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Kent Tech M Bryopsis treatment


seabass

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I got frustrated and just dumped a bunch of TechM (unmeasured) in my tank

:lol:

 

I'm now under the impression that must be manually removed, and the Tech M "treatment" helps prevent it from spreading or from coming back. At least I hope it does. fingerscrossed

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If worried about copper can't you test the kent product directly for copper? Or if you don't trust hobbiest kits send it for lab testing? I think lab tests are around $40? Would answer the question though.

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Hobby kits aren't sensitive enough. We know there is some copper in it. Of course there is some copper in salt mix and many other supplements. What makes it a concern is that the product isn't intended for this purpose, so the level is higher than it was ever designed to be.

 

That said, there is no evidence that it's a higher copper level that causes this reaction (just speculation). Even with a lab grade test kit, do we really know what level of copper is acceptable?

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Lab test would at least get a reference for that product and perhaps end speculation if its a big deal for someone. While there may not be a hard number for copper the more info we have the better and perhaps it could be a starting point to use in determining what an acceptable number is.

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Lab test would at least get a reference for that product and perhaps end speculation if its a big deal for someone. While there may not be a hard number for copper the more info we have the better and perhaps it could be a starting point to use in determining what an acceptable number is.

It would be good information. Someone could then duplicate the copper level that is achieved, and see if it has a similar effect on algae and Bryopsis.
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Great thread guys :) fortunately I've never encountered bryopsis so I can't really add much here. However, I do have an idea tha wouos surely kick that algaes ass lol. At least for the rocks that don't have corals growing on them anyway. Why not just give the infested, coral-less rocks a muriatic acid bath? I would think that should do the trick.

 

I suck at typing on m y phone, sorry.

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That should strip it clean. It's a good method to make dry rock. Not a horrible option if it's limited to one rock. However it will also strip the bacteria (and everything else), leaving you without a biofilter; so it can't be used to treat an entire tank.

 

I would definitely use an option like this to treat a small portion of the rock (versus treating a whole tank with Tech M). I'm treating with Tech M because it was everywhere. I actually believe that it was introduced on a snail; and was left to spread during a time of limited maintenance in a holding tank, after a move.

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I hear that urchins will eat it. I think that I've also seen reports that high pH (like 8.5) can work too. After I'm done with the Tech M, I might try boosting pH as an insurance policy. I'll have to do some more research on this one.

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mag was about 1350 before treatment. I raised to 1700 by 50 a day. After a 4 days of 1700, I got frustrated and just dumped a bunch of TechM (unmeasured) in my tank, came back later and measured 2100 lol. The hair algae I had went grey within a couple of hours! The bryopsis didn't look good but managed to survive.

 

lol - I tried 50 / day and it wasn't as effective as when I increased 100 / day. I've never known Mg to affect hair algae.

 

If worried about copper can't you test the kent product directly for copper? Or if you don't trust hobbiest kits send it for lab testing? I think lab tests are around $40? Would answer the question though.

 

There are many people that have successfully done this for years so I wasn't worried. Frankly I was more worried about bleaching corals. I would keep an eye on your snails... I've lost 1 turbo but I wouldn't say it was a result of this. Others have reported severe loss of snails but if I recall those people were using flake or other magnesium, not tech M. More so, I'd be afraid of having multiple dead snails foul up the water but that doesn't appear to be the case.

 

Hobby kits aren't sensitive enough. We know there is some copper in it. Of course there is some copper in salt mix and many other supplements. What makes it a concern is that the product isn't intended for this purpose, so the level is higher than it was ever designed to be.

 

That said, there is no evidence that it's a higher copper level that causes this reaction (just speculation). Even with a lab grade test kit, do we really know what level of copper is acceptable?

 

I think by now Kent is on to us. I can't believe that they would think their magnesium product is sustaining such a profit from people using it just to raise magnesium. I would even go as far as to say they even trialed this in their lab. What I'm surprised is that they haven't taken the data and used it to bring a bryopsis treatment to market. It would be stupid if they didn't follow how their product is being used in the real world outside of their lab.

 

Great thread guys :) fortunately I've never encountered bryopsis so I can't really add much here. However, I do have an idea tha wouos surely kick that algaes ass lol. At least for the rocks that don't have corals growing on them anyway. Why not just give the infested, coral-less rocks a muriatic acid bath? I would think that should do the trick.

 

I suck at typing on m y phone, sorry.

 

Luck you. Just watch all your frags which mine came in on. The frags were clean spotless but a week+ later it started to grow. The problem is this isn't practical for most people that have been infected. If I could remove 1 little rock and move on I would have done so a long time ago. I have dipped 1 rock in peroxide as an experiment and the bryopsis came back. I took a frag and weekly dipped it in peroxide, then scraped the skeleton with a razor knife and it still came back.

 

What about the nudibranch approach has any of you tried that?

 

What type? After dealing with zoa eating nudis I wasn't going that route. I've never seen any hype around nudis eating bryopsis so I have never considered it.

 

I hear that urchins will eat it. I think that I've also seen reports that high pH (like 8.5) can work too. After I'm done with the Tech M, I might try boosting pH as an insurance policy. I'll have to do some more research on this one.

 

My urchin goes everywhere, but doesn't show an interest in bryopsis. I've also heard individual reports that Mexican snails, crabs, etc also eat bryopsis but those are just isolated case IMO. How do you plan on increasing PH? And how do you plan to sustain that level without affecting other parameters? My PH has always been normally low (7.65 at night to 7.85 during the day. If I use commercial PH buffers they increase the PH up to 8.2, however it's not sustaining at all as the PH slowly returns to it's previous level. And most of these products also increase your Alk so I would be concerned with too high Alk levels. The only way I know to raise PH without adversely affecting Alk is by dosing Kalkwasser. And in my experience, this has no affect on bryopsis. I would be concerned with messing with PH because anything that affects PH would also have a direct impact on your ability to maintain Alk & Ca at the levels you desire in a reef tank.

 

I appreciate everyone's data!

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How do you plan on increasing PH? ... The only way I know to raise PH without adversely affecting Alk is by dosing Kalkwasser.

That's exactly what I was planning on doing.

 

And in my experience, this has no affect on bryopsis.

I have yet to research this; but I don't think that Kalk itself affected Bryopsis, so much as the pH level did. Were you ever able to sustain pH levels of 8.5? Anthony Calfo keeps the pH in his tanks up high with Kalk (and uses a slurry to achieve it). I'm not sure that I can pull that off without a sump for this tank, but I'm still contemplating this option.

 

I'm thinking that even if it remotely affects Bryopsis, then maybe it will be the final nail in the cofin. My trial with Kalk won't tell anybody anything, as my tank is no almost free of all algae. However, this was a big enough hassle that I don't want to go through it again.

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Kalk in a nano greatly concerns me if your not using a dosing pump. I have a home made bottle kalk dripper which works very well, but it's not a metered approach such as when the bottle is full it delivers more then when the bottle is halfway full which is just the nature of the syphon / gravity drip approach. Often people don't understand what part of the kalk mix that you want to add to your tank but my bottle accounts for this.

 

It doesn't take much kalk to affect but the levels are not sustaining so you would need a constant kalk drip with more being added during the evening as PH drops naturally and less during the day.

 

The other thing you could do is put kalk in your ATO reservoir but then it needs to be stirred once in a while and while the Tunze pumps are replaceable, I don't see that they can be opened up and completely cleaned so I haven't gone this route for fear of destroying a pump. I do dose Alk and occasional PH buffer in my ATO water but Ca is added directly to the tank.

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This tank is a 40 breeder, so around 45 gallons of water (currently running with a bare bottom).

 

I do have several dosing pumps (even a Kalk reactor) that I can use. If I want to get fancy with it, I could put a pH probe on my controller and regulate the pump with that. IDK, still thinking about it.

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I have edited the first post with the following treatment instructions:


KENT TECH M BRYOPSIS TREATMENT

Use: Aid in the removal of Bryopsis algae

When using this product: Keep the phosphate level at or below 0.03ppm. Discontinue use of a Poly-Filter (as it has been thought to adsorb the effective ingredient in Tech M). Do not increase magnesium levels more than 200ppm per day. Do not exceed a magnesium level of 2100ppm. Do not add new livestock while magnesium levels are elevated.

Directions: Add one dose of Kent Tech M daily to boost magnesium by 200ppm each day, for four consecutive days (in order to achieve a target level of 2100ppm).* Maintain this level until the tank is free of Bryopsis (usually between three and six weeks), then let magnesium levels return to normal via consumption and export during regularly scheduled water changes.

Testing: It is recommended that you use a test kit to confirm that the magnesium level doesn't exceed 2100ppm. Testing is always recommended when dosing any product into your aquarium; however, with precise dosing, it is possible to use this treatment without a magnesium test kit.**

Tip: In order to test these levels of magnesium, it might be necessary to dilute a tank water sample in half with RO/DI or distilled water (then double the result to get your actual magnesium level).

Dosage: Per the bottle, 1ml of Tech M will raise the magnesium level of one gallon of saltwater by 18.4ppm. So 11ml will raise the magnesium level of one gallon of saltwater by about 200ppm.

Manual removal: For a better chance of success, it is necessary to manually remove the algae during treatment. Tweezers are the most effective method, but a toothbrush can be used when the algae starts to get pale and soft, If possible, brush off the rock in a bucket of saltwater to make things easier and to help prevent algae fragments from entering the display.

Water changes: It is recommended that you continue to perform regular water changes during treatment. To compensate, (after the water change) add 44ml of Kent Tech M to the tank for every gallon of water changed.

Specific gravity: Dosing this product will affect the specific gravity of saltwater, Special attention and corrections need to be made to keep sg within proper ranges.

Warnings:
Use this treatment at your own risk. Kent Tech M is not intended to be used in this manner, nor has this treatment been endorsed by the manufacturer. Neither Kent nor I will be responsible for damage caused by using the above treatment.

*You must use Kent Tech M, as other magnesium supplements don't seem to produce the same results.
**Assumes a starting magnesium level of 1300ppm.


Any recommended changes?

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Looks like a good guide! But why three weeks? I kept it up between 2000-2100 for about 6 weeks until the bryopsis was completely gone. It never came back. -and yes, manual removal is VERY important.

 

I also raised it from 1400-2000 over the course of day one and nothing was harmed, recommended? I don't know about that.

 

Also, add in there somewhere to pay attention to the salinity since mg dosing raises it.

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Thanks for the feedback!

But why three weeks? I kept it up between 2000-2100 for about 6 weeks until the bryopsis was completely gone.

It just seemed to be the time that many reefers stated. I will adjust the wording.

manual removal is VERY important.

It would probably be good to stress this point. I will adjust the wording.

I also raised it from 1400-2000 over the course of day one and nothing was harmed, recommended? I don't know about that.

For normal use, some supplement manufacturers state that you should not raise magnesium by more than 100ppm each day. However, I have also read that 200 to 300ppm might be a safe limit So I decided to make a conservative-aggressive recommendation (if there is such a thing). I might change this to "per dose" than "per day", with a limit of 400ppm per day.

 

Anybody have more thoughts on this one?

 

 

Edit: I changed this from per day to a per dose (with a 400ppm increase limit per day), and then decided to change it back. I'm not aware that 200ppm per day is less effective than 400ppm per day, and I just feel that it might be a safer limit.

 

Also, add in there somewhere to pay attention to the salinity since mg dosing raises it.

Another good point. I will add that in as well.
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Yeah, I believe that coralline algae is their preferred food. Maybe it's like offering a kid a candy bar or some raw broccoli. While they could eat either one, they will tend to gravitate toward the one that they prefer.

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Yeah, I believe that coralline algae is their preferred food. Maybe it's like offering a kid a candy bar or some raw broccoli. While they could eat either one, they will tend to gravitate toward the one that they prefer.

 

To each his own... My wife would prefer the broccoli. lol Go figure!

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  • 7 months later...

So after reading, I may be doing a treatment soon. I have a quarter size patch starting to grow. At first I thought it was sea grass but upon closer inspection, it looks like bryopsis. I have noticed a few grassy blades sticking to glass near sand bed. Not sure if its sea grass or bryopsis. I believe I introduced this nuisance to my tank via frag plug. I have a few plugs and lr rubble that have frags on them with what appears to be sea grass, no feather like appearance, just straight grass like blades. It doesn't look like gha. I'm betting one of my new frags had a Lil bryopsis on it.

I plan to manually remove what I find w/ tweezers and scrub area w/ tooth brush until I can pick up some tech m.

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Seagrass wouldn't be a hitchhiker (it will be some form of algae). Can you post a picture? If you are manually removing it, it's best to do that in a 5 gallon bucket of old water change water (so you don't help it spread).

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All I have is my camera phone. I just tried to get a clear pic and its not coming out. One of my monti frags is on a piece of lr rubble and has a nice patch of said sea grass, but I have a ceirth on top of it at the moment. Here are my blurry pics.

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Best I could get

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Thanks for the link. Ill check it out.

The pics I posted are not of the bryopsis. The pics were of unknown grass like algae. I did some searching around and the closest I'd I could find was sea grass.

The suspected bryopsis patch ( size of a nickel, maybe a quarter) is in the rear, back of tank. I pulled as much as I could yesterday and today the remainder looks half dead. No way I can get a clear pic with my camera phone. When I take a close look @ it, it looks like a hair of grass w/ feather like features on one side. It's still quite small so its hard to tell if it looks like a feather on both sides. The piece of rock it is attached to has two pieces of montipora attached a few zoa patches and a green caulastrea.

I'm gonna read through the link you posted and keep an eye on it over the nxt few weeks. Maybe it get big enough for me to snap a decent pic. Thanks again for the info.

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