Tech-M's Magic Bryopsis killing ingredient: Lithium

[stevo01]

Im using a new product as of last thursday. Vibrant reef cleaner. No Mg

 

[mcarroll]

Looks like Snake Oil from the site....what do you know about it and why did you give up on the stuff that supposedly had the formula you wanted? Just curious.

 

[aquaterra]

Ordered and started Continuum. We shall see.

 

[stevo01]

Looks like Snake Oil from the site....what do you know about it and why did you give up on the stuff that supposedly had the formula you wanted? Just curious.

Good question, please have a wander over to my bryopsis vs man thread. I explain there. This is a very new product for the market but has been used by the company in their own maint regimen for years. Underwater creations is a company that builds/installs custom systems for the rich. Kinda like "tanked". They have created this formula and been using it in the systems they maintain for their customers. I guess the story goes that they were asked to sell it so much that they finally decided to do that. They also have a line of Ca, Mg, and Alk dosing about to launch. Im not saying everyone go out and buy it. Allow me to post my findings after using for a month. I believe ive noticed a difference already, but i hate to make calls too soon. Patience

 

[stevo01]

My Continuum Mg levels are still very high, im not going to dose it anymore. I had no ill effects other than losing a large turbo snail. Corals, fish, shrimp, and crabs are fine. Snails are taking it hard. I used about half of the smaller bottle in my 20g system, and now im letting it slowly work itself down to normal levels. I will be doing weekly water changes while using the Vibrant, as well as going against the recommended dosing of 1ml per 10 gallons once per week to twice per week. Ill dose every 3 days to start.

 

[JimWelsh]

This is just an, "I haven't forgotten about this just because of all that other excitement" post. Several small rocks getting a nice growth of the evil spawn. I expect just a week or two now before I'll have the healthy cultures I need to proceed with the experiment.

 

[stevo01]

No worries Jim! Im very interested in the effects of lithium used separately from Mg.

 

[samparker]

Very interesting! Lithium chloride is readily available, e.g., Lab Grade Lithium Chloride, 100g for sale. Buy from The Science Company.. If you take 2.312 grams of LiCl, and dissolve it in 1 liter of water, then 1 mL of that solution added to 100 gallons of tank water will increase the Li content of that water by 1 PPM.

Hi Jim,

I've just purchased some LiCl and am trying to work out dosing amounts to raise my lithium levels from 180ug/l up to around 2000 ug/l. Is your quoated calculation correct? Did you mean 1 PPB?

Thanks,
Sam

 

[samparker]

If you could give me a X amount of grams into a litre of RO raises lithium by 1 PPB in a 100L tank per ml that would be a LIFESAVER I've had a go using your calculations (again, assuming you meant PPB not PPM?):

Your statement (converted to metric):
2.312grams of LiCl mixed into 1000ml of RO. 1ml of solution will raise Lithium content in 378.541 litres by 1PPB

divide by 3.78541:
0.6107660728956705grams of LiCl into 1000ml of RO, 1ml of solution per 100L raises Lithium by 1PPB

**multiply by 100**

61gm of LiCl mixed into 1L of RO, 1ml of solution will raise lithium by 100PPB per 100L

Sound right?

 

[Chris86]

Have you guys had any luck?

 

[stevo01]

The Vibrant treatment is working slowly, but I only half way through the treatment. @JimWelsh how is it going?

 

[Maritimer]

For what it's worth, I've been dosing about 5ml of Tech-M to my 65 each evening for the last month and a half or more. (Really have to measure the current level, but it's gotta be through the roof . . . ) Bryopsis has vanished from all the liverock I can see - - but _not_ from my powerheads or the overflow from my HOB refugium, where it is still growing strongly!

One LFS had a horrific Bryopsis problem in one of their displays.

They shut off the lights and put a nautilus in there . . .

~Bruce

 

[JimWelsh]

My, how time flies!

I've got a monster Bryopsis culture growing in one tank. I just set up a second tank today with newly made up Instant Ocean, that will be the tank used for testing. First test will be a simple qualitative test: Does high lithium kill Bryopsis or not? The basic plan is this: I'll put a couple of Bryopsis-infested rocks into the test tank, wait a couple of days just to show that the new environment has not harmed the Bryopsis, and then will add appx 3000 ug/L of lithium (as lithium chloride) to the tank, and wait to see what happens.

If the Bryopsis is unaffected, then I'll consider the experiment a failure, and conclude that high lithium has no effect on Bryopsis. If, on the other hand, the Bryopsis is negatively affected, then I will follow up with a quantitative test, where I add lithium incrementally until I see the Bryopsis is negatively affected, in an attempt to quantify the concentration of lithium necessary to kill Bryopsis.

Stay tuned.....

 

[stevo01]

Sounds good thanks Jim!

 

[Orcus Varuna]

My, how time flies!

I've got a monster Bryopsis culture growing in one tank. I just set up a second tank today with newly made up Instant Ocean, that will be the tank used for testing. First test will be a simple qualitative test: Does high lithium kill Bryopsis or not? The basic plan is this: I'll put a couple of Bryopsis-infested rocks into the test tank, wait a couple of days just to show that the new environment has not harmed the Bryopsis, and then will add appx 3000 ug/L of lithium (as lithium chloride) to the tank, and wait to see what happens.

If the Bryopsis is unaffected, then I'll consider the experiment a failure, and conclude that high lithium has no effect on Bryopsis. If, on the other hand, the Bryopsis is negatively affected, then I will follow up with a quantitative test, where I add lithium incrementally until I see the Bryopsis is negatively affected, in an attempt to quantify the concentration of lithium necessary to kill Bryopsis.

Stay tuned.....

I have been waiting anxiously for this experiment to begin, happy killing!

 

[JimWelsh]

So, a day later, and the Bryopsis is alive and well in the new tank. I'm moving forward with the qualitative test now. The tank volume is right at 16 liters, since the dimensions of the water in the tank is 40 cm x 20 cm x 20 cm. 40*20*20 = 16,000 cc = 16 liters. NSW has about 0.180 mg/L of Li, or 180 ug/L. I've decided that for this first test, I'll use 20 times NSW levels. Starting with NSW levels of Li as mg/L and the atomic weight of Li, which is 6.94, that give a concentration of 0.180 / 6.94 = 0.026 mM of Li in NSW. Now, LiCl has a MW of 42.39, so to add 20 times the NSW concentration of Li to 16 liters of water using LiCl, I would need 0.026 * 42.39 * 20 * 16= 353 mg of LiCl. I weighed out 357 mg of LiCl (close enough), and added that to the tank. Here is the before picture, right before adding the excess LiCl:

EDIT: Not sure why the Dropbox image isn't working. Maybe this will work: https://www.dropbox.com/s/g44s93k007jueu0/Photo Dec 05, 6 36 52 PM.jpg?dl=0

 

[Salty1962]

Thx for the update Jim. I don't like all my eggs in one basket

 

[samparker]

I haven't had much success with the LiCl as yet, but I am going much more conservative in my dosage rates. Will bump it up if I see results from your tests though

 

[Ojo]

Happy New Year folks! I hope your Bryopsis is not having a good new year.

Looking forward to updates from Stevo's Vibrant treatment and JimWelsh's doctor frankenbryopsis experiment.

 

[stevo01]

Happy New Year folks! I hope your Bryopsis is not having a good new year.

Looking forward to updates from Stevo's Vibrant treatment and JimWelsh's doctor frankenbryopsis experiment.