Thats speculation and nothing more, it shouldnt be stated as a "fact".
I used bulk mag flake and epsom salt 5cups to 3 cups per BRS 2part recipe to get rid of my briopsis, a friend used the same with good results. I raised levels 50-100 ppm per day from 1300 to 1750-1800 thats when it died off. I do not believe it has to be "tech m", but if it works great, im sure the company is happy to have people swearing by them.
There's little speculation about it that regular mag chloride and sulfate don't tend to work, although for some it has, like yourself. Granted, I'm not a scientist, but I can assure you that I nuked my tank with mag flake (from BRS) and epsom salts from Wal Mart, in a 4:1 ratio. Raised my mag to over 2,000 for weeks.
Absolutely no effect other than really ticking off my orange frogspawn:sad2:.
Now, I agree with you that it doesn't have to be Tech M, I've read a good number of folks say that Seachem's magnesium (Reef Advantage mag?) did the same thing.
But there are a LOT of people who got no results whatsoever from mag flake and epsom salts.
I have read until page 19 and will continue, but already I have a question. It seems to me that not Mg is the component which makes the Bryopsis disappear but SO4. I am abble to measure SO4 and it has raised from 2720 ppm to 3420 ppm by dosing Seachem Reef Advantage Magnesium to raise my Mg from 1200 ppm to 1430 ppm. But I also have Na2SO4 that I can use to raise my SO4, so if I should raise my SO4 even more by using Na2SO4 and the Bryopsis would disappear maybe the conclusion could be that raising SO4 levels allone would be enough to kill teh Bryopsis.
But i have one question waht level of SO3 should I aim for?
Sulfate has been discussed, but there are folks who have dumped a large amount of mag sulfate/epsom salts into their tanks to no avail. However there have also been folks that Tech M didn't even work (my case, kinda, since it always comes back).
Sulfate's a possibility but it's only speculation. I'd personally like to know why some folks add several hundred ppm of magnesium via mag sulfate and it doesn't work, but they just toss in 100 or 200ppm of Tech M and the bryo usually dissolves, although not always.
So here's a quick question. When I get the Mag level up high to where I need it (i.e. >1500), how do I keep it elevated through water changes? I'm guessing I just toss in some Tech-M in the new water to crank up the level? I don't recall reading anything about that in the thread, although I admit its been a while since I've read the whole thing through. Or do you just not do the water changes for like a month (yikes!)? Kelly, you said you maintained yours at 1800-1900 for a month in your 130, surely you did water changes in that month?
Thanks!
Tim
I didn't do water changes the first month. I keep my stocking levels low and water quality as pristine as you can get in a 45g system (well, almost) so it's not an issue to miss a month.
However, adding Tech M to your new make-up water is a breeze. Just follow the instructions on the bottle, I think it's 1 mL per gallon to raise magnesium by 18ppm, so raising a 5g bucket of fresh salt water by 150ppm would be around 8-10 mL. You have a lot of wiggle room here and there's no golden standard you'll need to follow.
I don't know if anyone has ever beaten it long term. Wonder if Vodka dosing will help?
I am wondering both points. I can't chase it off, although it's never been more than a few patches here and there---- this has been going on for 9 months. The bryopsis died off totally when I hit the tank with Tech M but came right back.
I'm dosing Vitamin C right now, and was dosing glucose for a while until I decided it was overkill. My phosphates are generally below detectable levels (or barely, as in 0.05ppm on the Seachem kit), as are nitrates (0.0ppm Salifert).
It does seem to slow the bryo. But it's not killing it yet. I suspect the bryo is good at finding nutrients in all sorts of manners aside from the water column.