Bryopsis the devil...

[Grantlewis1983]

So my tank has pretty much cycled and now there's a hair algae, bryopsis is my best identification.

 

Ive got nothing in the tank, aside from the live rock, sand, Copods on the glass, and 2 tiny feather dusters in the rock, no corals yet. I've read that using Kents tech M to raise the Magnesium incredibly high will help kill it off. I know phosphate was in the system after the cycle. There was a lot of detritus and some ammonia, I tested the phosphates and on my crummy API test kits it read near the lower reading meaning some but not a ton.

 

Water quality:

pH: Stable 8.0

Am: .25 Low end, but not 0

Nitrite: 0

Nitrate: 0

Ca: 400

Phosphates: .25

KH: 10

Mag: test kit on the way

 

Steps so far to remove algae:

1. I vacuumed out a ton of detritus and did about %50 water change

2. Added some poly filter in the back (claims to remove phosphates)

3. Bought some Kents Tech-M and started dosing mag at a hi rate

4. Turned lights off 24/7

 

Is it safe to pump the mag really high really fast? Since there's no corals will this affect the live rock in any harmful way?

 

I was looking to maybe add some GFO in a bag put it in the back as well, any other recommendations?

 

FYI: the water I use to top off is po4 free, I've tested it. So whatever nutrients are in there it's from cycling IMO.

[Halo_003]

Frankly I know this isn't what you want to hear, but I would just take the rock out, let it dry, scrub it and give it an acid bath, and restart your cycle with bottled bacteria. Trust me it will be much easier and less frustrating to just do that. I know because I've tried peroxide, Tech M, everything and I can't seem to kill it.

 

It is fine to have a huge jump in mag if you have no livestock but it will be a LOT easier to just kill the rocks and restart, that's what I'm considering doing if the Tech M doesn't end up working for me.

[aviator300]

Agree with Halo. With a brand new scape, just can it and start over as suggested. If it is Bryopsis or Dino or just plain ole green algae, you can fight it till your blue in the face and never win. Even if you think it's gone, it can come back to bite you at the most inopportune times.

 

It's different when you have a tank full of coral and other life your trying to save.

 

ADD ON...Noticing that you have a lot of rock in the tank, you could just remove the affected pieces and process them or I suppose you could try the other things first, give it some time and see if it resolves. I guess my point is to proceed as suggested unless you're unable to resolve it your way within a reasonable time frame.

[Grantlewis1983]

Agree with Halo. With a brand new scape, just can it and start over as suggested. If it is Bryopsis or Dino or just plain ole green algae, you can fight it till your blue in the face and never win. Even if you think it's gone, it can come back to bite you at the most inopportune times.

 

It's different when you have a tank full of coral and other life your trying to save.

 

ADD ON...Noticing that you have a lot of rock in the tank, you could just remove the affected pieces and process them or I suppose you could try the other things first, give it some time and see if it resolves. I guess my point is to proceed as suggested unless you're unable to resolve it your way within a reasonable time frame.

 

Yea I'm not super keen on starting over, I think I'll give this a go and if no luck and it's still not fully taken over I'll process a few pieces at a time to remove the algae..and things were looking so good...grr. I have a new light coming in hopefully today, an Ecotech XR15w. Was excited to finish the cycle and buy some corals but looks like I'll be waiting a long while..not a forgiving hobby..

[JavaJacketOC]

Can you get a bigger picture? That doesn't look my bryopsis from what I can see.

[aviator300]

I have gone the ramp up route in algae elimination before and have never fully won. It seems as though once it's there, it can be controlled but it's a continuing fight for the life of the tank. That's why we suggested the radical approach now with no corals, etc in the tank yet.

 

Also, try not to worry about the time, etc it takes to produce a great looking tank, It's well worth the wait. This hobby is not a sprint, but a marathon and those that take it slow and easy produce the "Tank of the month" type tanks.

[SunWyrm]

That looks like the green gunky algae I always get when starting a new tank, right after the diatom period. Just wait it out IMO. If it continues to be a nuisance in a few months, then junk it all or take other drastic measures, but in a newly cycled tank that looks just fine to me.

[Grantlewis1983]

Can you get a bigger picture? That doesn't look my bryopsis from what I can see.

 

That looks like the green gunky algae I always get when starting a new tank, right after the diatom period. Just wait it out IMO. If it continues to be a nuisance in a few months, then junk it all or take other drastic measures, but in a newly cycled tank that looks just fine to me.

 

I should have noted that I have plucked the long ferns off manually, there's a bit of the standard green algae but there's undoubtedly bryopsis. There's 3 patches that grow super long super fast and looks just like a fern. I did a ton of research and the worst of it I'm certain is the dreaded broyopsis. Don't have any pics of how long it was, this was recent after I manually scrubbed the rock but it's super tough.

[JavaJacketOC]

I should have noted that I have plucked the long ferns off manually, there's a bit of the standard green algae but there's undoubtedly bryopsis. There's 3 patches that grow super long super fast and looks just like a fern. I did a ton of research and the worst of it I'm certain is the dreaded broyopsis. Don't have any pics of how long it was, this was recent after I manually scrubbed the rock but it's super tough.

 

That's unfortunate. I would definitely considering a hard restart...maybe you can try a full week of complete blackout or something like that since you don't have any livestock.

[Halo_003]

I have gone the ramp up route in algae elimination before and have never fully won. It seems as though once it's there, it can be controlled but it's a continuing fight for the life of the tank. That's why we suggested the radical approach now with no corals, etc in the tank yet.

 

Also, try not to worry about the time, etc it takes to produce a great looking tank, It's well worth the wait. This hobby is not a sprint, but a marathon and those that take it slow and easy produce the "Tank of the month" type tanks.

Exactly, it is so much easier to just start over fresh.

[Grantlewis1983]

Exactly, it is so much easier to just start over fresh.

Yea I appreciate all the advice, sucks I'm already attached to the Copods and seeing the changes its made since it started. It's my first reef tank and I've grown so attached to it already.. I know, there no corals yet but I'm still so amazed by it..I've gone really slow since I started, so I'm gonna give it a bit before I decide to nuke and start over just yet. I feel like I lose if I do that. I started a nano as a challenge so I'm not ready to "throw in the towel". Maybe I'm just too bullheaded.

 

Edit:

 

I'm gonna give the mag a try and target the patches with a syringe and see if it dies out, if I don't see any progress after that and numerous water changes I'll nuke and try again. Just have such beautiful coralline algae still alive on much of the rock I don't wanna lose the color and progress.

[Halo_003]

Yea I appreciate all the advice, sucks I'm already attached to the Copods and seeing the changes its made since it started. It's my first reef tank and I've grown so attached to it already.. I know, there no corals yet but I'm still so amazed by it..I've gone really slow since I started, so I'm gonna give it a bit before I decide to nuke and start over just yet. I feel like I lose if I do that. I started a nano as a challenge so I'm not ready to "throw in the towel". Maybe I'm just too bullheaded.

 

Edit:

 

I'm gonna give the mag a try and target the patches with a syringe and see if it dies out, if I don't see any progress after that and numerous water changes I'll nuke and try again. Just have such beautiful coralline algae still alive on much of the rock I don't wanna lose the color and progress.

If you do that, and that's fine if you want to try, I'd recommend setting up a 5G quarantine tank for corals and inverts, that way you can at least buy some to feed the addiction. I wouldn't add anything to the main tank until you're certain the bryopsis is gone. All inverts should be quarantined anyways for at least 8 weeks in case they're carrying ich cysts.

[brandon429]

Don't start over

 

Both yours and halos bry can be fixed we posted a detailed response here

 

you can win easily in nano reefs; it's the large tankers with inaccessible rocks that should worry.

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/371892-need-help-getting-rid-of-bryopsis/#entry5295717

 

 

The reason neither tank should have the rocks bleached is because you will source new frags and fish from frag tanks and lfs displays and just bring it back in, you need a plan for the current status and there sure is one avail. It's not expected that 3% peroxide will cure all invasions purposefully farmed in the tank...but 7 or 8 out of 10 will respond great as catch up work. Amplifiers exist beyond 3% and those are easy to run.

 

Highlights are

Treat the algae not the water including the magnesium dosing

Use items beyond 3% if that alone doesn't fix you up, it does in most cases

Consider light balances that are heavy white...we can cause an algae outbreak in anyone's otherwise no algae problem reef just by blasting with white LEDs or old metal halides drifted out of spec. We often try to fight algae while feeding them the best light for algae, this can cause growback issues too do consider all things besides just the water. Acting on the algae with a kill mechanism and then making sure your water nutrients are in line is a great plan

 

 

 

Regarding amplifiers beyond 3%, I've never seen a tank fail to beat bryopsis using 35% as external treatments, it's that powerful. Might let it sit on the target a it longer if X groups of rocks are having growback issues

[Fedas]

Hi,

 

I would not start over at all. I have the some problem with more space invaded by bryopsis and seems I am starting to win the battle.

They all are losing color and the cleaning crew has started it them. Before I was pouring peroxide with syringe and needle into the tuffs. I was getting some results but would take too long. So now I just added a medicine named fluconazol (for human fungus). In 48 hours they all started getting white and are being eaten by the crew.

Tomorrow I will start dosing continuum magnesium.

My nano is a 10g I have LPS, SPS, Zoant, Ricordia and two fish.Also I am running a phosguard, maintenance 1/week 20% WC, changing sponge.

We should wait for at least 1 year for our reefs to get maturated. It is probably if you start again you will get the some issues sooner or later.

it is not my first time. I had some nice reefs.

[OCNcheffy]

I had a huge infestation of this algae, and I used tech-m to raise my mag up to 2200ppm. After maintaining 2200ppm for a week or two, the algae turned white and melted off. This had very little effect on corals.

[Grantlewis1983]

So it's been a week and I wanted to share the results. I think I'm on the right track now and it's cleared up quite a bit.

 

Kent tech M had noticeable results after a couple days of 1500+ and direct dosing using a syringe to the heavy areas. Let it soak with the pumps off for 15-20mins once or twice a day. Manual removing as much as possible.

 

I did a 100% water change and had zero phosphates for a few days but it went back up to .025ppm lowest readable with my test kit. Not sure why it went back up.

 

I did pull some rocks near the top and scrub with a brush to remove the algae then rinse it in fresh salt water before putting back in.

 

I have also added cheato to the back of the tank with some small pieces or rubble. Added a light to the back and lit overnight. The cheato doubled in size vary fast. I pulled it out and cut it back down by half. The main part seems to be starving the algae but now there some hair algae and thin brown with bubbles showing up in the back with the cheato. Does this just mean I'm lighting it too long?? Will it go away or starve?

 

EDIT: I also added a bag of chemi pure to the sump area as well.

[spinycheek]

You could look at the positives, Bryopsis is the only food for lettuce nudibranchs, so you could have a super cool species tank! I tried to get some Bryopsis going for that reason in one of my tanks, but it never took.

[Swing2Harmony]

Since you have nothing in the tank that requires light, the easiest method would be just to turn off the lights until the devil is gone.

[Grantlewis1983]

I have conquered the beast! And here are my first additions! Thx for all the advice and tips!

[skrillay0]

On your first pic on the bottom of the frag you can see the green oval shaped things, do those grow into Bryopsis?

When I had bryopsis in my tank it would turn brown then thin out into a stem. I made a post about it.

[Newstead]

That's bubble algae. Suction those bad boys out carefully, try not to let them pop and spread their spores in the tank.

[brandon429]

How did you beat it Grant

[Grantlewis1983]

On your first pic on the bottom of the frag you can see the green oval shaped things, do those grow into Bryopsis?

When I had bryopsis in my tank it would turn brown then thin out into a stem. I made a post about it.

 

No that's bubble algae, I let the hermits get those. If the get bigger the bubble is easier to remove from the base. Careful not to pop or spores will spread.

 

How did you beat it Grant

If you read from the start it kinda walks you through how I beat it. Buts the basics are:

 

1. Kent tech M in a syringe direct hitting the bryopsis patches with pumps off. Mag was about 1500 or higher for extended time.

2. Removing as much as possible manually. I pulled the rocks I could out and used a wire brush. Rinse in a bucket of saltwater, NOT IN THE DISPLAY WATER. Then put back in tank.

3. I killed my lights since I didn't have any corals yet. Added clean up crew of Red zebra Trohcus snails and blue legged hermits.

4. Added a ball of cheato macro algae to the back chamber and light it instead of the DT. It doubled in size in a few days.

5. Did a 95% water change to remove phosphates, and added a bag of chemi pure to the back chamber as well. It has GFO mixed with carbon to remove excess nutrients.

 

That's basically it, the algae started starving and dying off, turned frail and whiteish. And now coralline algae is spreading pretty good since I hit the rocks with a wire brush so it's win win lol. Good luck!