Technique for Spot-Treating Algae In Tank (unless it's dumb) NaOH+H2O2

[taricha]

Made up a dry mix batch today and it’s 10% caustic soda pearl, ie 5 grams pearl, 50grms calcium hydroxide, add water to required viscosity. Even sticks to vertical glass if there’s a little algae on it for it to bind to.

Very handy. I'll recreate your recipe and see if I like your thick extreme better than the thin extreme I've been using.

Running Garf's recipie and figuring out how much water was needed to get the milkshake slurry viscosity I think he's talking about I calculate the NaOH as being in the ballpark of 4-5 molar, pretty similar strength to what I was doing.
I think I like both versions for different things and will keep both in my toolkit.

Garf's "thick version" is Calcium hydroxide with just enough 5 molar NaOH to make it a slurry.
My "thin recipe" is just 5 molar NaOH with a tiny amount of Calcium hydroxide (one red Sea scoop per mL of NaOH) to give it some solids that increases adhering power especially to softies.

Garf's version covers the original surface and leaves behind new Calcified solids (I think what's left behind by the next day is just CaCO3) This version is also good for adhering in vertical situations as he said.


(here it is adhering to a mushroom on vertical glass wall. mushroom was dead/gone a day later.)

My thin version leaves behind essentially no solids, so the substrate is basically reset to bleached rock once the nuisance is gone. I think I'll use this version more often, except when I need more adherence or to bury a surface in new CaCO3 surface.

 

[Garf]

Running Garf's recipie and figuring out how much water was needed to get the milkshake slurry viscosity I think he's talking about I calculate the NaOH as being in the ballpark of 4-5 molar, pretty similar strength to what I was doing.
I think I like both versions for different things and will keep both in my toolkit.

Garf's "thick version" is Calcium hydroxide with just enough 5 molar NaOH to make it a slurry.
My "thin recipe" is just 5 molar NaOH with a tiny amount of Calcium hydroxide (one red Sea scoop per mL of NaOH) to give it some solids that increases adhering power especially to softies.

Garf's version covers the original surface and leaves behind new Calcified solids (I think what's left behind by the next day is just CaCO3) This version is also good for adhering in vertical situations as he said.


(here it is adhering to a mushroom on vertical glass wall. mushroom was dead/gone a day later.)

My thin version leaves behind essentially no solids, so the substrate is basically reset to bleached rock once the nuisance is gone. I think I'll use this version more often, except when I need more adherence or to bury a surface in new CaCO3 surface.

I attacked 2 Trochus in my wife’s tank today that were covered in algae, probably bryopsis. One even had a mobile Aiptasia. Tonight there are 2 Trochus that have no algae on there shells whatsoever (or Aiptasia) Coincidence, maybe, maybe not. Don’t seem to have harmed her algae munchers anywho.

 

[brandon429]

I will show this thread to people in rip clean threads/beginning two new ones in chat today/so they can apply the adherent past to post-scraped gha surfaces. one way to amplify this approach is to surgically rasp out the holdfasts of the algae off the rock surfaces, leaving none, then put the burning paste on site to kill minute cells leftover that might regrow. this is a fine nuc option for target control of bad brush algae, valonia too I'd bet. I want them to apply it to the clean surfaces that formerly had the target on them, not the actual target.

 

[taricha]

Garf's "thick version" is Calcium hydroxide with just enough 5 molar NaOH to make it a slurry.
My "thin recipe" is just 5 molar NaOH with a tiny amount of Calcium hydroxide (one red Sea scoop per mL of NaOH) to give it some solids that increases adhering power especially to softies.

Garf's version covers the original surface and leaves behind new Calcified solids (I think what's left behind by the next day is just CaCO3) This version is also good for adhering in vertical situations as he said.

Also when I tried @Garf version I saw what he meant that it does indeed have a shell/crust forming behavior like F-aiptasia.

The crusts in the red circles stayed in place for a week until I broke them open by poking them.
That is to say - Garf's version might act very similar to F-aiptasia in a bunch of ways.

 

[Garf]

Probably of no utility but 14 days ago, I attacked the wife’s tank. According to the wife there was an aiptasia somewhere on the overflow but since all flow was off the aiptasia became invisible and above the waterline and she couldn’t remember where it was exactly. No problem I said, lol. The calcium stuff is still there now.
I’m betting she will scrape it off soon

 

[MickeyCT]

I have a palythoa “wall” that I may try this on. I originally decided to leave the few there since they were isolated on the overflow. Big mistake as now the whole overflow is covered! I’ve been trying to slowly pull them off but they stick very well to the coralline that was there. My hand starts cramping before I get very far.

if I do small sections at a time and wait a few days this might just work, crossing my fingers.

 

[Miami Reef]

I mixed sodium hydroxide and calcium hydroxide to make a paste. I just realized I had a small patch of bryopsis. They are white now.

I didn’t measure any of the actives; I just eyeballed it. There was a tiny mojano on my new clam shell, too, so it got the same treatment. It looks like the anemone fell off, too!

I would much rather do this than dose Fluconazole.

 

[Garf]

I mixed sodium hydroxide and calcium hydroxide to make a paste. I just realized I had a small patch of bryopsis. They are white now.

I didn’t measure any of the actives; I just eyeballed it. There was a tiny mojano on my new clam shell, too, so it got the same treatment. It looks like the anemone fell off, too!

I would much rather do this than dose Fluconazole.

It’s worth reading this, if you haven’t already. Knowledge is power, and all that;

Micro dose of flucozanole

I have been battling a bad bryopsis outbreak for over a year. Maybe even longer but the last 12 months have been awful. It seemed to spread exponentially within a couple days each time I would manually remove as much as I could. I actually developed tendinitis in my elbow from spending so much...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Miami Reef]

It’s worth reading this, if you haven’t already. Knowledge is power, and all that;

Micro dose of flucozanole

I have been battling a bad bryopsis outbreak for over a year. Maybe even longer but the last 12 months have been awful. It seemed to spread exponentially within a couple days each time I would manually remove as much as I could. I actually developed tendinitis in my elbow from spending so much...

www.reef2reef.com

Thank you. I checked, and there were some bryopsis remaining. Thank you so much for this link. I’m going to consider this treatment.

 

[Miami Reef]

Can someone tell me what I’m doing wrong?

A month ago: I first microdosed flucanazole for a small bryopsis patch. It grew back after a few weeks.

Today: I made 5M NaOH and added calcium hydroxide to it until it was in similar consistency to skim milk. I completely coated the bryopsis (some of the leaves were sticking out of the powdery, caked-on mess) for about 30 min then turned on the powerheads and pumps.

The bryopsis is still alive and green. I see some calcium carbonate on the bottom glass. The bryopsis patch is on the glass bottom, so it should have been super easy to eradicate.

Will it die in a few hours/days or was it a fail?

 

[taricha]

The bryopsis is still alive and green. I see some calcium carbonate on the bottom glass. The bryopsis patch is on the glass bottom, so it should have been super easy to eradicate.

Will it die in a few hours/days or was it a fail?

it's dead, but may take a couple of days to see evidence that it's dead.

 

[Miami Reef]

it's dead, but may take a couple of days to see evidence that it's dead.

Oh thank goodness. I thought I was such a failure. Thank you so much.

 

[Js.Aqua.Project]

Question, where are you guys sourcing your NaOH and CaOH?

 

[Miami Reef]

Question, where are you guys sourcing your NaOH and CaOH?

 

[jda]

Some stuff can live through a hydroxide treatment. You rarely get everything on the first application. I can kalk zoas or even encrusting montis and they will rebound in some spots within a week. ...so apply again if you need to.

I use Mrs Wages Pickling Lime for my CaOH. I don't use NaOh - sorry.