Old Eric Borneman DIY Aiptasia/Majano Removal Recipe

ZoWhat

10K Club member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 23, 2014
Messages
10,022
Reaction score
17,675
Location
Cincinnati Ohio
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
After a lot of reading on how to control /eliminate my majano problem.... I found an old Eric Borneman recipe for making up your own DIY juice to apply to these pests:

Mix well:
* 100ml of RODI water
* 1 teaspoon of 100% Sodium Hydroxide
* 2 teaspoons of Kalkwasser (Calcium Hydroxide)

-Turn off all water movement. Wait for still water.

-Apply mixture using a blunt-tipped syringe directly over the aiptasia/ majano pest

-Keep all water movement off for 1 hour

THOUGHTS ????? I've never worked with sodium hydroxide and have an all zoas/paly tank.

Will my pH go nuts?
Will my dKH go thru the roof?

I do realize this stuff is very CAUSTIC and any "spillover" onto zoas/palys will kill them.

More concerned what my water quality will look like after blasting quite a few majanos.....and this mixture eventually dissolves into the water column



.
 
Last edited:

Jon Fishman

Cleveland Ohio, buy/sell local!
View Badges
Joined
Feb 18, 2019
Messages
5,105
Reaction score
8,690
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
My guess is that you can put 1 tsp of practically anything into your tank without catastrophic results.......
 

rockskimmerflow

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Aug 21, 2013
Messages
620
Reaction score
632
Location
Socal
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
After a lot of reading on how to control /eliminate my majano problem.... I found an old Eric Borneman recipe for making up your own DIY juice to apply to these pests:

Mix well:
* 100ml of RODI water
* 1 teaspoon of 100% Sodium Hydroxide
* 2 teaspoons of Kalkwasser (Calcium Hydroxide)

-Turn off all water movement. Wait for still water.

-Apply mixture using a blunt-tipped syringe directly over the aiptasia/ majano pest

-Keep all water movement off for 1 hour

THOUGHTS ????? I've never worked with sodium hydroxide and have an all zoas/paly tank.

Will my pH go nuts?
Will my dKH go thru the roof?

I do realize this stuff is very CAUSTIC and any "spillover" onto zoas/palys will kill them.

More concerned what my water quality will look like after blasting quite a few majanos.....and this mixture eventually dissolves into the water column



.
I use mainline drain opener (sodium hydroxide solution) on all my new customer accounts that often come with varying levels of aiptasia/majano infestations. Just as described, use a small syringe - I like the long, thin Salifert 1 mL syringes from the test kits - and apply a bead of the milky white solution over the mouth and oral disk of your target. It will roast coral tissue immediately so be careful with it when applying near desirable animals. I let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes and it seems to do the job with no trouble. 1 hour would be more than sufficient contact time IMO. I don't like to use more than 1.5-2mL /100gal of tank volume in a given session simply because it does spike the pH temporarily and I don't want to stress everything out too much by using a large amount of it in a short time frame. Best of luck! I'm sure Borneman's recipe will work just as well as the premixed sodium hydroxide products out there.
 

Looking back to your reefing roots: Did you start with Instant Ocean salt?

  • I started with Instant Ocean salt.

    Votes: 101 77.1%
  • I did not start with Instant Ocean salt, but I have used it at some point.

    Votes: 11 8.4%
  • I did not start with Instant Ocean salt and have not used it.

    Votes: 17 13.0%
  • Other.

    Votes: 2 1.5%
Back
Top