Expel coral dip review

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Brew12

Brew12

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I was lucky enough to receive a bottle of the Expel coral dip. I plan on putting it through its paces tomorrow.
I have purchased a variety of corals from a reputable dealer so I don't expect anything in the way of pests but you never know.

I will be dipping multiple SPS, Zoa's, a LPS and a clam tomorrow. Hopefully I will have time to photo document everything to share as part of a review!

Edit: Ooops.. misread the email. Coral/clam shipment comes in on Friday.
 
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Cool! Wanna come dip my new corals with flatworms on them? :)
 
Well guys, I used this stuff for the first time today and unfortunately, I can't provide much of a review. The corals and clam that came in were about as clean as anything I have ever seen. I couldn't find a single copepod with any of them. I'll say great job by the vendor, but not ideal for running a test on how effective a dip is.

What I can confirm is that this dip did no harm. Within an hour of dipping the zoas were open. An hour after that and the clam was open. Around the same time for the hammer coral to start expanding out. SPS show no negative signs at all. It's hard to say exactly how gentle it was since shipping conditions can't be tracked. My opinion is that this recovery is faster than I have seen when using Bayer on newly received coral.

So... I can confirm I found it safe for clams, zoa's, Acro's, millies, GSP (was a freebie), leptastrea, and euphyllia when used as directed in a 10 minute dip. I cannot confirm if it is effective as a dip.

Oh, and it smells much better than Bayer!
 
And how about a non-pro tip?

Use your phone camera as a magnifying glass. Don't take a picture, just open the app and zoom in. Examining your new coral and plugs this way lets you see any eggs or pests very easily imo. For me it is much better than trying to look at them with a naked eye.
 
leahfiish said:
Are you going to continue using it?
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Of course! I hope I didn't give the impression that I considered the testing a failure. Only that there were no nasties in my shipment that I could point to and say it works.
I just won't get rid of that bottle of Bayer in my closet until I can see how it works against pests.

I should have pulled out a small piece of algae from my fuge and dumped it in the dip when I was done. At least that way I could confirm if it actually killed something. Ah well.
 
Any idea if this dip targets red bugs? I read no testing was done on the whole tank treatment (due to the heartworm meds). I'm curious about the dip though.
 
UWC said:
Yes for the dip. Redbugs fall off in seconds :)
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I may have to give this a go. Only thing I found to kill off Red bugs is Bayer and Polyp Lab Reef Primer. Which even with these they fall off but take some time to die off.
 
Gonna use this dip today on a chunky frag of CB Malificent and ARC Ultra Millie. Roughly a $325 container of coral. But I am confused on the amount of dip to use. I have been reading to use 2x-4x the normal dose if you want the pests to fall off. @UWC
Maybe someone can explain. I don’t use .05 Gallons of SW in the dip
I may only use like 2-4 cups of water in a small container.
So I am thinking I would use 2 ml per 4 cups of tank water.
But is it ok to double that or is it not needed?
 
I would use the standard instructed dose, but you can double it up with no issues :)
 
I’m sure it’s out there somewhere but I guess I missed it. What pests does this dip kill? Guaranteed
@UWC
 
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Is this dip clear like CoralRx or cloudy like Bayer?

I'm a big fan of using two different dips, that target different pests. I'm leaning towards Bayer followed by Melafix (for worms). Not sure where this fits and which one it replaces, I suspect Bayer?

There are plenty of pests that dips don't kill like aiptasia, hydroids, flatworms, bubble algae, other algaes. There is something really nice about a QT frag tank.
 
HolisticBear said:
Is this dip clear like CoralRx or cloudy like Bayer?

I'm a big fan of using two different dips, that target different pests. I'm leaning towards Bayer followed by Melafix (for worms). Not sure where this fits and which one it replaces, I suspect Bayer?

There are plenty of pests that dips don't kill like aiptasia, hydroids, flatworms, bubble algae, other algaes. There is something really nice about a QT frag tank.
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Expel, the dip, is clear.
 
Brew12 said:
Expel, the dip, is clear.
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So what would you do if you got some frags from a random local frag swap? Expel then Bayer, just rock Expel for awhile?

CoralRX has a reputation for being harsh, I read almost nothing about FM's Dip, and UWC has a good reputation and it's likely less harsh than CoralRx. Maybe people will run Expel + their new AEFW treament??
 
HolisticBear said:
So what would you do if you got some frags from a random local frag swap? Expel then Bayer, just rock Expel for awhile?

CoralRX has a reputation for being harsh, I read almost nothing about FM's Dip, and UWC has a good reputation and it's likely less harsh than CoralRx. Maybe people will run Expel + their new AEFW treament??
Click to expand...
I'm pretty sure Expel will treat AEFW.

I got some frags in from AquaSD not long after getting Expel. Cleanest frags I have ever seen in my life. I used the Expel dip but didn't kill a thing. Just nothing on them to kill. I used the camera on my phone to do a magnified inspection of each frag and couldn't find a thing. If I found anything I was going to follow it up with Bayer but there was nothing. I'm not tossing my Bayer yet, but I feel this will be a nice replacement for it. I really don't like Bayer.
 
Well I came across the UWC purge thread and contacted them for some testing and picked up their expel dip with the purge. Long story short dipped everything at recommended dosages first to observe coral health and harshness, no losses or Browning knocked flatworms back but didn't kill them. Upped dosage to triple and dipped selective pieces, FWs curled up within minutes and simple basting flushed them all. Tested on nudis and planara and worked fantastic, 3-4X dosages melts them in the dip after 30 minutes. Dip seems to target these better than any dip I've used an is very easy on corals. I use around 3-6ml per litre without any negative results. think I can finally put away the Bayer imo
 

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