about 2 weeks in.
I did not notice any rise in SG

thanks. you make a good point regarding how much of the mag is Tech M. I currently use BRS's mag supplement and run my tank at around 1400.

 

[Xxero]

I was curious (and it's water change time for me anyway) so I mixed up 15 gallons of new saltwater this morning at 1.024 SG. I let it mix for a couple of hours and measured the Magnesium level. Magnesium read 960ppm (Seachem Reef Salt if anyone is interested - terribly low Magnesium readings).

I have been dosing Magnesium with Kent Marine Tech M for about a month now. I am also trying to knock out a few patches of this Bryopsis that so many of us seem to be plagued with at the moment. Because of this, I have been maintaining the Magnesium in my system at around 1800ppm. It took about 56 fl.oz. of Kent Marine Tech M to raise the Magnesium level of the new saltwater from 960 to 1800. I let this mix for another couple of hours.

I just took another specific gravity reading of the new saltwater that I mixed earlier at 1.024, and now it reads 1.033.

I don't know exactly how much of the Tech M added will raise the specific gravity of your water, but I do know that it does indeed raise it. I just dumped 5 gallons of fresh RO/DI into the mix, and it brought the specific gravity back down to 1.025.

Weird stuff. :bigeyes:

 

[davocean]

That's interesting, I've always watched my SG pretty well and I've used the tech M a number of times on my own and other tanks, never noticed an increase but I will be watching for that more closely.
I agree a number of salt mixes have lower mag than I prefer and I dose some anyway, and I just prefer the tech M since it does cover any potential bry(or at least it has for me anyway)
Thanks for heads up

 

[Xxero]

I've been sampling different salt brands lately trying to find one that has at least a 1300ppm Magnesium reading out of box... but so far - no good. It stinks having to dose the new saltwater up so much.

When I first started with the Tech M, I didn't realize that it would increase the salinity. I hadn't heard or read anything stating that this would happen. I found my DT water to read at 1.030 SG one day, and I thought that I had made a mixing mistake. Turned out to be the Tech M.

I will check the salinity once or twice more before adding it to my tank because the last batch I made, the SG crept back up once more even after diluting it back down with RO/DI. It kind of seems to creep. :uhoh3:

 

[CStrickland]

SG isn't a measure of salinity, it's the density of the water compared to pure H2O. We use it as a proxy measure for salinity. Like, we start with pure H2O rodi water and add "salt," (which also has a fair amount of not-salt like ca, mg, etc.) which increases the density of the water. When the water is at the desired density, we have added enough "salt."

You could start with pure rodi and add tech m, or grape soda, to it until it was 1.025 SG, and it wouldn't have any salt in it at all. It would just be denser.

I think you see a similar effect with the Balling system sometimes. The additives elevate sg without increasing salinity and the tank gets out of balance because the salinity is very low despite the normal sg. Like, the density increase is due to the added elements and the reefer assumes the water is saltier than it is.

You may be diluting the salt in your water by adding rodi to maintain normal sg if you are using additives that elevate sg without increasing salinity.

 

[TheReeferer]

Wanted to report back that first of all Bryopsis is one mofo pain in the butt. Biologically it's really astonishing how much it can flourish without much nutrients and how quick it can grow. Most of all it's the most resilient algae I've encountered.


Pretty much nothing works... Water changes, low phosphate, manual removal.

Luckily I can say tech m does work wonders. Like magic really. 2 weeks after dosing up to 1800 it started to die and was gone within another week.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Xxero]

SG isn't a measure of salinity, it's the density of the water compared to pure H2O. We use it as a proxy measure for salinity. Like, we start with pure H2O rodi water and add "salt," (which also has a fair amount of not-salt like ca, mg, etc.) which increases the density of the water. When the water is at the desired density, we have added enough "salt."

You could start with pure rodi and add tech m, or grape soda, to it until it was 1.025 SG, and it wouldn't have any salt in it at all. It would just be denser.

I think you see a similar effect with the Balling system sometimes. The additives elevate sg without increasing salinity and the tank gets out of balance because the salinity is very low despite the normal sg. Like, the density increase is due to the added elements and the reefer assumes the water is saltier than it is.

You may be diluting the salt in your water by adding rodi to maintain normal sg if you are using additives that elevate sg without increasing salinity.

Couple of questions:

1) So 35ppt salinity does equal 1.026 specific gravity, but if additives raise these numbers then it's a false salinity reading but an accurate specific gravity reading?
2) Instead of diluting the new saltwater that was raised to 1.033 SG with Tech M down with RO/DI, I should add it to my tank at 1.033 specific gravity (43ppt salinity) and all is well?

 

[2_zoa]

Couple of questions:

1) So 35ppt salinity does equal 1.026 specific gravity, but if additives raise these numbers then it's a false salinity reading but an accurate specific gravity reading?

I think it's both.
SG is a reading of how dense the water is.
Salinity, be it calcium or magnesium etc.... Is just a "salt" that is dissolved within the water. There are a lot of things that are considered "salt" in water.
Which, if I'm not mistaken is what Strickland is saying about water becoming unbalanced. A build up of one salt or a depletion of another salt, etc..
I'm sure you've read of others saying the dosing of minerals helped their tank. Same idea as a good salt mix and doing a large (30-50% ish) water change.

 

[Xxero]

Sorry Nrupaw, I'm not trying to take over this thread, but it is all Bryopsis/Kent Tech M related. :bigeyes:

I have a few more comments/questions in regards to my specific situation:

* Earlier, I combined my reef salt mix with 15 gallons of RO/DI water. The specific gravity read 1.024.
* After raising the Magnesium level of this new saltwater mixture with Kent Marine Tech M, the specific gravity jumped up to 1.033.
* I diluted the saltwater mixture with RO/DI to lower the specific gravity back down to 1.025.
* It is now 10 hours later, and I just measured the specific gravity of the saltwater mixture. It has held at 1.025.

Now my question: Is this new batch of saltwater safe to add to my system now that it has been diluted?

ThanX!

 

[2_zoa]

Yes
What does the mag test at now? What was the mag level at 1.033?

 

[Xxero]

Magnesium currently reads 1800 and that's where it was at when the specific gravity raised up to 1.033.

 

[CStrickland]

I would ask the chemistry forum, you'll get a solid answer without cluttering up this thread and you can post back the answer here once it's settled. I doubt it's a big deal since lots of people raise their mg over 1800 ppm. To me, it seems like if Kent raises the sg, then new water with Kent added should be higher sg than normal, not the same.