Phos ban reactor

[intyme]

Found a two little fishes reactor on CL for $15, I'm wondering if I should pick it up. Do I need to run a separate pump or can I tee off my return pump? I have a 65 rr tank with a mag 7 driving it. I'm not familiar with these so any help would be greatly appreciated

[tmz]

What do you plan to put in the reactor. ?
I run mine for granulated ferric oxide with a powerhead. If your return pump is providing more flow to your tank than you want , you can tee off that using a ball valve for control.

[intyme]

I'm thinking gfo, i have a new tank. About 5 weeks old and having algea growing I figured this wouldn't hurt. I have brown algea which I know is normal, but I'm getting green clumps, they almost look like ferns growing. I don't like them and want to get rid of them. I made the mistake of doing my initial fill w tap water. I do a 5 gallon wc a week

[dkeller_nc]

Google "bryopsis" and select "images". If the algae pictured in the first few results match the appearance of what you have in the tank, I'm afraid GFO is going to do little to help you. Bryopsis is a really annoying pest that's hard to get rid of. If your tank is still cycling and you've no critters in it that needs light, I'd consider blacking out the tank for at least a week or more to try to kill this stuff.

Otherwise, you may be stuck with the so-called "Kent Tech-M Treatment".

[Reef Frog]

For me, GFO was key to beatng bryopsis. I removed it by hand, brushed the LR and spot treated infected areas with hydrogen peroxide after I dropped the PO4 levels to undetectable. I changed out the GFO frequently so as not allow a foothold for return. For good measure I went on a detritus removal campaign, upped the skimming, ran carbon and did a light out period.

If you just employ the GFO without physical removal, the bryopsis will discolor but it will persist but not grow for a long time. Gotta rip it out with no mercy - I think many who feel GFO has not helped this plauge skipped this step.

To the OP - good luck & get I early if this is what you found in your tank.

[tmz]

The phosban reactor is good for gfo, ime.

As for bryopsis; it's tough and doesn't respond as much to PO4 limitation as other green algae . Nonetheless, contolling PO4 can help keep it down to a point, but pushing too hard on the PO4 reduction end might hit a few other organisms like calms and some corals too.

What animals do you have in the tank now?

[intyme]

I have a couple zoas, sps and shrooms. Everything was given to me by my local guys to get me started. So far everything is doing really well. I only have 2 occ clowns. I talked to my lfs yesterday and they said get a algea eating fish to control it, but it's not in my budget now. I'm getting married in less than 3 months and we are dumping 25K on this thing! Ugh. Lol. I'm going to take some water to the lfs and have them do some tests on my water

[intyme]

I looked up bryopsis, I'm 99% sure it is, 6 weeks into reefing and I get this crap. I need to eradicate it fast and how? It's spreading fast.

[intyme]

Here is a pic, I'm starting to freak out :/
http://http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb191/intyme425/8AB3A5BC-27B7-4040-B953-0918130B98A9.jpg (http://s207.photobucket.com/user/intyme425/media/8AB3A5BC-27B7-4040-B953-0918130B98A9.jpg.html)

[intyme]

Here is a picture, I'm starting to freak out :/
http://http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb191/intyme425/8AB3A5BC-27B7-4040-B953-0918130B98A9.jpg (http://s207.photobucket.com/user/intyme425/media/8AB3A5BC-27B7-4040-B953-0918130B98A9.jpg.html)

[vitodog]

Based on your photos, it looks like this stuff is just on the sand bed. Your rocks look clean, and since your tank is only six weeks old, why can't you just remove the sand from the that area of the tank?

[intyme]

It's growing on the glass and overflow, it's not a ton but it is spreading

[dkeller_nc]

Well, again, if you don't have any photosynthetic creatures in your tank, black it out - leave the lights off, and black out the sides of the tank with cardboard/black plastic, or whatever else you have on hand.

[tmz]

If you can relocate the fish and the corals for a time, I'd remove as much as practical and try black out for a week or two. Fish or invertebrates even known herbivores,usually pass on bryopsis, it must taste bad.

I'd also run some grnaulated activted carbon and some gfo or another phospahte adsorbent during the balck out.

[droth335]

That looks more like hair algae to me which would be the normal part of the "uglies" of a new tank cycling. Also, whenever I've seen bryopsis (thankfully only in other's tanks!) it is always on the rocks and not the glass, substrate and overflows. However, in every new tank I've set up I have always had hair algae I those places. At 6 weeks hair algae is not unexpected with a new tank and will go away on its own time.

[Av8bluewater]

Hard to tell from that photo but from what I see looks like regular green algae.
I would get some GFO going.

[intyme]

I'm not positive what it is. I started running gfo. The algae structures are fern like. I siphoned lots of it out today. My phosphate was at .440. Super high

[Av8bluewater]

If it matches bryopsis photos I would get the Kent Tech M thing going.
If you're unfamiliar it's believed there is an impurity in Kent Tech M that kills bryopsis if you raise the mag enough. Raising mag with other methods is not the same.