After having no luck securing an economical and reliable supply of Kent Marine Tech M for treatment of bryopsis algae, I started looking Abroad.
And so I emailed Anthony Calfo, who I have dealt with on a business level in my time in wholesale, asking if he knew of anywhere I could get bulk quantities of it, freighted over from the USA, without a massive price tag (a pipe dream I know but hell, worth a shot).
The answer I got back, was not only interesting, but brilliant.
Long story short, attaining a stable pH, 8.4-8.5, consistently, would not only rid your aquarium of many ailments such as cyano bacteria etc, but also KILL bryopsis algae.
Using a Kalk slurry recommended by Anthony I proceeded to mess with the holding and display tanks at work to get to this magic number.
IT WORKS. Plain and simple, using Kalk to get to a higher pH kills bryopsis.
Now, here is the sticky part, I have too Much CO2 in my water, working in an insulated fish room means lots of CO2, and without a clean Air source I can’t get the pH up consistently, even using drip systems to dose Kalk water.
so I started to look into CO2 scrubbers using Soda Lime as an absorbent on the skimmer suction line, as this is where most of the CO2 is getting dissolved into the tank water, this crap is expensive in Australia, (anyone who knows where I can get some cheap, it would be much appreciated if you could let me know).
I found a supply at a scuba diving store for use in regulators, and ordered some anyway, but that afternoon had a brainwave on the drive home from work.
If Kalkwasser works by grabbing the CO2 in the water and binding it to the hydroxide ions to form Bicarbonate and carbonate and the remaining hydroxide ions, in conjunction with the lack of CO2 forming carbonic acid, allows the pH to climb, then why can’t I use this to treat the air intake on the skimmer?
I got home, and a quick search told me people on many forums have already tried this with success, however, it doesn't usually last very long.
the next morning I drilled a few holes on a large 2 liter jar (old kalkwasser jar actually), put a tube right to the bottom of the jar, stuck the now extended skimmer intake tube in the other hole, filled it halfway up with water, put 5 teaspoons of Kalk in it, screwed on the lid, and turned the skimmer on.
Theory was, as the bubbles travelled through the Kalk saturated water, the CO2 would, theoretically, bind to the Kalk and CO2 free air would enter the void above the water, to then be sucked into the skimmer intake.
Kalk had just finished dosing from the night before and Ph was sitting at about 8.3. Over the course of the day, through the hours of the day, pH sat stable at 8.25 or there abouts right up until the time I went home.
Came in the next morning, pH had dropped to 7.8 (again), Sweet Jesus there must be some CO2 in this room, no wonder I get headaches all the time!!!!
So I re-dosed another 2 tablespoons of Kalk and the pH climbed to around 7.9 and finally to around 7.98 before I dosed Kalk again for the night this afternoon.
Lesson 1. This experiment into the Kalk CO2 stripper showed that it is in fact CO2 lowering the pH, and that the amount of time it took to saturate it with CO2 and stop working indicates there is a hell of lot of CO2 in the fish-room. I'm going to need to take some drastic steps to decrease the CO2 getting into the tank, whether it be a Soda Lime based stripper or ducting the air intake to the skimmer outside.
Lesson 2. Increasing pH on a more constant basis can, and does kill bryopsis, keeping it up on a more constant basis (through the use of clean air intake on the skimmer and Kalk) should eradicate the bryopsis quicker.
Lesson 3. Increased pH in the marine aquarium, although not a necessity sometimes, can, and definitely in this case has, unlocks a marine aquarium unlike any that can be achieved by normal means, growth is better, coralline algae is brighter and more prolific, and you get less issues with problem algae. Corals also love it, frags grow quicker, and it precipitates a certain portion of phosphate as well.
Something interesting about the lack of CO2, higher pH and dying bryopsis, I read a paper, back when I was first researching possible alternatives to this bloody irritating algae, and it said bryopsis thrives with excess CO2 and bicarbonates in the water, just like all plant matter I guess, and is the same principal and a CO2 driven freshwater planted tank.
I tried a few things like Aquvitro Balance (a hydroxide blend) to eliminate the bicarbonates and re-establish the buffer/carbonate balance, bicarbonates having CO2 in them, and it didn’t really have an effect. Now I realize it was CO2 itself in the air, DUH.
All these little bits of information have fit into place, and I don’t think I would have stumbled upon it had it not been for Anthony Calfo, thanks buddy, you deserve the credit here.
I might add, that I have also been aggressively limiting nutrient, both nitrate and phosphate, and also increasing Magnesium, although not with Kent tech M, and it was most definitely not getting results before I started with Kalk.
Lack of Co2 and a higher pH also results in a stronger calcified skeleton on stony corals, another Plus.
Anyone who reads this, and is having problems with any problem algae, or simply wants to increase the level of their pH and subsequently the quality of their Aquarium, decrease the Co2, by using a scrubber on the skimmer intake or ducting the suction outside, and start dosing kalk, you won’t regret it.
An update on this, Bryopsis is almost all dead, it has taken much longer because of the high level of CO2, and in the two 900 liter open top tanks it has worked much better.
ReplyDeleteThe Red Sea Max 250 however, that has a higher dose of liquid organic carbon AND is predominantly closed most of time, is struggling to get up above 8.
I am currently, reducing organic carbon dosing (now that nutrient and phosphate loaded rock and substrate is under control)as this should also reduce CO2 from bacterial respiration, and supplemented the Kalkwasser auto top off with two shots of 1 teaspoon of kalk morning and night to help things along.
In all though, Kalk, apart from its many other advantages, is a simple solution to problem algae, but especially bryopsis.
Further adding to my theory, thinking about CO2 and pH in general when talking about bryopsis
1. the Kalk actually absorbs the CO2 in the water, reducing the bryopsis' ability to consume nutrient, often directly from the rock, as CO2 fuels plant growth.
2. the resulting pH (from less CO2 and abundance of hydroxide ions) from dosing the Kalk, creates more of a differential in pH between the outside water column, and the internal pH of bryopsis, therefore stressing the bryopsis to the point where it puts so much energy into regulating its own internal pH, that it eventually weakens it cell walls to a point where it eventually succumbs and dies.
In general, Kalk really is the King of all reef supplements.
One thing i will add, is get the best, builders lime etc will do the trick, but i have noticed that reef spec Kalkwasser (i.e. something like seachems Kalk) results in a higher, much longer lived sustained pH and higher corraline and stony coral growth.
Further to this, using better quality Kalk again, such s Kalk+2 from Brightwell Aquatics, i noticed a longer lived, sustained pH and even better growth in corraline algae and stony corals again.
Get the best, don't skimp, and commit to a treatment regime and you will get results.