Tech-M's Magic Bryopsis killing ingredient: Lithium

hart24601 · May 15, 2015

A bit off topic, but I have only ceramic rock work for several years now. Not aquaroche, but vidarock which is cerameco. I had my tanks results in the ESV salt thread and they were unable to detect any vanadium.

Sangheili · May 25, 2015

I'd advise caution with Lithium. I'm not sure yet if its the Lithium, High Mag, or High Vanadium but something has caused a few of my acros to RTN in the past week. Nothing wide spread since it was only 2 Wild colonies and 5 or 6 frags (Out of 100+). I have a Triton test in the mail to try to shed some light on it.

that Reef Guy · May 26, 2015

Sangheili said:
I'd advise caution with Lithium. I'm not sure yet if its the Lithium, High Mag, or High Vanadium but something has caused a few of my acros to RTN in the past week. Nothing wide spread since it was only 2 Wild colonies and 5 or 6 frags (Out of 100+). I have a Triton test in the mail to try to shed some light on it.

I look forward to seeing the results of the Test.

Hopefully you find out what the problem is.

Sangheili · Jun 1, 2015

Results back.

Everything is perfect except the high Lithium. So my acro deaths must have been either 1) Alk drop to 7dkh, 2) Lighting changes, or 3) Exposure to the high Lithium levels.

Vanadium, which has been haunting me for months, is now gone completely. No idea why.

JimWelsh · Jun 1, 2015

Sangheili said:
Vanadium, which has been haunting me for months, is now gone completely. No idea why.

Triton reports results that are less than their LOD (Limit of Detection) as 0.00. According to their own documentation, their LOD for Vanadium is 0.92-1.50 PPB, so you could have as much as perhaps 1.50 PPB Vanadium, and it would show up on the report as 0.00, according to what Triton has said.

Sangheili · Jun 1, 2015

JimWelsh said:
Triton reports results that are less than their LOD (Limit of Detection) as 0.00. According to their own documentation, their LOD for Vanadium is 0.92-1.50 PPB, so you could have as much as perhaps 1.50 PPB Vanadium, and it would show up on the report as 0.00, according to what Triton has said.

Very true. Still a huge drop from the increasing readings before of 5.66 -> 15.12 -> 20.57

kc350twin · Jun 16, 2015

Interesting thread. My lithium levels are off the chart and have been using Tech M for about three years now.

that Reef Guy · Jun 17, 2015

Sangheili said:
Results back.

Everything is perfect except the high Lithium. So my acro deaths must have been either 1) Alk drop to 7dkh, 2) Lighting changes, or 3) Exposure to the high Lithium levels.

Vanadium, which has been haunting me for months, is now gone completely. No idea why.

What Salt do you use?

ZoaCollector · Jun 17, 2015

Explains why my fish are unusually happy and non emotional at the same time

Sangheili · Jun 18, 2015

that Reef Guy said:
What Salt do you use?

Red Sea Blue Bucket. I had a couple more acros STN this week, which seemed to happen right after a drop to about 7dkh alk. I am starting to think that is the culprit. 7dkh doesn't seem low, but I am using the Hanna checker and there has been some discussion in past about it reading roughly 1dkh higher then Salifert. Again this isn't a tank wide thing, its like 1 or 2 out of 100+ frags.

Omega0397 · Oct 16, 2015

I know it's been a while, did anyone do any testing on their own by dosing just Lithium in a Bryopsis infected tank?

JimWelsh · Oct 20, 2015

I'd be happy to do so, but I'd need to get my hands on some Bryopsis first.

Omega0397 · Oct 20, 2015

JimWelsh said:
I'd be happy to do so, but I'd need to get my hands on some Bryopsis first.

Is it really that hard to come by where you are at?!?

JimWelsh · Oct 22, 2015

Let me check with some of my friends in the San Francisco Bay Area.

jverna1 · Apr 22, 2016

Did anyone who bought Triton Lithium get good results killing bryopsis? Debating on Kent M or Triton Lithium.

Sabellafella · Apr 22, 2016

jverna1 said:
Did anyone who bought Triton Lithium get good results killing bryopsis? Debating on Kent M or Triton Lithium.

Ive had a frag plug with bryopsis on it for about 6 months untill i threw it out. My lithium level was around 3-4000 for that whole time

jverna1 · Apr 22, 2016

I guess Tech M it is.

DAPG8GT · May 2, 2016

There is also those strains of briopsis that is not affected by tech M and I just so happen to have one of them. So be cautious it's not a silver bullet in all situations. I've tried it multiple times and even ran levels up over 2100 ppm for a month + at the expense of corals as well. Montipora especially does not like it all that much and will bleach out after a while, then acros etc.. . I envy you guys who this works for..

I've tried for years doing the tech M route and all others under the sun I know of but I'm at the point where it's ( briopsis) killed my tank basically and I'm replacing rock that literally has 20+ years of life in it in my hands,its hard to take a bullet proof and tank minus the algae and nuke it.

Blue Lip · May 2, 2016

Sangheili said:
Oops yep ppb.

Here are all of my Triton results in spreadsheet form so you can judge for yourself: http://1drv.ms/1bEXCbB

It makes sense that normal Mag Chloride doesn't have much Lithium, as people who have tried to battle Bryopsis with normal Mag found no results from my research. It seems only Tech-M as a Magnesium source is effective.

Brightwell hydrate magnesium works too. Magnesium salts that are hydrated work to kill bryopsis as opposed to anhydrous magnesium salts.