Finally an easy solution to bryopsis!

[Greg Hiller]

FWIW, I tried using a mix of magnesium chloride and magnesium sulfate. I went from around 1400 ppm Mg to around 1600. Left it for about 9 days. No effect on the Bryopsis.

[steelers2005]

A final report out...I brought my Mg. to apporoximately 1450...It's been a little over two weeks and my tank is clear of the bryopsis. This method has surely worked for me. I was also using the Tech-M. I have had no problems with any of the corals, inverts or fish.

[neelix]

Originally posted by Greg Hiller
FWIW, I tried using a mix of magnesium chloride and magnesium sulfate. I went from around 1400 ppm Mg to around 1600. Left it for about 9 days. No effect on the Bryopsis.

Yeah Greg it doesn't work on Massachusetts Bryopsis At least not the 2 part formula. I was at 1650 myself 2 part fromula, eliminated it the hard way by chipping it off the rocks. Will you be trying the tech-m.

Rob

[sbertomen]

Hang on, the MA bryopis isn't that tough - and in Fitchburg too. Mine was all over just my Marco rocks on a 37 G cube I put lights on in Jan. I had about half of my lr from my old 20G. I raised my magnesium to 1500 with Tech-M for one week, then turned my lights out for 3 days. It is just about 100% gone. At first I was using Seachem without much luck, then when someone posted here to use Tech-m, I switched. So I am not sure if I just went through the natural progression of wild bryopsis growth, or the no light thing or the Mg or the exact combination. But I won.

Unfortunately this was not done very scientifically on my part and I am still too much of a newbie to come to any firm conclusions. BUT this did occur in Fitchburg, MA - that I know for sure.

[d4a2n0k]

After months of pulling Bryopsis and my own hair out, I finally beat this disgusting plague. I tried:

Rowaphos in a reactor
Sea Hare
Hermits
Emerald Crab
Lettuce Nudibranch
Turbo Snails
Astrea Snails
Algae Blenny
Spectra-Pure MaxCap RO/DI
Setup another tank to hold my fish for a few months so no food was entering the tank.

Nothing would eat this stuff. I added some Mg to my Kent Aqua Dose with top-off water and bumped up my levels and two weeks later and this stuff is finally gone! The first pic shows it around one of my Monti's from a month ago. The second pic is from today (I had my brother in laws macro lens for the first shot but not this one ) and the third is a full tank shot also from today. I have some bubble algae but thats a treat to deal with compared to Bryopsis.

Before


After


FTS


Now I can work on getting my corals back to health. They have been through hell with this stuff growing all over my SPS and from in between my Zoos.

Thanks to the original poster who figured this out!

[tangdiver]

What type of Mag....d4a2n0k


thanks,

Grant

[d4a2n0k]

I used Seachem Reef Advantage Magnesium.

http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merch...y_Code=Seachem

[tangdiver]

thanks

[phragman53]

d4a2n0k one other question. How did you handle the salinity/ sg of the water. I tried adding Mg months ago and even though I was adding Seachem Adv Mg in RO water the salinity shot way up. I guess I'll have to add it with more RO water and compensate by taking out some tank water. Does that sound right?

[RevHtree]

BUMP! How's it going so far with all of you?

[jdieck]

Originally posted by phragman53
d4a2n0k one other question. How did you handle the salinity/ sg of the water. I tried adding Mg months ago and even though I was adding Seachem Adv Mg in RO water the salinity shot way up. I guess I'll have to add it with more RO water and compensate by taking out some tank water. Does that sound right?

Although Chloride and Sulfate ions increase in proportion the salinity shall not notably increase.

[argi]

Well so far another sucess story with uping the Mg levels to get rid of some bryopsis. I had a couple of small patches in my 220. Tested Mg and it was low (1050). Over the next week and a half brought it up to 1500 and the bryopsis has slowly gone away. The couple of thin patches are completely gone and the one patch that was very thick is almost gone. I used the Kent Marine's Tech M in my tank. Glad I found this thread.

[TWallace]

It appears that Tech M is working in my QT. The bryopsis has turned brown and is thinning out considerably. I'll post before/after pics tonight if I remember. So for me, Mag Flake did nothing, but Tech M worked in 2 separate tanks.

[TCU Reefer]

Ditto here. I've been using Mag flake as my Mg supplement for a year and since I've been trying to eradicate bryopsis the past month, there has been no effects on it even with levels around 1600 ppm.

Ordered some Kent Tech M and in a few days, the tips were thinning out.

FYI, www.thatpetplace.com is selling a gallong of Tech M for $14.99 I beleive.

[bobparker]

great post thanx for the tips and follow ups

[RevHtree]

I have some patches in my prop tank and I just started dosing the kent tech M. I will update as I go.

[Reeferhead]

Originally posted by TCU Reefer
Ditto here. I've been using Mag flake as my Mg supplement for a year and since I've been trying to eradicate bryopsis the past month, there has been no effects on it even with levels around 1600 ppm.

Ordered some Kent Tech M and in a few days, the tips were thinning out.

FYI, www.thatpetplace.com is selling a gallong of Tech M for $14.99 I beleive.

I started using 5:3 Magflake to Epson and then switched to just Magflake. It took alot longer than most people have reported here but it did kill all of my bryopsis. I had to crank it up to about 1800 ppm and continued to prune while treating.

[raddogz]

I have finally got to 1600 ppm.

I just finished the Tech M and using a 10:1 solution of Magflake. The hair algae is starting to turn brown in certain areas and is certainly shedding so it must be dying. I have removed the area where it was growing the worse which was an eggcrate frag rack. The snails and the yellow tang seem to be doing their job a bit easier. I think now that the frag rack is gone the area at the back end of the tank is now empty, so there is a bit more flow back there. I'll probably buy a big container of Tech M again when I get a chance.

[jdieck]

Originally posted by raddogz
I have finally got to 1600 ppm.

I just finished the Tech M and using a 10:1 solution of Magflake. The hair algae is starting to turn brown in certain areas and is certainly shedding so it must be dying. I have removed the area where it was growing the worse which was an eggcrate frag rack. The snails and the yellow tang seem to be doing their job a bit easier. I think now that the frag rack is gone the area at the back end of the tank is now empty, so there is a bit more flow back there. I'll probably buy a big container of Tech M again when I get a chance.

By removing the eggcrate you have removed a source of chemical leaching into your tank that feed algae.
I ran a series of comparisons running my frag tank with styrene plastic made eggcrate (The 1/4" thick one most commonly found in hardware stores) versus acrylic made eggcrate (the one 1/2" US made) and there is noticeable difference in the algae promotion. With styrene bryopsis and hair algae develops in just a couple of weeks while with acrylic it basically is non existant.

[raddogz]

hmmm....that is very interesting indeed.

Good information. I will definitely keep this in mind for future projects.

[chewie]

Very indeed!

jdieck,

could it be the texture of the material used, instead of chemical leaching?

I recently used a different source of eggcrate in my prop tank(3 weeks ago) and it is algae free for now. the cheap HD brand got covered in less than 2 weeks.

The difference in material on the new one i'm using is it's smoother, thicker and it's black. I figured the black helped reduce available light but maybe it's the texture.

I'll have to look for a white piece to try out.

[jdieck]

Originally posted by chewie
Very indeed!

jdieck,

could it be the texture of the material used, instead of chemical leaching?

I recently used a different source of eggcrate in my prop tank(3 weeks ago) and it is algae free for now. the cheap HD brand got covered in less than 2 weeks.

The difference in material on the new one i'm using is it's smoother, thicker and it's black. I figured the black helped reduce available light but maybe it's the texture.

I'll have to look for a white piece to try out.

It can certainly have an effect, more porous or rugged material usually gets popuated faster. I usually swipe any PVC I'll put inside the tank with acetone to give it a matte finsish and coralline grows and attach to it a lot faster.
I also noticed two different manufacturer son the styrene purchase at my near HD. One was really white, good smooth moulding with no flashing of the plastic with good crate thickness uniformity. Other was not s bright, plastic had lots of flash from the moulding and some of the square sides was thicker in some areas with very poor quality control. I tried both and eventually both developed the algae, I only tried one of Acrylic. Expensive enough, I could only find it by mail order by the case of 10 and at $200.00 a case.

[raddogz]

I actually purchased mine from HD. I am curious as to is just chemical leaching or is the absorption of undeseriables and then leaching it back into the water much like when live rock will leach back phosphates into the water.

Sorry Twallace for hijacking the thread a bit but I'm curious as how this all started to go out of control for me.

[fishnfst]

I know at the HD's here in norcal they have stopped carrying the eggcrate.. There were two different batches that they were selling.. One was slightly heavier and more nylon feeling. When you cut it with wirecutters it wuold just cut through cleanly very tough feeling. These ones were us made.. They were about $14.. The other ones they carried were about half the weight and much more brittle.. THe thickness differs in comparison to the other by up to 20 percent in spots.. It is noticeably lighter and tends to shatter or crack when trying to cut it.

I'm going to have to look for this acrylic one you speak of for my new frag tank...

[raddogz]

That's exactly the one I was using the one that it would shatter easily. It seemed like it was good thing while I was cutting or snapping rectangular shapes, but not so nice when it was shattering as I was affixing it to the pvc.

Is there any links for the acrylic or the black eggcrates?