Treating bryopsis with Brightwell magnesium

[OwenInAZ]

I was getting overwhelmed by some bryopsis algae -- manually pulling it out with a siphon hose was getting old, and increased water changes/GFO reactor and skimmer cleaning weren't helping. I had heard that Kent Tech M has a miracle ingredient (raising the Mag levels with BRS MgSO4/MgCl2 didn't work for me), so I figured I'd give it a shot.

I got a small amount of Tech M from a local guy, but did the math and realized I'd need 3.5 liters (just shy of a gallon) to get my level back up. For reference, I started at around 1050 ppm because I had cut dosing some time ago

No one in town stocks that size of Tech M. However, I was down at RC and chatted with Skip and Carlos for a while (thanks guys!) about Brightwell Magnesion. As it turns out, the guy who makes this stuff was originally behind Tech M, so the formulation (while proprietary) is pretty similar. I figured what the heck worth a shot. It comes in a liquid or powder form. I grabbed a 600 g bottle of the powder because I'm not afraid of mixing chemicals

To start, I manually removed a lot of the bryopsis, but that still leaves large amounts on the rocks. I also cleaned out my return pump, the pump on my reactor, and my skimmer cup and pump to maximize water turnover and nutrient removal during treatment. I've been dosing 90 grams a day mixed into 1 liter of DI water (be very careful, it is highly exothermic; it gets HOT!). It has been raising the magnesium levels just under 100 ppm/day in my 90 gallon (roughly 80-90 gallons when considering sump/rock volume). Pictures are worth a thousand words:

Day 1:


Day 2:


Day 3:


Day 4 (today):


In four days, the rock has gone from being a lush green jungle to a rock with some stringy hairs sticking out. The bryopsis turned brown at the tips at first, and then bleached and disappeared. Now I've discovered another type of algae with it, but I'll address one problem at a time!

So the long and the short of it is, the Brightwell Magnesion-P works very well for bryopsis treatment. At 16 bucks for 600 g, it's a lot cheaper than the Kent, too -- half the treatment cost.

[aquainas]

I currently dose about 50g in a 500ml solution as a maintenance dose every third day, and I can tell you that it does work. I used the liquid form to bring MG in my old nano up to 1500ppm, held it there for a month and it worked like a charm, turning brown and almost "melting" away as in your case. Now I'm fighting red turf in the display...wonder if it will work for this as well...hmm I may try it to see if it will accelerate the good work the Mexican turbos are doing.
Keep us posted

[Frick]

I like both. The Magnesion is more concentrated as the liquid. The tech M might kill the bryopsis faster. It's really hard to say. If you want to burn the bryopsis to the ground take the rock out and drip it straight on the algae. Let it soak in for a bit and it will look pretty effected in hours. Nice time laps. Nice to see some results.

[ir_danno22]

pretty cool. i have to check that out. the kent works well in my nano but it does cost quite a bit for so little additive.

[Elliott]

glad to hear you had success!

good to know that Brightwell works as well

[OwenInAZ]

Originally Posted by ir_danno22

pretty cool. i have to check that out. the kent works well in my nano but it does cost quite a bit for so little additive.

That was what really got me thinking. If you have a small tank (say 10-20 gallons) the amount you have to dose to make a difference makes a 16 oz bottle of Tech M feasible. But when you approach 100 gallons or larger we're talking a half liter of it daily, and at that point it's an entire 16 oz bottle every day. The gallon size sells for over 30 bucks once you factor in needing to special order it from an LFS. The 600 g Magnesion-P (I assume P stands for powder) was $16.99 and will be enough to dose the whole tank with some to spare, and the 1 kg size is even cheaper per gram.

Originally Posted by aquainas

I currently dose about 50g in a 500ml solution as a maintenance dose every third day, and I can tell you that it does work. I used the liquid form to bring MG in my old nano up to 1500ppm, held it there for a month and it worked like a charm, turning brown and almost "melting" away as in your case. Now I'm fighting red turf in the display...wonder if it will work for this as well...hmm I may try it to see if it will accelerate the good work the Mexican turbos are doing.
Keep us posted

Judging from what I'm seeing, that is to say different types of algae showing up under the bryopsis, I don't think that the magnesium treatment kills those. I suspect that they grow best in a heterogeneous community (like an ecosystem) so it's possible that they will die back as the bryopsis is gone, but it may be time to invest in a few more snails to replace the ones that have gone to the big fish tank in the sky over time.

[Turbovr3six]

I didn't know the brightwell did the trick too... Nice!

FWIW I saw a large container of Tech M at TOTR... Not a gallon, but maybe close to it..

[jefathome]

good to know. thanks.

[OwenInAZ]

Originally Posted by Turbovr3six

I didn't know the brightwell did the trick too... Nice!

FWIW I saw a large container of Tech M at TOTR... Not a gallon, but maybe close to it..

Huh. I called Tony and he said he didn't have any. Oh well, it allowed me to learn something new

[evsalty]

Very good find. I would think that you should also be able to put it directly on tuffs and have it kill it. I did this with the Tech M and it worked great but I only had 2 tuffs so it was easy to do. That price is better then the Tech M for sure.

[Turbovr3six]

I was there about a week ago and there was only one container left, so maybe he sold out of it..?

Reguardless, like you said, you found a new solution to that nasty bloom

[aquainas]

Get some mexican turbos. Just remember to glue any small frags down first

[Reeefer]

I recently switched from the Tech M to the Magnesion P and am very happy with how it maintains the levels.

[Elliott]

Spraying directly on the Bryopsis may be a good alternative than bringing up the levels of the entire volume of the system, in my case 600g

I've raised the Mg up to 2700 ppm with MgS04 and MgCl from BRS without any ill effects on corals or fish, however I lost 3 serpent stars, still did not kill the Bryopsis, then switched to Tech M and it did the trick

[OwenInAZ]

Yeah I would do that but the rock that has the most infestation is at the bottom of the pile, so not very feasible. In grad school you learn how to tread the fine line between lazy and efficient Also, there are (were) several clumps throughout the tank, so a systemic cure seemed in order in my case.

I figure I'll maintain the Mg levels with the BRS stuff (since I already have the powders) with periodic supplementation with the Magnesion-P.

[iamwrasseman]

i too like the Tech M and have heard that it works better than others because of its chemical make up . it has worked very well for me but i have never tried any other brand to compare it to .

[Elliott]

Originally Posted by OwenInAZ

Yeah I would do that but the rock that has the most infestation is at the bottom of the pile, so not very feasible. In grad school you learn how to tread the fine line between lazy and efficient Also, there are (were) several clumps throughout the tank, so a systemic cure seemed in order in my case.

I figure I'll maintain the Mg levels with the BRS stuff (since I already have the powders) with periodic supplementation with the Magnesion-P.

another alternative would be to treat only the display for a period of time and turn off the sump return, I don't know how long it takes with regards to contact time for the Bryopsis to absorb it

[OwenInAZ]

Originally Posted by Elliott

another alternative would be to treat only the display for a period of time and turn off the sump return, I don't know how long it takes with regards to contact time for the Bryopsis to absorb it

For me, the sump is only 10 gallons, so the effective increase in volume is maybe 12 or 15%. I'm not sure if that rises to significant or not. For someone with a 55 gal sump, it could make a large difference.

[iamwrasseman]

it takes somewhat a prolonged period of time to kill off the algae as you need to raise it and keep it there for weeks /months along with reducing po4 and a cleanup crew . when the algae dies in the tank it releases the po4 and other algae fuels so it also need to be manually removed to have good results .
sea hairs work very well but again they then poop po4 as a result . its a vicious cycle that takes time to break and get control of .

[Elliott]

yes, definitely a cycle of dying algae releasing more phosphates, in turn stimulating more algae growth

in my case I have 300g in my sump system and another 300g in my DT

[OwenInAZ]

I thought of that, which is why the GFO in my reactor is fresh, the skimmer is running full wet and I've been removing manually. The nutrients have to go somewhere in a closed system

[dublo8]

Hey owen would you mind dropping a link to your post in mine. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=1898002 I'm trying to collaborate all the bryposis info into one thread for others. I'm glad to see that worked for you, I didn't have the cajones to attempt this as mag isn't something I currently test for. thanks and bravo on beating this.

[OwenInAZ]

Here's day 6, the stuff is all but gone and the other algae is starting to recede (I think)

[marietrg]

I'm suffering from the same issue. I went to the LFS and was a sold a ziplock bag containing 1 lb of Brightwell magnesium. The LFS guy told me to dissolve it in a 2 gallon jug of RO/DI. I did this and got the exothermic reaction. I have a 200 gallon tank. I started out around 13xx mag level a week ago. I've added 1.5 gallons but am only up to just under 15xx mag level.

The Salifert mag test only lists values up to 1500 ppm. Does anyone know if this test goes above 1500 ppm? I assumed if it was above 1500 ppm I would have to keep adding the reagent to get the color change.

Do these numbers sound reasonable to you? If I was running a mag deficit for a long time would I likely have to add a whole lot of mag to make up for it?

Thanks.

[Elliott]

Originally Posted by marietrg

I'm suffering from the same issue. I went to the LFS and was a sold a ziplock bag containing 1 lb of Brightwell magnesium. The LFS guy told me to dissolve it in a 2 gallon jug of RO/DI. I did this and got the exothermic reaction. I have a 200 gallon tank. I started out around 13xx mag level a week ago. I've added 1.5 gallons but am only up to just under 15xx mag level.

The Salifert mag test only lists values up to 1500 ppm. Does anyone know if this test goes above 1500 ppm? I assumed if it was above 1500 ppm I would have to keep adding the reagent to get the color change.

Do these numbers sound reasonable to you? If I was running a mag deficit for a long time would I likely have to add a whole lot of mag to make up for it?

Thanks.

keep adding reagent until you get the color change, then just add that reading from your second syringe to the total using the same scale on the sheet

what you described is fine, don't raise Mg more than 100 ppm/ day

I have found that the most effective way to deal with Bryopsis is to drip Magnesion-P (Brightwell) continuously 24/7 from a reservoir, it has eliminated it from my system and has not returned