Flux Rx | Bryopsis | Refugium

[niccumec]

?? Take Refugium offline or treat with rest of system?? I have Chaeto and Red Gracilaria in Refugium. I have seen mixed views on this.

?? Follow Flux Rx directions or double the dose ?? I have seen posts recommending both approaches.

No coral in tanks yet, so wanted to get this under control before I go to the next stage.

I have read several threads on this topic with differing views. I have Bryopsis in my sand bed that has been spreading. Very little on my rocks. Rocks were covered with sea lettuce. Sea Urchin and Mexican Turbos do a nice job of mowing the sea lettuce down, but the Bryopsis in the sand bed is getting out of control.

Manually removed most Bryopsis once, but is back fairly quickly. Always said I would not use chemicals, but seems that Flux Rx has had lots of success for this.

Thoughts on Refugium and dosage?

 

[Reefering1]

The All-Pharmaceutical Tank (Satire. Please don't do this.)

(Satire. Don't do this.) Are you tired of tolerating the "ugly phase", and waves of algae making your rocks look brown, green, and red - instead of the bleached white that nature intended? Are you sick of people telling you to wait it out, or worse - do manual removal with your own hands...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[niccumec]

The All-Pharmaceutical Tank (Satire. Please don't do this.)

(Satire. Don't do this.) Are you tired of tolerating the "ugly phase", and waves of algae making your rocks look brown, green, and red - instead of the bleached white that nature intended? Are you sick of people telling you to wait it out, or worse - do manual removal with your own hands...

www.reef2reef.com

So your recommendation is to avoid chemicals at this stage? I do have patience during the ugly stage, but have seen several threads suggesting to get ahead of Bryopsis. Seems it would be easier to eradicate prior to starting coral colonies which would be my next step with the DT.

Would you advise to manually remove most (cannot get it all) once again, crank the fuge lighting, and turn off white spectrum in DT before I resort to Flux Rx? I recently reduced the fuge lighting as my Nitrates and Phosphtes were reading zero, wanting to avoid Dino’s…. Now Nitrates have climbed to ~5pm and Phosphates to 0.04-0.08 ppm (depending on what test you believe) and the Bryopsis is coating the sand floor. Not much if any on the rocks as the rock was covered with sea lettuce early on.

I am also hesitant to add lots of chemicals. This is the first one to temp me. For now, I’m just running skimmer, no filter socks, and an external refugium nothing else.

 

[Reefering1]

I wouldn't use chemicals but that doesn't mean they wouldn't work. I just don't believe there are many issues that can't be resolved with good water quality, persistent husbandry, proper stocking/cuc, and most importantly- time. That said, I don't know anything about your tank to try to give advice yet. Size, age, parameters, cuc, stocking list. The Bryopsis has been identified under a microscope? Post some pics, let's see what you're working with!

 

[niccumec]

Ok, here are some pics and tank information. Assuming fern-type growth in the sand is Bryopsis. Tank is only 6 months old. Rocks were covered early on with sea lettuce - CUC mowed it down pretty nicely. Sand bed looks to be primarily Bryopsis. Not much of the fern-type on the rocks - yet.

Has anyone had success eradicating this without resorting to chemicals like Flux Rx?

Tank: 150 gal (54x30x24) | 20 gallon External Refugium with Chaeto & Red Gracilaria
CUC: 5 Mexican Turbos, 1 Blue Tuxedo Urchin, 1 Tiger Conch
Cerith, Nassarius, Margarita, Nerite Snails (5 each)

Current fish: Pair Black Ice Clownfish |Royal Gramma |Firefish Exquisite
One Spot Foxface |Yellow Watchmen Goby and pistol shrimp |Red Banded Pistol Shrimp

 

[Stuckita]

I used flux rx with decent success. Although recently when phosphates bottomed out it came back with a vengeance.

Considering dosing again but also have a refugium now so following a long while we wait for an answer on that part!

 

[Dan_P]

?? Take Refugium offline or treat with rest of system?? I have Chaeto and Red Gracilaria in Refugium. I have seen mixed views on this.

?? Follow Flux Rx directions or double the dose ?? I have seen posts recommending both approaches.

No coral in tanks yet, so wanted to get this under control before I go to the next stage.

I have read several threads on this topic with differing views. I have Bryopsis in my sand bed that has been spreading. Very little on my rocks. Rocks were covered with sea lettuce. Sea Urchin and Mexican Turbos do a nice job of mowing the sea lettuce down, but the Bryopsis in the sand bed is getting out of control.

Manually removed most Bryopsis once, but is back fairly quickly. Always said I would not use chemicals, but seems that Flux Rx has had lots of success for this.

Thoughts on Refugium and dosage?

The Bryopsis must have come with the macro algae (can’t rule out that the algae came in with the fish though). Bad luck to have to deal with this algae. The stuff is probably in the refugium, and if true, the refugium will reinfect the display tank. Since the growth is so widespread, you might have tough decisions ahead, like restart the system, restart the refugium, etc.

Good luck!

 

[Bruttall]

FLUX RX will kill your cheato and other macro algae's. remove them from system before treating for Bryopsis. Make sure your macro is free of infestation by Bryopsis, if it is scrap and replace.

I did a flux RX on mine a long time ago due to Bryopsis, it works, but it kills a lot of algae, especially any that is green.

 

[goosemans]

easiest and most cost effective solution is to turn off all lights for several weeks, including your refugium, and starve it out. I’d throw away any macro algae you have too. If you have cleanup crew maybe look into throwing some algae tabs in your tank. No reason to fight with chemicals especially when you have nothing dependent on photosynthesis

 

[niccumec]

The Bryopsis must have come with the macro algae (can’t rule out that the algae came in with the fish though). Bad luck to have to deal with this algae. The stuff is probably in the refugium, and if true, the refugium will reinfect the display tank. Since the growth is so widespread, you might have tough decisions ahead, like restart the system, restart the refugium, etc.

Good luck!

Interestingly, I do not seem to see it in my refugium. Kind of hard to tell from picture, but I do not see fern-type growth in there.

 

[Doctorgori]

from the looks of it, that does not appear to be a very complex “reset” should you choose to go that route..
Honesty that would be my move all things considered

 

[niccumec]

from the looks of it, that does not appear to be a very complex “reset” should you choose to go that route..
Honesty that would be my move all things considered

By “reset”, what steps are you suggesting? I fear removing all of the live sand.

I just performed a manual removal, but obviously never 100%. Stuff is pretty easy to get off of sand bed, but I realize that it will come back if I don’t do more like turn off lights, Flux Rx, or both….???

Thought I might do a big water change next to try to suck up some of the remaining and turn over the sand bed.

 

[niccumec]

Interestingly, I do not seem to see it in my refugium. Kind of hard to tell from picture, but I do not see fern-type growth in there.

Yep, Bryopsis in Refugium as well. I guess that was expected.

 

[Doctorgori]

I hesitate to suggest publicly what I might do. The vacillating is because some of what I do is contrary to much of the status quo.
This won’t be a popular suggestion but with two fish and no corals per se: I’d nuke the entire tank with bleach and start over…sand, rock, everything

TBH the future trend I see “as is” is a whole lotta jacking around fighting that algae. I’ve read all the bryopsis threads I care to, and I’ve never dealt with that stuff anything like many suggest.

edited

 

[PharmrJohn]

@vetteguy53081 --- What are your thoughts here?

 

[niccumec]

I hesitate to suggest publicly what I might do. The vacillating is because some of what I do is contrary to much of the status quo.
This won’t be a popular suggestion but with two fish and no corals per se: I’d nuke the entire tank with bleach and start over…sand, rock, everything

TBH the future trend I see “as is” is a whole lotta jacking around fighting that algae. I’ve read all the bryopsis threads I care to, and I’ve never dealt with that stuff anything like many suggest.

edited

Understood.
More than 2 fish…
Current fish: Pair Black Ice Clownfish |Royal Gramma |Firefish Exquisite
One Spot Foxface |Yellow Watchmen Goby and pistol shrimp |Red Banded Pistol Shrimp
Plus the CUC: 5 Mexican Turbos, 1 Blue Tuxedo Urchin, 1 Tiger Conch
Cerith, Nassarius, Margarita, Nerite Snails (5 each)

And with only 6 month old Marco rock, I assume a lot of the good bacteria are in the live sand bed, so vacuuming it all out seems risky.

I would want to hear from others that no matter what they do, they never get rid of it before I went nuclear with bleach.

Fortunately for me, I do not have $$ invested in coral so it feels like I still have options to control??? - lights out, Flux Rx, continued manual removal.

 

[Spare time]

I've had chaeto survive fluconazole same with red graciaria. I would just use it and then toss out any macroalgae that died.

 

[niccumec]

Seems like I could go lights out and treat with Flux Rx. If I lose the Chaeto, that is not a big deal and can remove before it releases too much to system.

If that did not work, then perhaps @Doctorgori solution could be warranted. Seems worth a try instead of going nuclear on the first step??

Also, since it was 95% in the sand bed only, perhaps I have a better chance of success.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Yep, Bryopsis in Refugium as well. I guess that was expected.

Flux is an alternative and not always a solution to this in which if roots are not removed, you will endure an ongoing issue. This is indeed Bryopsis and this is one of the more challenging of algae due to need of its complete removal. Removal is best accomplished by taking the rock out of tank and placing in a container of tank water. Then you will want to pull as much as you can by hand and discard. With a dental pick or small crochet needle, pull the roots off the rock. YOU MUST GET EVERY ROOT OR IT WILL SIMPLY RETURN !!
After you are done return rock to tank and reduce white light intensity and even hours of white light and add the following cleaners which will help with control. These guys will consume bryopsis but not as fast as bryopsis can grow - They will never keep up.
Pin cushion urchin, Chiton snails, pitho crabs, and larger astrea snails

This procedure is not as bad or time consuming as it seems. Assure phosphate levels do not become elevated which helps feed this algae

harbor Freight:

 

[niccumec]

Flux is an alternative and not always a solution to this in which if roots are not removed, you will endure an ongoing issue. This is indeed Bryopsis and this is one of the more challenging of algae due to need of its complete removal. Removal is best accomplished by taking the rock out of tank and placing in a container of tank water. Then you will want to pull as much as you can by hand and discard. With a dental pick or small crochet needle, pull the roots off the rock. YOU MUST GET EVERY ROOT OR IT WILL SIMPLY RETURN !!
After you are done return rock to tank and reduce white light intensity and even hours of white light and add the following cleaners which will help with control. These guys will consume bryopsis but not as fast as bryopsis can grow - They will never keep up.
Pin cushion urchin, Chiton snails, pitho crabs, and larger astrea snails

This procedure is not as bad or time consuming as it seems. Assure phosphate levels do not become elevated which helps feed this algae

harbor Freight:

Thanks for the response. Fortunately, most of the visible Bryopsis was on the sand bed, which was relatively easy to remove. I do see some at the very base of some of the rocks in the Display tank.

Possible plan of attack:
1. I have already turned off white spectrum and runnnig GHL Mitras at 20% of non-white spectrum.
2. Manual removal of as much as possible in DT and Refugium.
5. Remove all rock from Refugium and bleach
3. Treat DT and Refugium with Flux Rx
4. Add additional CUC as recommended above.
5. Remove any DT rocks that have signs
6. Delay any purchases of coral.

Am I missing something? If the above does not work then I guess I could go the nuclear option of a full reset. Am I kidding myself of trying to get this under control, or is the above worth a try?