Algae ID

Maxxingout · May 16, 2016

What should I raise my magnesium too? Would it help if I got a larger cuc crew at all? Maybe some blue legged crabs or snails or something? I only have 4 cerith snails, 4 hermits, and one emerald crab in there right now.

I've read people going up as high as 2200, but I would not advise that. 1800-2000ppm max. I've been hovering around the 1850 for the last 2 weeks.

Blue leg crabs will do nothing to this stuff along with emerald crabs. snails will also do nothing, none of them. I've tried so many different types it's not even funny. Nudis will only snack on the tops of the fern but those are not worth wasting your money on.

The rasping method Brandon is referring to might work on patches growing on parts of the rock you can get to and remove a layer that the bryopsis is growing on. I have this stuff growing out of holes that I would need to get to with a hand grinder and a ruff bit. Even then with the amount I have growing I'd need to shave so much rock down that it's basically impossible to do. IMO unfortunately with someone that has a lot of rock and bry all over the place this just can't be a option. Even if one was willing to get down and dirty to try. Can you imagine trying to grind/file away 20%-50% of a given rock to get rid of a heavy bryopsis infestation?

One thing that has me totally bummed is I had this stuff growing on one of my power heads. I took it out out the tank, hit it with h2O2, then had it sitting in a bucket of vinegar and scrubbed the plastic with a toothbrush. Rinsed it in old tank water and put it back in the tank. a little over 1 month later, it'd growing back in the same spot. Could be some has settled on it again or it could be the old stuff? I'm on my last shot with this stuff. I once again pulled rock out, hit up the rock with straight h2O2 all over it and scrubbed with a brass bristle brush. Rock turned whitish again and the little bit of bryopsis left over turned white within the hour and basically is gone now. This does not mean the spores are though. At the same time I am running Tech M, wet skimming, just added a ats, and carbon dosing in hopes that this all will help kill it off. I'm on my 5th attempt with rock removal and straight 3% peroxide but this time I'm doing all the other stuff to. I have a feeling this will not work either. Since using tech m I've noticed the bryopsis having less fern like look to it and growing more stringy like. Also it seems to be more patchy and pulls out with tweezers easier, kinda like when you pull dandelions out root and all type feel. I wish you luck as this stuff has all but ruined the hobby for me.

brandon429 · May 16, 2016

that's amazing man about it seating on what is basically a no surface area surface, plastic. stuff prolly found a way to inject some anchors into it anyway. this is the stuff that took over manhattan in the old b movies

I wish we had a way to burn it with raw sodium metal, that would dent it.

Maxxingout · May 17, 2016

This is were I'm at now (again), 2 wks of tech m, wet skimming, and carbon dosing. This was right before I pulled the rocks and did a 20 gallon wc. I only was able to pull half my rock out in fear of really messing up my bio. So I will do the other half next wk. I did pull as bunch off the rocks from the half of the tank I did not remove. Another thing I found really messed up that I forgot to mention was I actually found a asternia star with 3 strands growing off it's back! I picked it up by the bryopsis and wanted to get a picture of it but both hands were wet.

This was after, unfortunately my blues were on so not the best pic.

brandon429 · May 17, 2016

Hey that is good detail you posted

I would prefer that specific challenge you have above to any valonia or dinos at half the amount, for sure.

If it helps any, no harm comes to the rock from ridding the tank all at once of the bry, you can't do anything shy of meds to be able to measure a bac impact. I rinse my whole sand bed in tap during cleaning runs.

Only dosing meds would limit your ability to be thorough, desicive in one pass, handy to consider. Also, the way your stack is made is very accessible, nice~

For sure a test rock would be easy, and show that Kent applied to a rasped area, or peroxide, will stop it.
Dino challenge tanks have to be thorough at the cellular level, with a motile target that is never anchored in place all affixed at single points a small metal tool would make work of in two hours. All water actions after that, on the forced clean system, will work well. I know your tank is big work compared to nanos so it's no harm to try a water attack first

Should it not respond, or take too long for your liking, those pics above solidify the rasp remove it will work and a test rock can reveal

Nice pics that's beatable