Lasers to kill aquarium pests

[Anonymous]

There was an article in Advanced Aquarist a while back that talked about using high powered lasers to eliminate aiptasia, majano and other pest. There was a link to this thread at Reef2Reef. I followed that thread and finally decided to give this a try.

A little history. I had a 24G nano that was completely over-ran by Majano anemones a couple of years ago. They spread over everything including the back wall of the tank. It was a lost cause. So I bought a new 38G tank and all new live rock. I salvaged what I could of my remaining corals. But as always, now that the tank is a couple of years old, there is some majano's and aiptasia. I'm not going through this again, so I ordered a 3W 445 NM laser from a builder on the laser pointer forum. Of course, this laser is no pointer, unless you want to burn a hole through something.

If anyone is interested in doing this, please follow all of the safety guidelines shown in the thread at Reef2Reef. You could blind yourself in a heartbeat with one of these powerful lasers.

I received the laser today and after a couple of hours to charge the batteries, I lased my first victims. 3 Majano's and 1 Aiptasia. It was sweet to hear them snap, crackle and pop.

Here are some pics of the laser:

 

[Anonymous]

Here's a before an after picture of the rock that had the 3 majano's:

 

[Anonymous]

:mrgreen:

And here's a picture of the rock that had the single aiptasia:

 

[Anonymous]

what's the power rating on that laser?

Any issues with the acrylic you shoot through? It'd suck to melt your tank trying to get those bastages.

Was it a straight slot? Or could you zap at an odd angle?

A concern would be the fish's eyes if it's powerful enough to melt flesh I'm guessing you could easily blind a fish.

 

[Anonymous]

It's a 3W 445 NM laser.

It doesn't heat the glass/acrylic at all.

You have to shoot at an angle and be very aware of any reflection. You could burn the crap out of yourself with a reflected beam.

Yes, you have to be careful not to blind your fish (or yourself or other persons). That is a problem. It wasn't a problem for the ones a zapped today because they were away from where my fish usually congregate. I'm going to try and use a small acrylic cutting board to sequester my fish when I need to zap something in their happy place.

 

[Anonymous]

Hmmm I can see one of those opaque chopping boards being useful in a situation like this "hey honey hold this in the tank... oh yeah close your eyes and keep them closed, whatever you do don't open them" (last part is Indiana Jones )

 

[Anonymous]

Hmmm I can see one of those opaque chopping boards being useful in a situation like this "hey honey hold this in the tank... oh yeah close your eyes and keep them closed, whatever you do don't open them" (last part is Indiana Jones )

I wouldn't involve another person without an extra pair of safety glasses.

 

[Anonymous]

That is so cool! 8) 8) 8)

 

[Anonymous]

I just nuked a few more. I used the cutting board to shied the fish. It worked pretty well, but one nosy clownfish did swim around it. I found it easier to work without the cutting board. Just keep an eye out for the fish and turn it off if they come near. It's not that hard.

This thing appears to work like a charm. It will be interesting to see if I have to re-lase any of the Majano's I nuked today. Its' kind of hard to tell for sure if they are completely gone. I lase until the crackly subsides, but I think if you keep the beam focused on the rock, it will start crackling too.

 

[Anonymous]

Awesome. Any chance you can mount those lasers to a few sharks, Dr. Evil style?

 

[Anonymous]

Awesome. Any chance you can mount those lasers to a few sharks, Dr. Evil style?

Sure. You catch the shark. I use duct tape to mount it. Easy peasy.

 

[Anonymous]

I wonder how this would work as a sterilizer?

 

[Anonymous]

I wonder how this would work as a sterilizer?

Wrong wavelength, but...

http://www.lasercomponents.com/us/appli ... ilization/

 

[Anonymous]

like this... All acrylic but the heat sink..

 

[Anonymous]

I need one, exctly which one did you order?

 

[Anonymous]

I need one, exctly which one did you order?

Mine was built by a member at the laser forum (link above). His user name is Lazeerer. He calls this model The Famous Big Boy. He makes other models as well and can custom build any kind you want. His real first name is Angelos.

 

[Anonymous]

bump.