I’ve been reefing for close to 8 years now and I’ve had my share of ups and downs like we all have lol
I’ve noticed the past few months dinoflagellate have come back with a vengeance-due to me messing with the nutrient level. Definitely my fault lol
background:
I had a 10 gallon rock nem tank that I transferred to a 30 gal tank. Rocks from the 10 came over plus about as much in new dry rock. The 10 went through its Dino phase early on in the journey and I beat it back eventually with UV and increasing N and P. Well, the new rocks plus not having much in the way of biodiversity, plus my idiot move of trying chaeto all resulted in the Dino’s surging out of control in the 30. It’s been about a year with the new 30 and I’ve been trying everything to get the Dino’s back under control. After fiddling with figuring out what they were, I have osteoporosis identified via microscope. I’ve never had this much trouble “fixing” an issue. It’s so stubborn and it seems that it’s happening to an increasing number of people.
what I’ve tried: I usually gave each one about 2-3 weeks before moving onto another method.
1) Increasing N and P (still dosing even though it was the first thing I tried, I’ve kept it above zero)
2) added UV to the filtering process (kept on until I tried bacteria method below) blowing off the Dino’s nightly
3) turned temp up to 79 (usually sits around 76-77-after about 3 weeks, I didn’t notice a difference so I turned it back down) and decreases the photoperiod of lights.
4) bacteria blends and phyto/pods (dr Tim’s, a new one from the lfs, white and blue label, plus pods and phyto)
5) added a 4th fish to increase nutrients naturally instead of dosing plus adding a conch since I had the room and they look cool
6) the dirty tank method with UV-current phase. Letting the fish do their thing and feeding a ton. I have a decent bit of algae on the majority of the rocks and the conch usually eats it when it gets to about an inch long. I have filter pads that catch what I blow off and then it goes to UV. after 2 weeks with this I’m starting to feel defeated. I’ve never spent so much time and effort dealing with a singular issue.
tonight: I’m grabbing some established (~10 yr) rubble and some filter pads from a friends tank tonight and I’ll toss it in the sump and turn off UV again. I haven’t done a water change in probably a month or 45 days. I’ve never wanted to go nuclear and peroxide the tank, I feel like that goes against everything I’m working toward to INcrease biodiversity. Someone tell me I’m not crazy lol I’ve done everything I can think of and it not making a dent in the dinos.
I’ve noticed the past few months dinoflagellate have come back with a vengeance-due to me messing with the nutrient level. Definitely my fault lol
background:
I had a 10 gallon rock nem tank that I transferred to a 30 gal tank. Rocks from the 10 came over plus about as much in new dry rock. The 10 went through its Dino phase early on in the journey and I beat it back eventually with UV and increasing N and P. Well, the new rocks plus not having much in the way of biodiversity, plus my idiot move of trying chaeto all resulted in the Dino’s surging out of control in the 30. It’s been about a year with the new 30 and I’ve been trying everything to get the Dino’s back under control. After fiddling with figuring out what they were, I have osteoporosis identified via microscope. I’ve never had this much trouble “fixing” an issue. It’s so stubborn and it seems that it’s happening to an increasing number of people.
what I’ve tried: I usually gave each one about 2-3 weeks before moving onto another method.
1) Increasing N and P (still dosing even though it was the first thing I tried, I’ve kept it above zero)
2) added UV to the filtering process (kept on until I tried bacteria method below) blowing off the Dino’s nightly
3) turned temp up to 79 (usually sits around 76-77-after about 3 weeks, I didn’t notice a difference so I turned it back down) and decreases the photoperiod of lights.
4) bacteria blends and phyto/pods (dr Tim’s, a new one from the lfs, white and blue label, plus pods and phyto)
5) added a 4th fish to increase nutrients naturally instead of dosing plus adding a conch since I had the room and they look cool
6) the dirty tank method with UV-current phase. Letting the fish do their thing and feeding a ton. I have a decent bit of algae on the majority of the rocks and the conch usually eats it when it gets to about an inch long. I have filter pads that catch what I blow off and then it goes to UV. after 2 weeks with this I’m starting to feel defeated. I’ve never spent so much time and effort dealing with a singular issue.
tonight: I’m grabbing some established (~10 yr) rubble and some filter pads from a friends tank tonight and I’ll toss it in the sump and turn off UV again. I haven’t done a water change in probably a month or 45 days. I’ve never wanted to go nuclear and peroxide the tank, I feel like that goes against everything I’m working toward to INcrease biodiversity. Someone tell me I’m not crazy lol I’ve done everything I can think of and it not making a dent in the dinos.
thanks for the advice
