Sincerely need help. Bryopsis could cause me to tear down this tank... :(

[Reef Frog]

Rip it out --> Siphon detrius--> Peroxide --> Aggressive nutrient export like GFO

While we would all like to pour some liquid in the tank and have the problem solved, it usually isn't that easy. Elbow grease and keeping on top of it worked for me. GL.

 

[HiFidelity]

I haven't completely eradicated algae from my tank but I've been able to keep it under control and now I just don't care that it's there as long as it won't bother my corals, but there is a very small amount, not an infestation.

A year or so ago I started seeing an infestation of HA, briopsis, cyano & bubble algae all at once, I started dosing carbon, went with a bigger skimmer and a few months ago added a fuge to the system. Was ready to run GFO (have a reactor & media ready) and I even began to build an upflow algae scrubber. I decided to hold off and see how far the fuge gets me, so far so good and without adding or dosing anything aside from carbon.

I know this isn't a solution to eradicate but I'm confident that I could have wiped out all algae if I had kept going after it...

My recommendation would be GFO and a scrubber or fuge + patience.

 

[erndog1001]

I can offer my own experience bc I was where you are about a year ago. It would be a long explanation of how I finally eradicated it from my DT.
But this thread is a couple of months old. So I'm wondering if you still have the problem?

 

[soeminpaing]

Hah... I am reading it now for my bryopsis problem.

 

[Staisman]

I have bryopsis problem right now. I am started to fight it a week ago and I can see the results already. First off you have to decrease your PO3 levels. Don't rely on your test kit because algae consumes PO3 and your test showing 0. So I am dosing NoPox every day and running my skimmer very wet. Also I am adding every 2-3 days API AlgaeFix. To all of that I am scabbing with a toothbrush all my rocks right in the tank and using filter socks to remove it from a water. I bought one sea lettuce and sea slug and about 30 snails to help me out. So far so good.

 

[soeminpaing]

That's good to hear. First time I have bryopsis I nuke the tank with H2O2 3% 10ml per gallon. Everything litreally die. After that I cycle the tank without light and do a water change near the end of cycle. Never have success with using biological control. I am a pest magnet. First tank got dinoflagellate. Second tank got bryopsis. Now the fourth one got bryopsis, Asternia stars, monti eating nudibranch. I kinda got rid of these fast because of my previous bad experience. Only bryopsis remain. I only have one or two strand popping on rock and sand. I remove the one on the sand and pour H2O2 for the one on the rock.

 

[soeminpaing]

I just want to share that kent tech M work well. I only have small patch on zoas frag and spot treat them with tech M. Zoas are not effected even with pure tech M spraying directly. Bryopsis on the other hand, shrink and die within a day. I dont even have to do test for Mg and dose like 100ppm a day. Just be sure to turn off all water movement for five minutes when spot treating.

 

[AZRippster]

Recently I implemented an ATS (Algae Turf Scrubber) on our 450G DT. My wife and I had been battling bryopsis/GHA for awhile. I had done quite a bit of research into ATS and many people claimed it had eliminated the bryopsis from their tanks along with many other benefits. I can truly verify this to be the case. It's been actually quite amazing for us. We have Zero recognizable bryopsis in our tank now, it only grows on our ATS mesh that we scrape off. We're also noticing quite a bit of enhanced coral growth in the tank as well.

 

[Tripleftw]

what matters with the tech m is the change in mg levels, not absolute mg levels, since it's something in the tech m rather than the magnesium itself that does the job.

Dosing the tank with h2o2 does nothing for bryopsis, imho.

Turning all the flow off and applying h2o2 directly with a syringe might help a little if you can't remove the rock.

Fwiw, most coral can tolerate being exposed to air for much longer than the few minutes needed to peroxide the bryopsis to death.

Since you have a smaller tank, you could use two 33g brutes, drain the tank into them, hit the bryopsis patches with some h2o2 real quick, and then use a biggish pump to refill. I had to drain my 120 recently to re-level it (crappy shim compressed), and none of the corals were any worse for wear. They had all shed their extra mucous and opened back up again after less than half an hour back under water, after a good 5-15 minutes exposed to air.

Either way, i'd make sure to keep an eye on nutrient levels after the bryopsis dies off. Very frequently, using selective chemical means to eliminate one type of pest algae leads to another type popping up to take its place if nutrient levels aren't dealt with.

 

[Grkgod36]

I know you should wait till after treatment to run carbon but what about purigen? Can you run that while using Kent tech m?

 

[Tttony]

I have used peroxide and tech m , it keeps coming back

 

[tmz]

For smaller patches: trimming it down; laying some kalk paste on it .and as an added step, covering it with a small flat pancake of epoxy coated with superglue on the underside will work.

 

[DrPat]

the problem are excessive nutrients!You can cut the grass but it will regrow. phosphates may be undetectable, but enter the system all the time especially when there is a die off and the concentrated nutrients are re released back into the system.Rocks and sand also become phosphate sinks. try this approach
https://youtu.be/0OJ7NzSLdPo

 

[tmz]

Bryopsis is quite oligotrophic. It persists in low nutrient water. Starving it out by over aggressive phosphate removal often harms corals and other desireable organisms more than it does the bryopsis. It may also use organic phosphate. Lanthanum chloride can reduce PO4 via precipitation as lanthanum phosphate. However, the precipitant is harmful and using lanthanum requires careful slow dosing and very fine prefiltering .