Can DINO just ... go away?

specialk · May 28, 2019

Hey all

So had a dino outbreak on my 125 gallon tank. Ran some GFO (not the recommended dosage because I was running low on GFO, but ran about 50% of what I would have normally ran) ...

... I am also in the process of taking the tank down (being forced to take a breather on this hobby for a few months due to work) and I just noticed all the rock is free and clear of any gunk and looks a lot better!

I did not do any massive water changes or anything like that ... so this is sort of a surprise to me that it looks so much better ... can it just go away with simple GFO or is the dino still in the water and it is just not showing right now?

acro-ed · May 28, 2019

I can't conclude that the GFO was the simple explanation for it going away, but yes, Dino's can just crash (very quickly) and stay gone. I got mine to go away a few years ago by adding more detritus/bacteria and macroalgae (and turning off the skimmer). The algae started to grow and the Dino's went away. Have you done anything else as far as husbandry or changed anything else about the system since you are taking it down?

JoshKReef · May 28, 2019

I would say if you are in the process of breaking the tank down, you stopped caring about it. This probably resulted in higher nitrates and phosphates which got rid of your dinos.

specialk · May 28, 2019

acro-ed said:
I can't conclude that the GFO was the simple explanation for it going away, but yes, Dino's can just crash (very quickly) and stay gone. I got mine to go away a few years ago by adding more detritus/bacteria and macroalgae (and turning off the skimmer). The algae started to grow and the Dino's went away. Have you done anything else as far as husbandry or changed anything else about the system since you are taking it down?

yup... turned the skimmer off!

specialk · May 28, 2019

Josh Kraft said:
I would say if you are in the process of breaking the tank down, you stopped caring about it. This probably resulted in higher nitrates and phosphates which got rid of your dinos.

yes sir .. still dosing and had everything automated and alk stable and all that but yes, this is part of it as well.

This is good to know