battling bryopsis

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apollothesun

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i have been battling bryopsis for 1 month now and ive been somewhat getting it under control.. first i tried hand removing it but seems to grow even more. dosed excessive amounts of magnesium for 3 weeks now and has slightly curbed on the growth but still have to hand pull some out. got some more snails and a cleaner crew to help. started using a toothbrush also. anybody know any miracle cure to rid of this algae?
 
I had a bad outbreak of Bryopsis recently. Two things that worked for me were Media reactor with ROWAPHOS and introducing Ozone to my system. I also put as much Chaeto in my refugeum as possible. I almost forgot. A colony of herbevores also helped.
My tank was tore down and redone with addition of 150lbs of rock on April 26th. After one week tank was overtaken by bryopsis. You should see it now. My water is much clearer. That is what worked for me.
 
The most important thing is to have essentially no phosphate in your water. Use RO/DI when you mix your salt. Keep your nitrates as low as possible too with regular water changes. I don't like to see them get over 5 ppm because algae will utilize it as a fertilizer. Dosing magnesium will help kill it off too, but any phosphate in those tissues will be released back into the water and have to be removed with a phosphate sponge or water changes. Using RO/DI and regular water changes are the only real solution to the problem. Other remedies work on the symptoms, but not the cause of the problem.
 
Thats War!! but have you read this before?

How to beat Bryopsis


Here are some of the steps that you can take to beat this nuisance algae:

This is like a flow chart, so follow it and results will be found (eventually). Between each step, give yourselves 2-3 days of observation, then move to the next step. When making changes to your water chemistry, smaller bodies of water should be tinkered with over a longer period of a time than larger bodied water tanks (important). So if you have a smaller tank (under 70 gallons), any adjustments should be twice as long.

1. Elevate your Magnesium from 1600ppm to 1800ppm or 2000ppm. Do this very very slowly (over a period of a week) as it can have a very negative effect on your tank's inhabitants.

If that didn't work, move to the next step.

2. Elevate your Hardness (dkH) from 9dkH to 14dkH. Again, do this slowly over a period of 2-3 days.

If that didn't work, move to the next step.

3. Install (Purchase) a Phosphate Reactor. Two Little Fishes reactor is a perfect size. Use Rowa Phos media (or similarly potent media), under high flow through the reactor chamber.

If that didn't work, move to the next step.

4. Adjust your skim mate type. Change the way your skimmer functions, by adjusting how the skim mate comes out. You want it to be wet, for example, a translucent color. This will mean that you are over skimming, which is the idea as you want to get rid of nutrients in your tank.

If that didn't work, move to the next step.

5. Either purchase (or DIY) a Kalkawasser reactor. Kalk, or pickling lime, will bond to phosphates and will be skimmed out of the solution (with wet skimming). When setting up your kalk reactor, mix kalk and vinegar (100% all purpose) in a 2:1 solution. This is to offset the high pH of kalk. Drip it at a rate of 1 drop per 3 seconds. At this stage of bryposis removal, the kalk that is being dripped will lower Magnesium. So if the bryopsis is fully removed by this step, you will have to adjust your Magnesium at a later time.

If that didn't work, move to the next step.

6. Purchase a couple of Long Spine Urchins (Diadema Savignyi). Let them graze over this weak bryoposis. Some also found that Mexican Turbo snails will feed on this type of algae.

If that didn't work, move to the next step.

7. If you are not already using 20K lights, this is the time to switch. These lights will prevent algae in general from growing. Algae fester in spectrum of 10k and lower.

If that didn't work, move to the next step.

8. Some people say that rabbit fish (Siganus) will eat this stuff. At this point, you should have this algae in a very weak stage. The chances of a rabbit fish eating it are high. Some recommendations are Vulpinus, Magnificus, and Puctatus.

If that didn't work, move to the next step and at this point the last possible measure.

9. Take out the rock(s) that has the bryopsis, and soak it in RO/DI water. Do this for a period of 2-3 weeks. Change the water every 3-4 days, as the water will remove all phosphates from the rock. Make sure you have a power head to move the water in the container with the rock(s).

I hope it will help you some:rolleyes:
 
wow is it really safe to increase your magnesium all the way up to 2000????
I run mine at 1750 and feel that I am pushing it with it that high...

Matt
 
woot another thread for the "B"

watch out for this stuff....
altho i have my sad story of the b,

ive learned to live with it... its contained, the tank will be nuked as soon as the next tank is set up.... it cant be beat. but its not that bad.

kinda looks cool some times...
good luck
 
and not to be negative... but i dissagree with everything doctor dee said Except

for the very last thing. "take the rock out" edit: nuke: edit
 
I too have been battling it but it seems content to only grow on the base of my two brain corals. I just pick them up and manually remove it every week or so.
 
7. If you are not already using 20K lights, this is the time to switch. These lights will prevent algae in general from growing. Algae fester in spectrum of 10k and lower.

20k MH bulbs put out practically the same light wavelengths as 10k or lower bulbs, just in different proportions. All that is really accomplished by swiching to 20k bulbs is to lower the PAR, which reduces the growth rate of all photosynthetic inhabitants.
 
thanks for chiming in everybody.

dr dee, tried several of those steps. currently at step 6. gonna try the long spine urchins.
 
Can someone please post some pics of this nasty stuff? I'm starting to get a small area on some new live rock that might be it. It actually reminds me of very short "indoor-outdoor" carpet...that "astro-turf" looking stuff.

it almost looks like a feather type algae for me. almost like a feathery mexicana algae, ill try and gets some pics. tonight
 
cool... ill tag along for the next great idea...

Nukeing the tank works the best..
 
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