70g DIY Peninsula 40x20x20"

sikorskys · Jan 27, 2019

Day 7

12ml DinoX

It's a second dose of Dino X. Nothing spectacular is happening so far. Nutrient levels go up, so I suppose there is some algae/dino die off. It's not getting worse as fast as before, I'm considering it a good sign.

Current params:

kH 7.7
NO3: 10
PO4: 0.25

NY_Caveman · Jan 28, 2019

Ugh. Looks better. Congratulations on your patience through this. You seem pretty organized.

sikorskys · Jan 28, 2019

NY_Caveman said:
Ugh. Looks better. Congratulations on your patience through this. You seem pretty organized.

Thank you

sikorskys · Jan 28, 2019

Day 9

12ml DinoX

Third dose of Dino X. Algae is bleaching. Nutrient levels are sky-rocketing. That high nutrients may not be related to DinoX directly, since my banded serpent starfish is probably dying (losing whole legs).

Current params:

kH: 7.7
NO3: 25
PO4: 0.5

Todvod · Jan 28, 2019

Looks like it’s working. Good job.

sikorskys · Jan 28, 2019

Todvod said:
Looks like it’s working. Good job.

Yeah, seems so

sikorskys · Jan 29, 2019

Day 10

One more vial of Prodibio BioDigest

Have no idea if it's really needed to add more bacteria just 6 days after the first dose, but it shouldn't harm. Prodibio recommends dosing every 15 days or often (to speed up bacteria growth). To remove excess of bacteria and nutrients, I've tuned my Nyos 120 to skim really wet also.

BTW, I'm adding bacteria between DinoX doses since I don't know if DinoX affects bacteria.

sikorskys · Jan 30, 2019

Day 11

12ml DinoX

Fourth dose of DinoX. I do really want to do a decent water charge by now...

Current params:

kH: 7.7
Ca: 470
NO3: 25
PO4: 0.5

sikorskys · Jan 31, 2019

Day 12

Well, this wouldn't be reefing if there weren't some complications

First off, my poor starfish is dead now. It has been losing legs long before DinoX (my guess, due to starvation), but who knows... It might escalate things somehow. Secondly, I saw some patches of cyano. And lastly, my digitata, the only SPS I have, is bleaching.

sikorskys · Feb 1, 2019

Day 13

12ml DinoX

Brown stringy stuff is all gone, but my urchin is losing its needles. DinoX dosing instructions say it can harm urchins if overdosed ;Bookworm

Current params:

kH: 8.3
NO3: 25
PO4: 1

sikorskys · Feb 2, 2019

Day 14

It seems DinoX does not affect chaeto, so it's time to get rid of some nutrients. Turned on my fuge with brand new bunch of chaetomorpha for 12 hours/day.

My urchin feels bad, really bad. It would be nice if chaeto absorbed some DinoX from the water.

sikorskys · Feb 3, 2019

Day 15

Add a vial of Equo Bacteria

Equo Bacteria is Italian bacteria additive, but much less potent (one vial is rated for just 50lt of water). I'm adding it in a hope it has different strains of bacteria, just to increase biodiversity.

Lets call it the last day of treatment. Can't see any dinos around and don't want to dose DinoX anymore to save urchin (he's still alive).

My future plans are:

Start doing water changes
Resume dosing micro elements
Battle GHA that should appear due to that high nutrient levels
Wait for nitrates to drop to 5ppm, then slowly ramp up lights schedule to 12hours/day
Start dosing bacteria at least monthly, life-long (lesson learned)

Current params: