Finally an easy solution to bryopsis! - Page 15

TWallace · #**351** 08/18/2007, 07:28 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Jorgens
I was thinking the same thing...save a few $$

Tech M is not the same as commercial de-icer. De-icer is typically magnesium chloride or calcium chloride. Mag Flake is pure magnesium chloride, and based on my results and others it does not kill bryopsis, while Tech M and epsom salt do. I think Tech M is possibly a mixture of magnesium chloride and magnesium sulfate (de-icer and epsom salt essentially).

Mikeyjer · #**352** 08/30/2007, 01:00 AM

I just ordered some Kent Tech M last night and will be receiving it on Tuesday. I'm glad I've found this thread cause I was just about to toss out everything from my tank to start over. I've been dealing with bryopsis for over 1 1/2 years. I got rid of it once with Mexican Turbos and Lettuce Nudibranch. But after we got done moving into our new house, the bryopsis came back with a vengence. I have spent about $600 to $700 worth of stuffs just to get rid of bryopsis and nothing worked. I can't wait to get my hands on Kent Tech M. I'm going to post a before and after picture after one week of dosing. Wish me luck!!!

wilsonh · #**353** 08/30/2007, 04:30 AM

Well for me, following the big dose of epsom salts a few weeks back all bryopsis is either gone, or brown and very sick. It's been a slow process but there is now no healthy bryopsis left at all. Interestingly the more light it gets the faster it died. The only stuff left is in the low light areas.

I don't think it's about the magnesium, I think it's the sulphate that's doing it. My reason for that is I've read the whole thread and looked what's happened to people. It appears that people have killed bryopsis at quite a range of magnesium levels, but the common factor in success is how much sulphate has been added to the tank. And even very high levels of magnesium have not worked if it was not magnesium sulphate.

My two cents, anyway.

mcrist · #**354** 08/30/2007, 07:02 AM

Kent Tech M worked for my tank. I started getting bryopsis when I was moving my tank and I placed all my live rock in two 100 gallon Rubbermaid tubs. I figured it was no big deal and that I could get rid of it once I set up my new tank. Well 6 months later I still had it then I came across this thread and I figured I should try it. I first tried raising my magnesium to 1500 with Mag Flak and nothing happened. Then I purchased Tech M in bulk and used that to maintain my magnesium at 1500. It took about 3 weeks and now I have no sign of bryopsis.

jwardana · #**355** 08/31/2007, 10:28 AM

Great thread guys!
And repeating other's question: will this work for other type of green hair alga as well?

I have some tanks with GHA problem, but not sure if it's bryopsis.

Thanks,
Jim.

20 20 · #**356** 09/04/2007, 07:28 PM

I've got this:

Looks like some kind of brown bryopsis, if there is such a thing. Has anyone ever had this (dumb question, eh?), and has anyone successfully gotten rid of it with raising MG with Tech-M?

20 20 · #**357** 09/05/2007, 09:36 AM

In addition to the question below, how much Tech M would it take to raise 125 gallons from 1300 to 1500?

mcrist · #**358** 09/05/2007, 10:06 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by 20 20
In addition to the question below, how much Tech M would it take to raise 125 gallons from 1300 to 1500?

Use this calculator:
http://jdieck1.home.comcast.net/chemcalc.html

jdieck · #**359** 09/05/2007, 10:24 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by 20 20
In addition to the question below, how much Tech M would it take to raise 125 gallons from 1300 to 1500?

Use the calculator but as a reminder, do not increase magnesium more than 100 ppm in one shot, so split the amount in two doses.

20 20 · #**360** 09/05/2007, 10:42 AM

Thanks!

Mikeyjer · #**361** 09/07/2007, 12:29 AM

I'm on my second day of dosing Tech M. My Mg level is very low so it's gonna take me quite a few days to raise it up to 1500ppm. I have taken a before picture and I'll post it as soon as I get some results.

skeeter-doc · #**362** 09/07/2007, 11:59 AM

Quote:

Use the calculator but as a reminder, do not increase magnesium more than 100 ppm in one shot, ...

Why not? What happens?

TWallace · #**363** 09/07/2007, 12:01 PM

There's some speculation that increasing magnesium too much at once can cause some corals to bleach. I think some people reported snails dying from it as well. I never experienced anything dying from boosting magnesium, but my toadstools and a sinularia bleached, then later recovered. Also, some zoanthids seemed less vibrant, but also later recovered.

jdieck · #**364** 09/07/2007, 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by skeeter-doc
Why not? What happens?

What TWallace mentions usually comes from impurities in the supplement. In the case of commercial supplements like Tech-M the risk is lower due to their source of raw material and quality control. In general it depends on the process used to manufacture the main ingredient Magnesium Chloride, it might have Ammonia as a result if produced by the Solvay method so in some instances you may create an Ammonia spike. The idea of limiting the amount supplemented in one shot is that in case there is ammonia in the product, the system has a chance to process it before the next shot is added.
Even some high purity Magnesium Chloride Hexahydrate analysis I have seen are allowed to contain up to 100 ppm of Ammonia and typically contain about 50 ppm, similarly high purity may contain some Arsenic, Lead, Aluminum and similar so caution is advisable.

melev · #**365** 09/07/2007, 12:22 PM

That's good to know. Thanks for explaining that. I never knew the reason why, and just accepted the recommendation for what it was and tried to follow that guideline.

jdieck · #**366** 09/07/2007, 01:39 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by melev
That's good to know. Thanks for explaining that. I never knew the reason why, and just accepted the recommendation for what it was and tried to follow that guideline.

What is bothersome is that we assume normally that if we did not have problems with one product then it will stay that way forever.
One of my concerns has always been when using materials not intended for the hobby we are running a risk that the manufacturer changes the spec and we will not notice.
As an example, because bromide had never been a specification of Calcium Chloride Dow Chemicals in their manufacturing starting 2006 stop the portion of the process that removed the bromide. As a result products we normally use like Dow Flake, Peladow or the food grtade of anhydrous Calcium chloride saw their content of bromide increased from the level of 150 ppm to levels of 7000 to 8500 ppm by weight.
This has a lot of implications for people using Ozone and or UV sterilizers as bromide will turn into very toxic bromine compounds.

http://www.dow.com/calcium/news/August_2005.pdf

skeeter-doc · #**367** 09/07/2007, 03:11 PM

Does this excess mag help to eliminate any hair algae?

melev · #**368** 09/07/2007, 04:01 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by jdieck
What is bothersome is that we assume normally that if we did not have problems with one product then it will stay that way forever.
One of my concerns has always been when using materials not intended for the hobby we are running a risk that the manufacturer changes the spec and we will not notice.
As an example, because bromide had never been a specification of Calcium Chloride Dow Chemicals in their manufacturing starting 2006 stop the portion of the process that removed the bromide. As a result products we normally use like Dow Flake, Peladow or the food grtade of anhydrous Calcium chloride saw their content of bromide increased from the level of 150 ppm to levels of 7000 to 8500 ppm by weight.
This has a lot of implications for people using Ozone and or UV sterilizers as bromide will turn into very toxic bromine compounds.

http://www.dow.com/calcium/news/August_2005.pdf

So how do we sweet talk these guys into extracting the bromide again?

jdieck · #**369** 09/07/2007, 04:25 PM

Create a market for it

It seems they were extracting it to sell it as a by product and the market did not worth the cost so it could have been a cost saving action, who knows.

melev · #**370** 09/07/2007, 04:49 PM

So the handful of us that needs it isn't enough of a market?

jdieck · #**371** 09/07/2007, 05:05 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by melev
So the handful of us that needs it isn't enough of a market?

You mean the bromide? Are you into biocides?

melev · #**372** 09/07/2007, 11:57 PM

I meant we all need the Magnesium Chloride for our hobby, so if the mfg's of Mag Flake would take that into consideration and continue to create a nice safe batch for us it would be appreciated.

I know we don't use nearly as much of this product as they sell to melt snow and ice, but if they could do limited runs like ESV does for B-Ionic, clubs across the nation could order it a pallet at a time annually.

Mikeyjer · #**373** 09/08/2007, 12:14 AM

I'm not getting this, I'm on my third day dosing kent tech m, but my magnesium level is dropping each day lower and lower. What's causing this??

jdieck · #**374** 09/08/2007, 01:51 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by melev
I meant we all need the Magnesium Chloride for our hobby, so if the mfg's of Mag Flake would take that into consideration and continue to create a nice safe batch for us it would be appreciated.

I know we don't use nearly as much of this product as they sell to melt snow and ice, but if they could do limited runs like ESV does for B-Ionic, clubs across the nation could order it a pallet at a time annually.

I think the market will still be small. Actually high purity is produced but is too expensive for our purpose so basically what has been reaching the hobby in commercial supplements is the food grade low ammonia type. Same quality used for pickling.

jdieck · #**375** 09/08/2007, 01:52 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Mikeyjer
I'm not getting this, I'm on my third day dosing kent tech m, but my magnesium level is dropping each day lower and lower. What's causing this??

How much water does your system contain, how much tech-m are you adding and what is your present level of magnesium?