John,
The Lye or "Reef Roundup" treatment as I have nicknamed it is simple and works great on nusiance hair type algaes and if you are persistant will take care of aggressive mushrooms/ricordia. I say aggressive because what typically happens is that after treatment the mushroom will melt away but there always seems to be some little fragment that survives and then it returns. So you have to hit these guys multiple times focusing on the small remnants that seem to hang on.
The very first thing you MUST DO is to feed the fish well right before treating. I have only lost one fish to this treatment, as most stay away from the lye, but one time a yellow headed sleeper goby gobbled up some and he was toast.
To perform the treatment I buy some Red Devil powdered Lye from the grocery store. I then use a small jar about the size of a baby food jar and add 2 or 3 heaping teaspoons of the lye. Becareful not to shake up the lye container and create dust, as it will be in the air when you open it and it is very irritating to the nose and eyes. After adding the lye to the small jar I then fill it about 2/3 full of cold tap water and stirr it with an old spoon. Be sure to do this in the sink in case you splash any out, and be prepared to set the jar down in the sink as it will get VERY HOT when the lye mixes with the water. After the jar has cooled down so you can handle it, then I take a 10 ML syringe and suck the solution into the syringe. I then stick the needle into the problem mushroom and squirt small a few CC's in. I will stick the same mushroom 4 - 6 times trying to kill as much as possible trying to be as effective as possible on the first attack.
To apply this to hair algae:
1) Shut off any strong current pumps (closed loop, wave makers etc) or even the main recirc pump. This is to ensure a longer contact time between the lye and the hair algae, otherwise the pumps will just blow it out of the hair algae.
2) Mix up the lye as per above
3) If the hair algae is thick and and cannot be pulled from the rock, I will stick the needle down into the mass of algae and squirt some in. I then take the needle out and gently, slowly squirt out the lye on top of the algae covering it. Lye is thicker and heavier than saltwater and will sink. It also stays together rather than dissolving so it works well for treating this stuff. If I have algae that is small tufts growing in cracks or down the back of rocks, I just put the needle over the top and slowly squirt it out letting it fall onto the problem areas.
4) I let the lye sit overnight and turn my circulation pumps back on in the morning. This treatment will kill any of the algae the lye contacts. You will have to do a second and possibly third treatment for heavy problems because like the mushrooms, there always seems to be a few strands that get missed and they will return if you don't go back.
The lye will also kill any corals that it come into contact with for more than a minute. I always have a turkey baster handy to blow off any corals or clams that may get a small dose.
I have found that mixing up fresh lye every time it is needed is better than keeping a mixed jar handy. It may be just my perception, but the lye seems stronger when fresh.
For those of you who are afraid to put lye in your tank, here is a link that may help you feel at ease. Lye is Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH), which is a stong base. large amounts of this in small tanks will raise your PH. Lye or Sodium Hydroxide will combine with the salt water and form water.
Quote:
If we also consider a strong base such as sodium hydroxide or NaOH, this dissociates in water to yield a hydroxide ion (OH-) and a sodium ion (Na+). These will neutralize each other because the proton and hydroxide will combine to form water:http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4122&page=2&highlight=%28NaOHI have been using this treatment in my tanks for over 5 years and have only lost one dumb fish from it.
Hope this helps
Rick
