Killing stuff with lasers

[specialk]

When you try to zap something through the glass will it have to be straight on and not much, if any, of an angle?

I'm wondering what the distortion will do when trying to focus the beam. Also i would assume the glass would have to be pretty clean and scratch free. And algae or film would block some of the beam and scratches will deflect some of it as well.

Most of the videos I have seen, well all of them have been where the angle is dead on... yes. Melevs video, in whcih he was using a 3 watt laser, he mentioned that the maximum distance was 12 inches. He tried it at 12 inches and it destroyed the majano!

 

[Reeferdood]

Well, I’ve had an angle before and it did 2 things... Killed the aptasia and the reflection of the beam burned my shirt... These things are not toys.. You can also shoot from above using a viewing box..

 

[specialk]

Well, I’ve had an angle before and it did 2 things... Killed the aptasia and the reflection of the beam burned my shirt... These things are not toys.. You can also shoot from above using a viewing box..

Yah I am prepared to even hold a piece of wood with my other hand in front of me to block any type of bounce back

 

[Michaeleshaw]

Oh I'm not gonna wear a darth vadar mask, play star wars music in the background and have tons of fun. And I certainly would rather spend my money elsewhere ... BUT, my tank is in such bad shape and over run with these things (again 3 things I need gone) that it is eaither a total tank tear down (chipping away sps, re-gluing them on to new live rock (live rock of course is not cheap) , etc , etc, etc, etc. (all of those "etc." cost money and A LOT of time, not to mention I have tried pretty much every thing out there to rid my tank of these things) ...

and with a 6 foot long, 125 gallon system, this option seems like a good way to clear things up, and then go from there in terms of better methods to get control of things and manage things from there after. Again, I am going off of several videos (melvs reef being one of them) where people HAVE had success killing off a lot of this stuff. So for me, it is worth a try.

When I clean things up (and it is bad right now) then I will go from there on ways to maintain a clean tank and deal with the problems on a much smaller level then they are right now.

Oh I'm not gonna wear a darth vadar mask, play star wars music in the background and have tons of fun. And I certainly would rather spend my money elsewhere ... BUT, my tank is in such bad shape and over run with these things (again 3 things I need gone) that it is eaither a total tank tear down (chipping away sps, re-gluing them on to new live rock (live rock of course is not cheap) , etc , etc, etc, etc. (all of those "etc." cost money and A LOT of time, not to mention I have tried pretty much every thing out there to rid my tank of these things) ...

and with a 6 foot long, 125 gallon system, this option seems like a good way to clear things up, and then go from there in terms of better methods to get control of things and manage things from there after. Again, I am going off of several videos (melvs reef being one of them) where people HAVE had success killing off a lot of this stuff. So for me, it is worth a try.

When I clean things up (and it is bad right now) then I will go from there on ways to maintain a clean tank and deal with the problems on a much smaller level then they are right now.

I have a 5 watt laser. You can adjust the beam focus down to a very precise area, i had aptasia, sounds like bacon sizzling under water when they cook, i no linger have aptasia and i use it to keep polyps and other items from getting out of control or growing where they arent wanted

 

[specialk]

I have a 5 watt laser. You can adjust the beam focus down to a very precise area, i had aptasia, sounds like bacon sizzling under water when they cook, i no linger have aptasia and i use it to keep polyps and other items from getting out of control or growing where they arent wanted

Fantastic to hear ... I know the answer to this but I just want to hear you say it ... lol... I am assuming with a laser that strong (and I think mine is going to be a bit stronger then that) blue clove polyps and green palys wont stand a chance

 

[Strat1960s]

This is the one I've been using:
http://www.freemascot.com/2000mw-45...-blue-laser-pointer-safety-goggles-black.html

 

[gdemos]

All due respect to mel (melev reef)the laser to zap critters was not his innovation,,, look on the other forum for laser/aiptaisia for details on best lasers and best practice

The glass will reflect the beam if angle is right. I use a wood shingle to soak up any reflective beam.

Good luck, be safe

 

[rstrann]

I bought a big laser for killing aiptasia too, but I opted to not use it for the sole reason that unless you use a light box, you stand a huge chance of blinding your fish. These nems get everywhere... Tiny nooks and crannies behind your rock wall that you'll never be able to see. Lasers aren't really going to help. The laser is, however, fun as heck to play with ;Woot

 

[Dragon52]

Watching
I wondered about the glass damage/ Acrylic damage as well.

 

[Kurt Grant]

The best way is Berghia Nudibranchs i have a 100g and i got 5 of them and with in a month all aptasia was gone

 

[Dragon52]

Yah his video is the one that got me interested. I cant stress enough how bad my tank is with nasty things I want gone.

* Green palys
* purple star polyps
* majanos

I am down to my last 2 things before I do a tank tear down ... that is this laser, and a filefish I added 7 days ago. (and filefish wont get rid of the anything other then the majanos)

I just read an Nice article about Palytoxin in the latest CORAL magazine. BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL getting rid of the Palyzoas. You could lose the whole tank & end up in the hospital.

 

[eburnsed]

I inherited a lot of majanos, let it go so long and it got out of hand. I tried all kinds of ****...the kalk mix with syringe, bought the laser, used the majano wand. They all worked ok, but took lots of time. Laser did work, but could only get a couple at a time before you had to let the laser cool off or recharge batteries. The majano wand seemed to be more effective, efficient and most kills. Took a lot of rock out that i could sacrifice and didnt loose much coral and gave them a acid bath...but that's kind of last resort.

 

[Steve Schwall]

This may be a silly question but here goes, I looked into this and did a bunch of research and everybody stresses to wear eye protection so you don't blind yourself. So my question is do you have to be concerned about blinding your fish?

 

[mike werner]

DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY!read the thread from 2011 on r2r.
I use boiling hot water and a turkey baster and squirt it on and in the rock hole it holds in,if it's not on the surface .the baster has a wider nosel so it will cover the whole base of the nem down in the rock.you don't need any juice or other additives just HOT water.ime it works every time.just make sure the water is very hot.it takes some time to locate all the nems but if ya stick with it over time you can find and kill all of them.

 

[BlueZreef]

The laser I used in the past successfully looks just like this one:

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/332250403980

However I can’t confirm since I bought it from a different seller (for about $100 at the time). Came with the same kit and looks identical but again...China...eBay...your own risk there.

You have to be careful with these (obviously) and wear the red safety glasses so you can see what your doing. Also, it is so powerful that the reflection of the laser off the glass actually burned a hole in one of my shirts! Don’t hold it steady for too long or you risk this.

Batteries are cheap and so are multi chargers so buy those also. The battery only lasts about 5 mins or less of “burning time” then the laser needs to cool off.

They do work but ideally you need to repeat a few times to make sure it doesn’t come back. You are melting the feeding tentacles so they can’t eat. They are annoyingly resilient but can be tamed in the early stages to avoid an overrun.

 

[DougBouma]

I have the purple lavender polyps all over my tank as well. they are taking over and going for my SPS. Thank you for this advice, I will be getting for sure and attaching them like crazy.

 

[DougBouma]

I have the same blue, purple lavender polyps as well and they are going for my expensive sps. I will get this and try it out as well, very desperate at this time.

 

[|sCRIBe|]

For a few random aptasia I use Aptaisa-X and it’s always worked perfect

 

[Bluesli]

Make sure to be aware of the cycle duty of your laser. Generally speaking it's recommended to leave the laser on for no more than 60 seconds with a 60 second break in between cycles. This is to ensure your diode doesn't burn out early.

 

[melev]

Lots of information in this thread. Let me answer some questions I noted:

Mine is 1200mw (milliwatt) so 1.2 watts. A 2000mw or 3000mw laser would be far better. My tank is a 400g tank with 3/4" thick glass, my anemone cube is 3/8" thick glass. I've also used it through 3/8" thick acrylic. You will not burn a hole through your tank. Reflections of the beam can come back to bite your hand or shirt, so be aware of those whenever possible.

I recommend doing this alone. Don't have family members in the room or pets, since they likely will not have eye protection. Will the fish be harmed? I've never shot a fish in the eye, and typically they avoided the area of crackling bacon sounds. If one swam closely, I turned off the laser for a few seconds, then resumed.

The laser will get hot. So if you are hoping to have a 5-10 minute session zapping pest anemones, that's probably not going to work out. I'd suggest running the laser about 60-90 seconds, then let it cool down for a few minutes before resuming.

I paid $225 for mine back when I filmed this video, and they have come way down. Thanks to the links posted in this thread, I'm going to order a new one tonight. I just have to decide if I want 2w, 5w or 10watts! LOL :)

EDIT: Okay, decided to get the 5 watt version. It'll be a while before it gets here. The price is so much better than my first one. Hoping for the best.