As many here know, I've been fighting a serious outbreak of Byropsis plumosa</em>, which looks something like this:
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In the past 14 years of being in this hobby, I've always heard about bryopsis, but have never dealt with it first hand. Until now. It was covering about 60-70% of my rock. Not exactly the look I was going for.
It's very invasive - it slowly covers everything, and can't be removed manually. A single cell is all that's needed for it to restablish, so nothing short of boiling the rock will get it off. Based on what I've read, I've tried:
a) manual removal
b) urchins, hermits, foxface, tangs, sea slugs
c) adding a considerable amount of GFO - measured in 1/2 gallon increments
d) adding a sulfur denitrator
e) large water changes (though with 800g of water in the system, large is only ~50%)
f) adding magnesium beyond 1700ppm
g) cutting lights out for 3 full days
h) cutting back feeding
The f) one is interesting. I read a number of threads about adding magnesium chloride from the standard 1300ppm to over 1700ppm. So after adding a couple gallons of MgCl and then ordering another 5g bucket from bulkreefsupply.com, I was up to 1700 or 2100, depending on the test kit I read, and absolutely no change was seen.
I finally read that you have to use Kent Tech M magnesium:
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Supposedly, there's something in the Tech M that causes the bryopsis to go away- either an impurity or something about how it's made. I read everything out there about reefs with a hefty grain of salt, but was willing to try just about anything. So I ordered 4 gallons @ $30/gal.
I added at about 2-3 cups per day (again, remember I have 800gals), and after about a week, I started to notice the bryopsis turning color. After another 3-4 days, it started to die right off the rocks. I still have some dying off, but it's only been a week and a half (after looking at it for 6 months). I started seeing results after about 2 gallons.
This was not a scientific experiment, but my tank, so I really didn't care which methods or even combination of methods was needed. I don't know if the formula is 2gal of Tech M for 800gal of tank water, if the existing Mg levels had anything to do with it, or if something else is related. Honestly, I don't care - it's going away.
In the past 14 years of being in this hobby, I've always heard about bryopsis, but have never dealt with it first hand. Until now. It was covering about 60-70% of my rock. Not exactly the look I was going for.
It's very invasive - it slowly covers everything, and can't be removed manually. A single cell is all that's needed for it to restablish, so nothing short of boiling the rock will get it off. Based on what I've read, I've tried:
a) manual removal
b) urchins, hermits, foxface, tangs, sea slugs
c) adding a considerable amount of GFO - measured in 1/2 gallon increments
d) adding a sulfur denitrator
e) large water changes (though with 800g of water in the system, large is only ~50%)
f) adding magnesium beyond 1700ppm
g) cutting lights out for 3 full days
h) cutting back feeding
The f) one is interesting. I read a number of threads about adding magnesium chloride from the standard 1300ppm to over 1700ppm. So after adding a couple gallons of MgCl and then ordering another 5g bucket from bulkreefsupply.com, I was up to 1700 or 2100, depending on the test kit I read, and absolutely no change was seen.
I finally read that you have to use Kent Tech M magnesium:
Supposedly, there's something in the Tech M that causes the bryopsis to go away- either an impurity or something about how it's made. I read everything out there about reefs with a hefty grain of salt, but was willing to try just about anything. So I ordered 4 gallons @ $30/gal.
I added at about 2-3 cups per day (again, remember I have 800gals), and after about a week, I started to notice the bryopsis turning color. After another 3-4 days, it started to die right off the rocks. I still have some dying off, but it's only been a week and a half (after looking at it for 6 months). I started seeing results after about 2 gallons.
This was not a scientific experiment, but my tank, so I really didn't care which methods or even combination of methods was needed. I don't know if the formula is 2gal of Tech M for 800gal of tank water, if the existing Mg levels had anything to do with it, or if something else is related. Honestly, I don't care - it's going away.
