Dino ID please
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Jason_1982
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Thank you for the quick reply. Ill post my progress for the others. I have also raised the temp to 82 as some have suggested this to be useful with relatively low risk.
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Jason_1982
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Man these things are tiny compared to large cell and
Also wow these guys are small. They are tiny compared to large cell or osteopresis. Im zoomed in at max to get this shot
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Jason_1982
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A small update. Im continuing dosing nitrates phosphates and silicates. The phosphate is finally stabilizing. Some diatoms are showing up on glass (confirmed with scope)
I have a question, since small cell seem to swim all the time would there be benefit to running UV 24/7?
I have a question, since small cell seem to swim all the time would there be benefit to running UV 24/7?
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Jason_1982
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@taricha
Hello again, may I provide an update and get some suggestions.
Its been a few weeks now and I have been dosing nitrates phosphates and silicates. Nitrates and phosphates have been stable and high. 15ppm and 0.15. Chaeto is finally growing!
Silicates dosing is tricky. I do see lot of diatoms on glass and the gravel shows lots of diatoms but also lots of small cell amphidinium. The sand is rust by days end. I am still dosing silicates daily hoping for more diatoms still.
I am also running an aqua UV 25w 24/7 increased from night only.
I raised the tank temp to 81.5 as well and I still toss in a lot of aqua forest bacteria daily too.
To be honest I have seen no improvement in the sand. Its actually probably worse but half diatoms so I think thats a win.
Should I vacuum sand? Should I suck up a layer of sand? Should I mix it? Or just leave it?
Hello again, may I provide an update and get some suggestions.
Its been a few weeks now and I have been dosing nitrates phosphates and silicates. Nitrates and phosphates have been stable and high. 15ppm and 0.15. Chaeto is finally growing!
Silicates dosing is tricky. I do see lot of diatoms on glass and the gravel shows lots of diatoms but also lots of small cell amphidinium. The sand is rust by days end. I am still dosing silicates daily hoping for more diatoms still.
I am also running an aqua UV 25w 24/7 increased from night only.
I raised the tank temp to 81.5 as well and I still toss in a lot of aqua forest bacteria daily too.
To be honest I have seen no improvement in the sand. Its actually probably worse but half diatoms so I think thats a win.
Should I vacuum sand? Should I suck up a layer of sand? Should I mix it? Or just leave it?
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Jason_1982
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@taricha
SUCCESS! Sorry for the late reply but let me tell you I have beat these dino. I would say i really turned the corner in feb. My methods are below. Thank you for all the help.
In general the dirty method was key. No water changes no skimmer for many months. I dosed nitrates and phosphates constantly. The levels were very unstable for a long time.
When it settled i dosed silica. At 1st a few drops. Then more and more daily. I checked with my scope for diatoms and there were none. Eventually i was dosing many drops per day (watch for ph spikes). This is where things changed. The large cell dinos on the sand started to look blacker. The micro scope sample now showed diatoms with dinos, i kept increasing si until many many diatoms. I stayed at this stage for a while and cut back my silica. The algae was much more black than brown.
What seemed to be the nail in the coffin was adding microbacter 7. Shortly after adding it the black sand slowly lightened.
My sand is now pure white. I havent vacuumed it or touched it in a few months. I finally have corals, a clean tank, and small routine water changes.
I still dose n & p. I dont run a skimmer either. Tank is very lightly stocked.
I can say this all started from clean base rock and obsessively trying to prevent algae blooms by driving my n&p to zero.
I can say i beat all 3 dinos
Osteopresis - uv and carbon
Small cell amp - uv and dirty method(these where the most killer for me. Thew grew on sps tips)
Large cell amp - dirty method silicates bacteria.
Also, early on i did grab rocks from other tanks. I did not remove sand for large cell either. It was going to be my last resort.
Thanks everyone!
