Using Lye to kill aiptasia

melev

melev

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I heard about this idea recently from a couple of people and decided to give it a try. My tank has some aiptasia, and a lot of majanos. So I mixed up a batch, and started treating the affected areas in my tank. It seems to be working exceptionally well. If you want to read all about it, check the front page of reefaddicts.com

Here's my kit:
lye_kit.jpg
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Ive also had success with lemon juice squeezed and concentrated, takes one or two applications sometimes but its all natural, [smilie=wink.gif]
 
Marc I couldnt find your article on reefaddicts. I found one on the net http://sites.google.com/a/asira.org/www2/killingaiptasiaxeniaetc that was 2 tsp lye, 2 tsp kalk, and 100 ml of ro/di. Im guessing your recipe was different since you have a 2 liter bottle full. I tried it lastnight and it does work very well. I have a ton of majanos and they REALLY didnt like it. There is nothing left of them this morning. I was scared to death the whole time that it was going to kill my tank, but no ill effects as of today...and my hippo even came over and sampled it. Shes not very smart, but doesnt seem to have hurt her. It didnt have any significant effects on the PH which is one thing that really scared me. It did raise it a tiny bit though and I only used maybe 25 ml in a 265 gallon so I would think it could do some ph damage in a little tank if you got carried away. I have tried joes juice, kalk, lemon juice, vinegar and all of it seems like they come back twice as strong. I would bet that this would kill just about anything you wanted dead (like small hair algae patches, etc). I have some red velvet algae and put some on it and it is GONE. Killed some mushrooms too. I'm going to do some more today I think.

Angela
 
I'm glad it worked for you Angela. My bottle melted from the stuff and I have to mix up a new batch. I'll store it in a glass jar this time.

http://www.reefaddicts.com/content.php/130-I-won-t-lye-it-works
 
So I take it, handling aphasia is not easy as throwing a fish in the tank that will eat it... I have 3 or 4 in my tank and I'm just trying to figure out what's the easiest way, I only been doing this marine aquarium for a few months.
 
Correct. They are a nuisance pest anemone and we use all sorts of stuff to fight them.
 
I just boil some ro water, take a seringe with no needle, and squirt boiling water one them works great the first time. kills them dead. I do it without taking rock out, if you are fast water does not cool very fast. hits them first time and no more aptasia.
 
I have used boiling water with mixed succes. And had some come back. Got a HUGE peppermint shrimp from Franks Tanks (he even said it was biggest he had ever seen), and he has mowed the few I had remaining.
 
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