how much techM to kill byprosis

[eyesinthedrk]

ive read for years how raising mag to 1500 with tech m "can" kill byprosis. also, how not all mag products kill byprosis so that leads me to believe with others that its not the mag killing byprosis but something else in the solution.

the other part is the question if someones mag is at 1250 and another is at 1350 they are adding different amounts of tech M. so rather than saying 1500 is the key. does anyone know how much, or the least amount added to to kill byprosis?

[nicholasb]

I've read it should be 1600, maintained for at least 3 months.

[AcroporAddict]

I used Tech M to eliminate bryopsis from my 300 gallon SPS reef tank over three years ago, and I raised the Mag levels by 100 points per day until it was at 1800, then maintained it for two weeks. No bryopsis since then for me.

One point to consider is that your specific gravity can increase as you add magnesium to your system. I monitored and adjusted my SG during treatment to keep it constant.

Many opinions on Tech M, from those that swear it works (like me) to those that say it's effectiveness is sketchy at best. There are also those that say they used it per the popular regimen for bryopsis and it did nothing to the algae, so it may not work. But it did for me three+ years ago. Main thing, IME, is that it is relatively low risk to try it if you decide to. If it doesn't work, you are probably only out the cost of the Tech M and your time. I have not heard of any tank crashes or loss of fish/corals attributed to the use of Tech M.

[bsagea]

FWIW I used techM and only dosed enough to maintain 1350-1380 the small amount of bryopsis I had disappeared in a few weeks

[Braver69]

I tried this on some bryopsis in my tank, the only thing it did for me was kill off some of my sps corals. Be very carefull if you try it.

[Reefvet]

I tried this on some bryopsis in my tank, the only thing it did for me was kill off some of my sps corals. Be very carefull if you try it.

How quickly did you raise the level ?

How high did you take it ?

What were you measuring the level with ?

How old is the tank ?

How long had you had the SPS that died ?

Is there nothing else that changed during that time that could have contributed to the loss of corals ?

Those would be my first questions.

[AcroporAddict]

I tried this on some bryopsis in my tank, the only thing it did for me was kill off some of my sps corals. Be very carefull if you try it.

See, this poster says he had SPS corals die after using Tech M. I had no issues whatsoever. So who do you believe? Hard to say. We could both be correct. Maybe Braver's Tech M had something in it that proved fatal to his SPS.

I have had discussions with Members here regarding does Tech M work or doesn't it, or why to use or not use ChemiClean for cyano, or does ChemiClean eliminate cyano in a reef or does it merely suppress it? Really, who knows, and no one can prove anything either way. All anyone can do is post their opinions or anecdotal experience.

Some believe nutrient control is the best way to deal with bryopsis. I would use Tech M again in a heartbeat if I ever got it again. That being said, Tech M is not the only way to deal with bryopsis, but it is one way. Nutrient control is another.

I would talk to some fellow reefers you know and trust personally and decide from there. Ultimately, you are responsible for what you put in your water. I know what has worked for me in the past, presently, and what I would do for most reef pests in the future. But there is usually more than one way to deal with a tank pest or accomplish something in the reef hobby, including bryopsis control or elimination.

[desjardinii]

1600 seemed to work for me, along with some manual removal and now the tank's completely clear and back to 1300. I've read somewhere before it actually may be an impurity in the Kent brand that kills it off?

[bertoni]

We don't know how Tech-M works, or really if it works, but the best guess seems to be that an impurity is doing the work.

[davocean]

FWIW I used techM and only dosed enough to maintain 1350-1380 the small amount of bryopsis I had disappeared in a few weeks

Same here, it really did not take an excessive amount, and it worked for me on a couple different tanks I was running w/ same results.
It works, and no harm to any of my corals at all.

[AcroporAddict]

We don't know how Tech-M works, or really if it works, but the best guess seems to be that an impurity is doing the work.
I have always believed the same. If it were just the magnesium killing the bryopsis, we wouldn't need Tech M in the first place, and could use Randys 2 Part or something similar.

[eyesinthedrk]

thanks for the answers so far. not looking to start a debate on wether it works or not. just looking at the amount of increase people have used with success rather than the final number. though the how long it was maintained is quite helpfull.

for example. mag was 1250 i raised it to 1500 and maintained it for two weeks and it worked.

much appreciated.

[xtlosx]

There's a LFS by me that had the worst bryopsis problem I have ever seen pop up in their frag tank due to just bad husbandry... They used seachem's magnesium, raised it over 1600 for a week and next time I went in, was like a whole new tank.

I'm not trying to start a debate, but shockingly enough, I'm dealing with a little bryopsis issue right now. Between using SeaChem Reef Fusion 2part (which one of the parts includes mag) and some TechM (which I just recently started) I expect to get rid of the problem in no time. For the record, my Mag was dreadfully low (1000) as was my Alk (6.3) and calc (340) when I started all of my dosing.

Good luck! TechM for my tank (150G) will take several gallons, but hey if it gets rid of this bryopsis, so be it. I'll tag along and provide updates if anyone wants them.

[tmz]

It's hard to answer the op's question about dosoing levels since dosing variations, time frames, resullts both positive and negative vary significantly in the anedotal reports. Some report success with levels as low as 1500ppm ;some say 2000ppm ; many in between. Some report coral losses,snail and clam toubles, others say no problems. Some say do a big bump ;others slowly raise it.
Some believe higher sg helps; others not. Some say any magnesium mix will do; others rely on a mysterious impuritiy with selective harmful effect only for bryopsis which is thought to be present only in a particular brand ;though, the manufacturer makes no such claim. So what is it in these doing scenarios , if anything, that kills the bryopsis? Is it;sg? magnesium? sulfate? chloride? an impurity ?something else? I don't think anybody knows.
Best I can do with the question is advise reasoanlbe cauiton and careful review of anecdotal accounts,there are plenty of them both positive and negative , to decide on an approach that suits the aquarist comfort level. A review of the role of magnesium and potential magnesium toxicity levels is also advisable.

[davocean]

You would have to have an extremely high mag level to have any ill affects.
I personally have never heard of anyone having any issues directly from high mag levels.
I have only heard that Tech M's process of making their mag is different, and the explanation I was reading varied so I don't know exactly what it is, whether you would call it an impurity or not.
My 150g that I used this stuff on last had a substantial bryopsis out break, and it did not take gallons or even one gallon to rid it.
I brought my mag just slightly higher than norm, about 1450, and w/in a couple weeks the bryopsis started to just sluff off, was gone completely about the 3rd week.

[eyesinthedrk]

tmz i you are right. but im asking for anecdotal evidence. what seams to be puzzling is no one seams to know what their starting mag was. this may be the reason it doesnt work for some people. for example like the one i gave if someones mag was at 1250 and they raised it to 1500 with success, great. but my mag is at 1450. so raising to 1500 probably wont be enough.

if i know their starting mag was 1250 and their final mag was 1500 the a mag increase of 250 my be the number that works so ill need my mag to go up to 1700.

but as i said people are only telling me what final number mag was raised to.

[AcroporAddict]

eyes,
My magnesium was in the 1250 range when I treated successfully 3+ years ago. I have test result records back several years. I keep them to identify any chemistry trends in my tanks I see.

Mag at 1250, raised it by 100 per day to 1800, kept it there for two weeks, then just let it fall naturally via consumption and regular water changes. Bryopsis died and is gone to this day. Corrected SG as needed from any increase from the Tech M during/after treatment.

So my mag level was increased by 550 when I treated.

[davocean]

It's not the raising of the mag alone that does it, it's what happens to be in Tech M mag.
My mag was natural seawater level, 1350, I started a slow climb and watched bryopsis start to show weakening when I hit 1400-1450
IME it didn't take much of an elevation.

[tmz]

tmz i you are right. but im asking for anecdotal evidence. what seams to be puzzling is no one seams to know what their starting mag was. this may be the reason it doesnt work for some people. for example like the one i gave if someones mag was at 1250 and they raised it to 1500 with success, great. but my mag is at 1450. so raising to 1500 probably wont be enough.

if i know their starting mag was 1250 and their final mag was 1500 the a mag increase of 250 my be the number that works so ill need my mag to go up to 1700.

but as i said people are only telling me what final number mag was raised to.

Well, I've got some bryopsis now. Not a lot but some that appears to be bryoposis penatta creeped in with a frag or something. I haven't seen it in about 5 yrs years.

So this is mostly anecdote in progress.

My magnesium is always around 1400 to 1450ppm ;nutrients are always low: NO3 <0.2 measured with the salifert kit unless I dose some NO3;PO4 0.02 to 0.04ppm as measured with a hanah 713 . A salifert test a few days ago pegged magnesium at 1410ppm .

I have tried elevated sg to 1.028 for several weeks which seemed to slow it down but not in any way I can measure.;maybe I was seeing what I hoped to see. I resisted the urge to take sg hjigher.

Higher hyper sg might be harmful to other desirable organisms per some reports I've read so I wont go higher.

. I think it can be knocked out by lowering PO4 and nitrogen but would probably require such low levels that it would harm other organisms including my sps .

Naturally bryopsis lives near estuarial runoffs where sg is lower and nutrients are higher. It seems to do ok with low PO4 in an aquarium though at 1.026/7 sg.

I started to remove it manually and clear out any detritus under areas where it was popping up.
I took zoanthid frags that had some growing in them amongst the polyps and picked off what I could; then bathed them in 3 parts tank water and 1 part standard hydrogen peroxide. That bath is great for red turf algae but only stops the bryopsis for a few days then it still comes back.
It's a single celled organism with rhizomes that spread over and perhaps into the substrate making it very tough to eradicate.
I also use kalk paste on some patches and that kills some of it.
Some, I've covered with epoxy putty pancakes ( dime to quarter sized flattened putty stick, tlf brand/grey or pink, with a little crazy glue gel on the downside which I mash into the rock over the pre pruned bryopsis. That works nicely it if you have just a few accessible patches. Both of those glues set well under water. It's better to use them in small quantities at one time to avoid heavy skimmer foaming.

I've raised my magnesium with mag chlroide and mag sulfate (3 to 1) mix to 1600ppm and I'll see how it goes and let you know if it affects the sprigs I haven't been able to cover over. I have no other way to eliminate it where it is popping up amongst the zoanthid polyps.

I'm personally reluctant to go higher than 1600ppm . There are few toxicity studies in salt water;many in fresh water . Notably, it is used at high levels to cause oysters to open up making shucking them easier. It is known that organisms have about the same amount of magnesium in them(not counting skeletal mass) as the water around them . When it's higher than normal they likely have to work to pump it out to keep balanced chemistry internally. They also have to move out excess chloride Where the critical point is , is unknown to me,so I'm imposing limits on myself ,ie 1600ppm ,a jump of about 200ppm at 100ppm per day. Mag has been as high as 1550ppm on past occasions in my system without any noticeable ill affects; so , i don't think 1600ppm will harm anything I don't want to be harmed.

[eyesinthedrk]

That's a great answer lol. What I wanted and a whole lot more.
In my system had phos .04 Hanna added GFO and now it's at .02 Hanna. Nitrates are undetectable in API. GHA is dying off, red turn is dying off but byproduct is making a stronger push.

I just added a calcium reactor and playing with the setting alk is up around 13 Red Sea and API. Cal is around 430 to 440 Red Sea and API. Mag at 1440 Red Sea.

I just replaced all pre filter and di resin on my RODI. I've already dialed back my reactor. after a few regularly scheduled water changes if there is no improvement I will try the tech m method

[Braver69]

I raised the mag 100 ppm every other day until it reached 1650 ppm. I then maintained that by hand dosing and testing with my red sea MAG test kit. My tank at the time was 1 year old so still pretty new. The sps I lost was about 6 months old. It took about a week of this level and I found the sps polyps retracted and from their they started to STN. At that point I did a water change and dropped the MAG level pretty quickly and saved 1 sps coral out of the 5 that died on me. Also my snails became very distressed at that high of level as well. The Bryopsis however didnt seem to care at all. I ended up beating it by getting a Algae Turf Scrubber and manually pulling the stuff out of my tank, was a lot of work but I have no Bryopsis to this day.



How quickly did you raise the level ?

How high did you take it ?

What were you measuring the level with ?

How old is the tank ?

How long had you had the SPS that died ?

Is there nothing else that changed during that time that could have contributed to the loss of corals ?

Those would be my first questions.