Thanks for the detailed information. :)

Bryopsis is a nasty pest. We need all the help we can discover regarding eliminating it from reef tanks. Many hobbyists quit the hobby because of it. There may be other hobbyists are to the point where they are willing to try anything.

Good luck with your experiment. :thumbsup:

Thanks.

It's funny you mention how nasty this stuff is. I believe I got it from some dead live rock that I picked up from a fellow club member that had broken down her tank months ago. This (now base rock) had been out of water and exposed to the elements since the late springtime if I'm not mistaken. I assumed that everything would have been long dead, so I just gave the rock a good powerwashing to get the bugs and spiders out of it, left it to dry and put it right in the tank. I guess I was wrong. It was the only thing that happened to be live at one time when this tank was started.

Yes, according to research I have read, if the algae remains wet, it will survive in spore like stages for quite some time. I would use a bleach bath for any rock entering into my system to prevent possible pests. The bacteria will grow quickly on dead rock. Quarantining live rock is the best way to go and you will need proper lighting to allow the algae to grow with needed nutrients. ;)

Yeah... lesson learned on this one...

I am always confused about handling live rocks. If you have to use bleach to treat live rocks, what is the reason to buy "live" rocks, why not just buy "dead" or base rock?:hmm4:

BTW, I restarted my AF and is now on my third dose. I stopped after the fifth dose in Aug as I was leaving for a two-wk vacation. I too have a very resistant case of GHA and 5 doses of AF didn't have any impact on it. I came back after 2 weeks of vacation and almost half my tank was covered with GHA. I spent the last two weeks manually pulling most of them out and I am planning to go 10 doses with AF this time.

Personally, I would not use live rock due to algae type pest problems which are becoming prevalent throught the world. IF you decide to use live rock, I would quarantine it with proper light & nutrients for at least 30 days to allow the algae to grow out. 60 days may be better.

If after 10 doses you do not get control of your algae pest, I would discontinue the AF treatment.

I took a couple of pics this evening so I can document the progress and so that everyone can see it for themselves. You can see that I pretty much have an infestation - LOL! but all of the algae is either a sickly yellow, brown or clear. There is no green coloration to the algae at all. Anyway, I'll keep taking pics of these 2 areas maybe every few days or so...

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...h/IMG_2444.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...h/IMG_2445.jpg

After the 4th dose yesterday, I did a small clean up today. I mentioned earlier about the cyano splotches here and there. Today I vacuumed the cyano and brushed of some bits of algae...it came off VERY EASILY!! So easy that I didn't have a chance to catch it before it went into the water column...I cleaned my filter socks today, so that was good to be able to catch some of the decaying algae. I only have a few small spots left and I'm confident they'll be gone in one or two more doses...thank you AF!!

Also, I took Highlander's suggestion to switch from VSV to straight vinegar...let's see how that works with PE and cyano...

I skimmed through many pages of this but couldn't find a quick answer, but does Algaefix work against dinoflagellates? At first I thought I had diatoms, then I thought I had brown hair algae, but now I'm pretty convinced it's dinos. Brown slimy "tuft" like algae. I've tried everything to remove it, but it's slowly getting worse. The final "clue" was that my snails started dying or becoming very lethargic.

So, any experience on using this against dinos?

Thanks

Edit.. Found a few pages back that it hasn't been tested for Dinos...

Thanks :). Is there any other info on this? How long would the salinity be kept at that level?

I am now at my 7th doses of AF and no apparent reduction of Bryopsis. I am also raising my Mg++ level to almost 1800 using a combination MgCl2 and MgSO4. If after 10th doses of AF with Mg++ at 1800 and no reduction of bryopsis, I will switch to Kent Tech M as my last effort before tearing down my tank and start over again:(.

Updated pics a week later. I haven't done anything to the bryopsis at all except for dose AFX. The only clean-up crew I have is a single (good size) sea hare that my brother let me borrow. It has helped in removing the algae, but as you can see from the pics, it's dieing off nicely. It's all yellow with a sickly brownish red cyano looking coating all over it. From what the sea hare has eaten, it's not growing back at all. I'm very pleased and happy that I decided to try this experiment. I also have 2 tangs which pick at it a little, but that's it. Nothing worth noting. I haven't dosed any magnesium, or haven't manually removed it or anything.

Oh - one thing I did want to mention is that there does appear to be some coral stress in my experiment. Most noticeably my blue snowlake polyps are gone (not sure if it's a direct relation or not, or coincidence) and my open brains haven't been expanding. My Euphyllia frags appear to be doing OK only being slightly withdrawn. All other inhabitants are fine.

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...h/IMG_2449.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...h/IMG_2448.jpg

Did dose #5 yesterday morning, see my original post #1425 for detail of my setup. It seams to be working on most of the algae. I can suck it up with the turkey baster very easily. There is still some different green algae that hasn't seamed to be effected yet. I admit that I haven't had much time this last week to really syphon the rocks, but I'm trying. So far, it seams to be working.

I am really kicking myself for not taking before and after pictures now. But i believe i may hav had dino's. The algae was long and did contain bubbles in it. I am through about 3/4 of a 16 oz bottle and without scrubbing, picking or any hard work my tank is looking great again. I lost alot of coral due to the algae. Some of them are even starting to come back now since the algae is gone. I will post some pics later of the current tank after about 2 months of dosing. It was really bad, almost everything was covered in algae. Water changes did not help and i did them every 2 weeks.

On a side note, i cannot confirm this but, before i started dosing i had redbugs in the tank and hardly any PE on my sps corals. Well it seems that there arent any red bugs in the tank anymore. Id have to take a macro shot of some of the corals to confirm, but the ones that did make it look great.

OK - it's all gone. I came home to the sea hare mopping up what was left. Not a single spec of it left and now I'll switch to a maintenance dose for a little while and wean off it.

My nirates & phospates are nil at the moment with vinegar dosing and rowa phos respectively. But i have very silicates in my Kent Marine RO drinking water which i use in my tank as told by my LFS after testing the water. How to control silicates in my water ? I will be uploading pictures soon.

If you're sure the water contains silica, a GFO will remove it. You could add a reactor to your RO/DI water reservoir, or get the high-silica DI cartridges on your next order. I'm not sure I'd trust a LFS or even many test kits, necessarily. Measuring is not one of the high points of this hobby, as far as I can tell.

Looks like Algaefix might works but do you have to continous to dose?

:thumbsup:

Glad to hear your particular procedure worked for the hard to control algae you have in your tank and if I understand correctly minimal but some negative effects on your coral. :)

Seems like your procedure may be a viable alternative for hobbyists that have tried everthing else they can think of to control a problem pest without results. Certainly it would be better then braking down a tank. Your precedure involved dosing according to the label except every other day instead of every three days if I understood you correctly? ;)

You should dose once every three days per the instructions on the label. It may take 5 or 6 doses to start to see results. ;)

Does water filtration system have a DI filter after the RO membrane? If not I would buy one. ;)

Ya but do you need to dose after it's completed?

Yep - nothing left of the bryopsis at all. The noticeable effects on my corals were that my Euphyllia frags seemed to be just a little withdrawn and one out of 2 of my open brains were not pleased - but since only one was affected, I believe it's a placement / flow issue more than the AFX. My blue snowflake polyps are gone - again, not too sure if the bryopsis snuffed them out or if was the AFX. My sea hare and one lone hermit are the only inverts and they're fine as well as my fish.

Dosing was done at the recommended amount (in my case I used 15 ml I believe) but the frequency was increased to every other day instead of every 3 days. After a couple of weeks, I thought I was losing the battle, then it died quickly after that.

I really don't recommend anyone doing this unless they are prepared for the worst. Since I don't have much livestock, I figured I'd give it a shot. If anyone's thinking of doing this with a tank full of corals or expensive inverts, I'd think twice.

The only additional thing I can think of that may have helped is that I use kalk in my auto-topoff system. My parameters are:

Ammonia = 0
Nitrites = 0
Nitrates = undetectable (but probably some)
Phosphates = undetectable (but probably some)
pH = 8.3
alkalinity = 11 - 11.5 dKh
Calcium = 500 - 520
Salinity = 35 ppt
temp = 79º - 80º

I believe the elevated alkalinity may have something to do with it for some reason - no scientific thought behind it - just a hunch. I also believe that I do have some sort of trates and PO4 since I am experiencing another cyano outbreak. Then again it always seems I get cyano after my HA battles and I am feeding on the heavy side trying to fatten up my fishies. The tank is new and I'll let nature take it's course for now since I know I'll be dealing with weird stuff for the next few months anyway.

Once you have eradicated the pest algae, you may want to do the maintainance dose once per week for a while and then quit IMHO. Personally, I don't like the idea of extended maintainance dosing after you have erradicated the pest. If the pest re-appears then go back to the every three day dosing until it is gone. ;)

sneeyatch,

Thanks for the clarification. ;)