How to eradicate Byropsis totally? (Have access now)

[Rick.45cal]

You're the best Saltyfilmfolks!

https://www.chewy.com/api-algaefix-...gclid=CLqTxvHYttECFdm3wAodAjIBwA&gclsrc=aw.ds

@mcarroll give me the low down... What's the skinny on the API algaefix?

 

[Rick.45cal]

@twilliard I'm not trying to twist your arm into talking before your ready . I know you have only had it a short time to play with and lots of questions to answer (which tend to lead to an exponential amount of other questions).

 

[Kungpaoshizi]

Best thing will be manual removal and 2-3 peroxide dips per week.
It's a pain but it works, no matter the strain.
Just don't use brown bottle peroxide, dilute food grade. Brown bottles mostly have toxic stabilizers.
Also emerald crabs will eat most.

 

[Rick.45cal]

Best thing will be manual removal and 2-3 peroxide dips per week.
It's a pain but it works, no matter the strain.
Just don't use brown bottle peroxide, dilute food grade. Brown bottles mostly have toxic stabilizers.
Also emerald crabs will eat most.

I'm willing to bet that emerald crabs won't like mine... just a hunch. I'm not an crab fan, but I like bryopsis even less.

My problem with the manual removal is the inaccesibility of the structure of pukani doesn't lend itself well too it. The peroxide dips may help with that though. I also have 150lbs of Pukani, and I can guarantee I won't get all of it. Multiple dips may help alleviate that too though. (Sorry just thinking it all through).

 

[mcarroll]

My bryopsis doesn't seem to care

You have it everywhere or concentrated in certain areas?

What's you tank temperature?

How often do you have to scrape the tank glass?

treatment

What word would you select if not "treatment"?

You're the best Saltyfilmfolks!

@mcarroll give me the low down... What's the skinny on the API algaefix?

I can tell you I've never seen a bad side-effect from it and it really works as advertised. It doesn't work on everything you might like it to (#chrysophytes anyone?) but I'd bet on it working on green algae like Bryopsis.

Best thing will be manual removal and 2-3 peroxide dips per week.

I'd also bet this would work, but dipping 150 pounds of rock sounds a lot like a total breakdown.

Just don't use brown bottle peroxide, dilute food grade. Brown bottles mostly have toxic stabilizers.

If you're dipping I wouldn't sweat this angle at all – just use the H2O2 you can find locally and easily.

Even if you're putting it into the tank, the quantity is tiny so the concentration is very very tiny once in the system. Be mindful, but I don't see why you'd expect a problem from a single, as-directed treatment.

Plus, the reason they use the stabilizers is that H2O2 is very unstable.

If you can find food grade H2o2 (even my pharmacist had no idea) it might be labelled at a higher concentration than first-aid stuff, but you have no idea as to the potency since it's been sitting around degrading into plain old water for an unknown amount of time.

 

[brandon429]

I do not think Rick. 45 will get much sustain from using 3% on a strain like his. Die then grow back

Rasping + 35% due to the porous nature of the rock is what I would do, all external work. I then would discard the rest of the unused 35% if the house had smaller children it's too dangerous to keep around imo. Detailed work outside the tank, surgery. A scape that allows a couple repeats. On the extreme, the rock can be kept in dark vats aerated and circulated five months to kill off algae, the bacteria will survive with or without feeding during that time and it could be sold to recoup funds or reused

The same porosity that makes rasping not work will also make the tank addicted to any clean up crews that might forage, one slip up from them and the growth returns in full, since topical grazing still farms the holdfast.

All forms of chemical treatment direct and indirect are valid attempts but a rock cooking seems to be the clencher, and on next round universal exclusion methods will be the preventative, I don't think we can even fully quarantine the risk totally gone for bryopsis-the planned initial attack is key now that reefers know how hard they can attack and still not recycle a tank. We're all trading frags too much to be free of it by design in my opinion.

for the new tank owner reading right now who has left visible bryopsis in the tank in a tiny spot and is adding something, anything, to the water to hope for its demise (indirect cure mode) there's a better way: use dosers only to fight grow back, never to remove anchored growth, that's hand-guiding time and parting-out cleaning time... surgery.


An inaccessible scape is secondarily at play usually... large tanks have this variable against them commonly and nano tanks have it easy

Using indirect action on the target as first and exclusive go is the riskiest chance we take in reefing and the sole habit behind every invaded tank on the web, something small was farmed but with good intentions. I did it in my own tank with invasive mushrooms and lost half the old growth corals.

A test rock should be forced into compliance before any tank-wide work is begun, all else is just guessing. I've seen pics of Rick's tank, the rock is very nice and the toughest substrate to work with on the flip side

 

[Rick.45cal]

@mcarroll and @brandon429, thanks for your input.
Tank temp stays between 76.9-78.0 F

I think my tank may be a good candidate for the algaefix. I am NOT nor have I ever been a fan of using chemicals to solve a problem in reef aquarium, but I'm boxed in a corner with no real biological options. I can't out compete it, starve it (short of turning off the lights for 6-12months and then starting over I also have no place to relocate my corals/livestock for an extended stay, that can be fixed but takes time). The total teardown rock dipping is likely to work, but for longevity I doubt I will get it all and it will be back if I don't get it all.

The algaefix is attractive, it looks like the problem most reported in reviews is people's fish die from an ammonia spike related to the breakdown of the algae. My tank isn't "overrun" with bryopsis. There's a couple larger concentrated patches, (with small isolated creeping pockets throughout the system) but the whole system isn't completely covered. Bryopsis is my only problem algae, vibrant took care of everything else that was in my system (I had a grab bag of spirulina, cyano, chrysophytes, etc. It's all gone now). Just the bryopsis is left. So I think a large ammonia spike is unlikely in my case, I am also running a zeolite reactor which is excellent at absorbing ammonia in the water column. (I could also swap out the media before and after treatment). So I think that it's unlikely that I would lose any fish to any ammonia being present.

I also don't run macros at this time ( I want to in the future though). So ultimately what I am left with is how long/what are the after effects of using Algaefix? How long is it active in the system? What's the collateral damage? (My CUC?). Am I going to be frantically changing 150 gallons of water after treatment? All questions I would like to have some expectations to potential answers.

Brandon429, while I like the idea of using the 35% H2O2 (I dilute my own for Oxydators) as a cleaner for the rock, that stuff is a little too potent for my tastes to trust myself to use it straight, and 150# of rock is gonna make a BIG mess (especially with me handling it.). It only takes a drop of that stuff on some wood or flamable material that gets left or forgotten and sometime down the road it will likely cause combustion of the material. For anyone reading this NOT familiar with 35% food grade Hydrogen peroxide, do your homework!!! It has inherent risks and dangers to you and your surroundings! You could REALLY hurt yourself or others if you don't know how to properly handle it.

That being said I agree that your tactic would likely work very well, especially in a smaller more controllable environment, without a madman (me) behind the controls. (I'm too messy, all my skin would be snow white and oxidized and then the house would burn down, and I would probably still have this bryopsis because I missed a spot )

 

[Rick.45cal]

@ps2cho, I'm sorry I didn't intend to hijack your thread but I am largely in the same boat as you. (Looks like you are a little farther down the creek than I am though... you gotta paddle I could borrow? )

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

@ps2cho, I'm sorry I didn't intend to hijack your thread but I am largely in the same boat as you. (Looks like you are a little farther down the creek than I am though... you gotta paddle I could borrow? )

I think we're all in the same boat.
Im reading Sprung right now trying to understand out how to make the algae "crash" intentionally and why Its been happening in my 55 as of late.

 

[brandon429]

I'm totally for algaecide algaefix here. Large tanks have tough access work maybe it will help. Applying it direct to the target outside of tank (a concentrating effort vs dilution) is still ideal compared to usual top water dosing.

If that's not available, then slowly injecting it right into a patch and letting it bleed out into the water still beats basic top water dosing.

 

[Rick.45cal]

I'm totally for algaecide algaefix here. Large tanks have tough access work maybe it will help. Applying it direct to the target outside of tank (a concentrating effort vs dilution) is still ideal compared to usual top water dosing.

If that's not available, then slowly injecting it right into a patch and letting it bleed out into the water still beats basic top water dosing.

I would have no problems spot treating using a syringe in the tank I think you're right that it would improve the effectiveness. I've also had success with spot treating with boiling tank water, but its a slow/also sketchy dangerous process. The trade off being that it seems to nuke the holdfasts and it doesn't grow back. So it's likely a good option as well, it still suffers the similar limitations of accesibility, but may be useful for someone reading these posts. (Don't burn yourself, boiling water loves to shoot out of turkey baster because of vapor pressure! )

 

[Aliyanna]

We have had Bryopsis in our new tank. I installed an old light on one side, because we were waiting for the arrival of the second Pixie.
So we had a Fluval Sea & Marine above one side of the tank.
There we had the Bryopsis. Nice to see but a pest told me friends. They grew up very fast and in big numbers.
As the Pixie arrived we installed it and removed the Fluval and since then the Bryopsis are nearly dying. They don't die really but they don't grow, the color is more dark green than fresh green and other algae the same.
So I think it is a matter of spectrum of the light. Maybe i am wrong, but this is what I noticed

 

[mcarroll]

What was the difference in lux (or PAR) between the two lights? (old vs new)

 

[Rick.45cal]

We have had Bryopsis in our new tank. I installed an old light on one side, because we were waiting for the arrival of the second Pixie.
So we had a Fluval Sea & Marine above one side of the tank.
There we had the Bryopsis. Nice to see but a pest told me friends. They grew up very fast and in big numbers.
As the Pixie arrived we installed it and removed the Fluval and since then the Bryopsis are nearly dying. They don't die really but they don't grow, the color is more dark green than fresh green and other algae the same.
So I think it is a matter of spectrum of the light. Maybe i am wrong, but this is what I noticed

BEWARE!!! It is only shifting it's chloroplasts to take full advantage of the new spectrum you introduced. It probably really liked the red in the previous bulbs, however, the shift in light isn't going to stop it. It will slow it down until the chloroplasts readjust then it's gonna be "on like Donkey Kong"!

Just a heads up, Bryopsis loves to change and reorganize, you're dealing with a large population of single celled algae all neatly organized in a colonial structure, there's a lot of potential punctuated evolution there. My suspicions are this is one of the reasons it is so effective at escaping "treatments". An environmental stressor is introduced and the cells that are affected die, the ones that don't multiply. Very effective survival tactic.

 

[Aliyanna]

What was the difference in lux (or PAR) between the two lights? (old vs new)

Fluval: 312 LEDs:
15.000 Kelvin: 180 pieces, red: 28 pieces, 400 nm, blue: 24 pieces , 420 nm, blau: 28 pieces, 440 nm, blau: 24 pieces, 460 nm, blau: 28 pieces

Pixie 150:
http://www.luminiaqua.com/pixie150-specs/

I think it is too long now, I don't think they readjust.

 

[Salty1962]

How long did you use Vibrant? My bryopsis is completely gone after using for @6~7 weeks I had a major outbreak, I pulled as much as I could and treated my tank. I'm fortunate that it's gone, I was about to pull my hair out, I tried everything! Good Luck.

 

[Rick.45cal]

How long did you use Vibrant? My bryopsis is completely gone after using for @6~7 weeks I had a major outbreak, I pulled as much as I could and treated my tank. I'm fortunate that it's gone, I was about to pull my hair out, I tried everything! Good Luck.

Been using it since October 24th (still am)

 

[Rick.45cal]

So @mcarroll has pm'd me stating that Algaefix likely won't affect the bryopsis, so on to another plan

 

[Woolleson]

Following.

I have the dreaded bryopsis also, mainly at high level on one or tow rocks, of course the sps dominated ones. Mines a dirty brown colour but still bryopsis.

At the moment I'm manually removing and keeping it under control. Basically waiting till its large enough to try get some root also.

One thing I've noticed since dosing np bactobalance it has been less aggressive.

I have emerald crabs but don't touch it. They just eat the red turf algea.

Next move is vibrant before it takes hold. Hopefully it won't have a cross effect with the bactobalance.

You mentioned rasping. ... could I ask what that is?

Jason

 

[Rick.45cal]

Rasping is physical removal of the top layer of rock using a mechanical tool (in woodworking a rasp) here you can use any appropriate tool that's abrasive enough to remove both the algae and the layer of rock below it, so that you can effectively also remove the holdfasts that the algae has embedded into the rock work.