raising magnesium levels for hair algae

[koa25]

Ok. Has anyone tried raising their magnesium levels to 1650 to deal with hair algae issues? I got a frag from a fellow reefer and a pretty invasive HA got a good foot hold on my tank and my tangs aren't touching it. I've heard and read about this method to take care of many forms of hair algae. Are there any negative side effects to doing this for an extended period of time until the HA is gone ? I know i need to raise it slowly. Testing each morning and night to see the effects of dosing does on the tank. Just curious if anyone has tips or tricks. Or maybe a better idea. Thanks

[BBQHILLBILLY]

Are the T5 bulbs fairly new? zoa frags can be dipped in peroxide. Emerald crabs may help too.

[Bill S]

Is it hair algae or bryopsis? Post a pic.

I've done this twice for bryopsis, without any resulting decrease in bryopsis. My understanding is that Tech M is the product to use. Just raise it slowly.

[Paul28]

Yeh Kent Tech M but becarful you can kill your inverts dont dose over 100 a day it takes around 3 weeks at 1600 to start turning all of the hair alge white ALOT of dosing its not very safe but it works

[Flyride95]

I've actually had bryopsis and kent tech m killed it. But my mag was up at 1650 before they died. I know this is off topic but I had to throw this in. And btw it's not just a raise in mag that is believed to kill the bryopsis but other products in kent tech m. One of which is a very very small amount of copper.

But I'm no data logging science nerd.

[Paul28]

I've actually had bryopsis and kent tech m killed it. But my mag was up at 1650 before they died. I know this is off topic but I had to throw this in. And btw it's not just a raise in mag that is believed to kill the bryopsis but other products in kent tech m. One of which is a very very small amount of copper.

But I'm no data logging science nerd.


ummm maybe thats why i lose a snail or herm when i do it

[koa25]

Just as an update. I did this treatment and i didn't even get to 1600 before it started dying. At about 1300 it was already browning and falling apart. So i went through and picked off all the loose stuff. As of today i don't see any hair algae or bryopsis. I am at 1600ish now and going to leave it at that level for another week before i stop dosing it. Only annoying was finding that happy amount to dose that would only raise the magnesium level between 50 and 100 ppm a day so as to not shock the system. After that it was easy.

[Scutterborn]

That's awesome. I had read several reports about this dosing regime after I had a small outbreak of bryopsis from a frag. I ended using Bill's method and just pulled the rock. The frag was cleaned by hand and the yellow tang seemed to have developed a taste for it. :)


-Ben-

[koa25]

Oh nice. Was this in the new tank? Glad everything turned out ok. Lucky you had a tang that would touch it. I have a yellow, scopus, and sailfin. Not a one touched it. Once it started dying the sailfin was picking at it. But that wasn't much.

[Scutterborn]

I wanted to make sure it was 100% GONE before it was added. I almost tossed the frag too


-Ben-

[koa25]

Depending on what it was i probably would have. Ha ha. Every time i saw aptasia or weird hair algae i would toss the frag. This one snuck in and took over while i was gone.

[Paul28]

Just as an update. I did this treatment and i didn't even get to 1600 before it started dying. At about 1300 it was already browning and falling apart. So i went through and picked off all the loose stuff. As of today i don't see any hair algae or bryopsis. I am at 1600ish now and going to leave it at that level for another week before i stop dosing it. Only annoying was finding that happy amount to dose that would only raise the magnesium level between 50 and 100 ppm a day so as to not shock the system. After that it was easy.


nice man did you use 1 or 2 gallons ? haha its alot of doseing huh :)