Flux Rx questions

JCOLE · Mar 13, 2020

I have a 150 gallon SPS dominate tank and I have a couple questions and concerns about using Flux Rx. I have 66 SPS pieces. 40 of them are 2 month old frags. Is there any concerns with those frags?

Also, I see where I will need to turn off Carbon and Skimmer for a 3 days. Should I turn of my AquaMaxx Bio Reactor as well?

Spare time · Mar 14, 2020

I don't think a biopellet reactor needs to go off. I can't see why it would effect anything. Also, I had no problems with sps and flux rc. However, I kept my carbon out for 2 weeks as it can take some time for it to all go away (not sure if it needs to remain for 2 weeks or what but I did that to be safe).

JCOLE · Mar 14, 2020

By Carbon you mean GAC correct and not Carbon dosing? Also, turning off GAC is because it could pull out the Flux Rx?

Spare time · Mar 14, 2020

JCOLE said:
By Carbon you mean GAC correct and not Carbon dosing? Also, turning off GAC is because it could pull out the Flux Rx?

Actually I just remembered that you would turn off the skimmer so you would need to turn off the biopellet reactor. You would get a nasty bacterial bloom otherwise. Also, I meant GAC which would remove flux rx. I know they say you can take it out after 3 days so it may be that it already is killing the algae at that point and it doesn't matter but I just took mine out for 2 weeks because I wasn't sure since marine depot said it can take 12-14 days for all of the hair algae to die.

JCOLE · Mar 14, 2020

Spare time said:
Actually I just remembered that you would turn off the skimmer so you would need to turn off the biopellet reactor. You would get a nasty bacterial bloom otherwise. Also, I meant GAC which would remove flux rx. I know they say you can take it out after 3 days so it may be that it already is killing the algae at that point and it doesn't matter but I just took mine out for 2 weeks because I wasn't sure since marine depot said it can take 12-14 days for all of the hair algae to die.

How did Flux Rx work for you and how long did it take? I have an sps dominate tank and I just am a little worried. I only have about 15% turf algae/bryopsis in my tank.

Mastiffsrule · Mar 14, 2020

My sps were fine also, no where near your amount though. good point on the 12-14 day range. I dosed the tank and left it for 2 weeks befor I added back carbon or skimmer. I did a water change first than turned it on back on.. worked great.

ScottB · Mar 14, 2020

Flux will wipe out bryopsis; it amazing how effective it is.

My LFS uses it on customer tanks with bryopsis infestations without previous problems until this past January on one tank. Every SPS piece that had direct light exposure bleached. Fast -- like the next day. I saw it myself.

We never figured out what was different about that tank. Nutrients were a bit low after being high for a long time. Other parameters were all nominal. Had to have dosed 25 tanks fine before this. Still a mystery.

I'd keep A LOT of WC water at the ready and keep a close eye for bleaching. Maybe bump up your nutrient a little (this is speculation).

If you could remove ALL of the bryopsis just by pulling a few rocks, I'd do that. But if it is spread more widely, you don't really have much choice. Wish I could be more helpful.

You can find a large thread here on people's experience with fluconazole. 1:10 or 1:20 have some awful outcomes while everybody else is a huge fan.

Spare time · Mar 14, 2020

JCOLE said:
How did Flux Rx work for you and how long did it take? I have an sps dominate tank and I just am a little worried. I only have about 15% turf algae/bryopsis in my tank.

It took a little under 2 weeks for it to be mostly gone. My sps were fine. I have no acros though but I haven't heard of problems with it.

ScottB · Mar 15, 2020

This thread on Fluconazole is 279 pages long. You will see what I mean. 95% of folks have a great outcome. The other 5% wake up to acropora death. I (unscientifically) tried to pick up a pattern on the bad outcomes but could not.

Bryopsis Cure: My Battle With Bryopsis Using Fluconazole

The Poll In This Thread is For Bryopsis Only not GHA,Turf,Bubble Algae or any other Algae The 2 week treatment is for Bryopsis algae. For GHA,turf algae and bubble algae it may take as long as 4-6 weeks to kill. GHA,turf algae,bubble algae are different than Bryopsis algae. Bryopsis algae will...

www.reef2reef.com

JCOLE · Mar 22, 2020

Just thought I would follow up. I am 5 days in. All SPS are doing fine. The GHA is not as thick and starting to turn white on the tips. I didn't go full strength out of caution. Hopefully it will be gone within a couple weeks. Fingers crossed.

ScottB · Mar 22, 2020

JCOLE said:
Just thought I would follow up. I am 5 days in. All SPS are doing fine. The GHA is not as thick and starting to turn white on the tips. I didn't go full strength out of caution. Hopefully it will be gone within a couple weeks. Fingers crossed.

Anecdotally you should be fine then. The trouble I saw -- and what I read in that other thread -- were pretty rapid declines.

Keep an eye on your ALK consumption (assuming you are dosing 2-part or CaRx to replace ALK) to see if consumption is dropping much/any. If ur good there, might be OK to add more fluconazole to reach prescribed strength. Your call on that. Keep us updated.