Dino success stories?

Believe it or not, but I was able to solve my dino problem by adjusting the lights. I messed around and found the perfect percentage intensity and amount of hours for the lights. Then they slowly died out day by day and then I officially killed them off with a water change. And since then, I've had HORRIBLE water quality at times due to me being occupied with work but dino's never came back. I assume the moment I revert to my old settings Dinos will definitely be back.

Tinker around with your lights as you do water changes, make sure to not mess with blues too much as not all corals will adjust.
 
I beat dino in less than one month by dosing Seachem Nitrogen and Seachem Phosphorus to the appropriate levels. I also added pods and nitryfing bacteria at the same time. I never confirmed the type microscopically but it was definitely dino. The only losses I had were a Xenia colony (thank god, and go figure). Before the dosing, I tried the manual removal everyday for weeks then H202 dosing for weeks as well, and it was only getting worse. Then, somewhere in the 15-20 day range, all the dinos turned white and my clean up crew and tangs ate it all and by thirty days there was zero sign of any dino. To this day, people still tell me that there are better methods but it worked really well for me.
 
Last edited:
Increasing nitrates and phosphates were the only thing that actually worked for me.
 
I battled Dino’s for a minute in my tank tried blackouts, peroxide, raising nutrients, ph, a couple other things. In the end I purchased a 55w uv sterilizer Hooked it up in line with the return from my sump and within 2 days my dinos were gone.
 
I forgot to add I let it run for 2 weeks and then shut it off. I’ve had it off for 3 months now and no signs of dinos.
 
My problem was that I let my Nitrate/Phosphate bottom out. Then the dinos exploded.
I added UV (Corallife Twist 12x), increased nitrates/phosphates (not super high, just enough to get some algae - 3-5 Nitrate and .05-.1 Phosphate), and blew off the rocks every day. For good measure I also added a Diamond Goby to keep the sand "clean" - which he does an excellent job at (he even released some silicate from the sand and added some diatom competition). Lastly, just in case my tank was a little too clean, I added some Garf grunge to reseed the environment. Not sure any one thing was the magic bullet, but it worked.
I went through the hair algae phase for a month or two, but it is now going away and things seem good.
I had both ostreopsis and amphidinium, and while I can find a few in my microscope samples, they are outcompeted by all of the other stuff. When I had dinos the microscope samples were pretty much just the dinos, but now when I look I see all sorts of other life - worms, diatoms, copepods, etc - along with a few dinos, but they aren't prevalent.
 
I got overly aggressive with GFO and bottomed out my PO4 to zero with an already low NO3 and got Ostreopsis. I lost almost every coral in my tank...multiple SPS including large colonies of Sunset monti, Mind Trick monti, Poker Star monti, Garf Bonsai, a large unnamed purple acro, Green Slimer, and a bunch of others I can't even recall. Also lost all my zoas except for some Blue Tubs and two colonies of palys.

I got rid of the dinos dosing pharma grade sodium nitrate and Seachem Flourish phosphorous. I ran carbon but evidently not aggressively enough. Fortunately the tank is making a great come back in just the last couple of months.
18-12-2side (1 of 1).jpg


18-12-2left (1 of 1).jpg


18-12-2right (1 of 1).jpg
 
I've had a lot of success with elevating NO3, PO4, and soluble silica. The same strategy seems to keep cyano at bay as well (at least in my tank).
 
I’m over a week in with elevated PO4 (nitrates have always been bw 10-20ppm) and seem to have them on the run. Also been dosing silicate to help outcompete them.

Now I’m just balancing out NO3 and PO4 as they seem to be moving back and forth. NO3 dropped for me as I was dosing PO4 so I’m seeing some RTN on a few of my SPS frags. Sucks but I’ll take it to get rid of he dinos. Mine were limited to sandbed.
 
i was seeing some dino’s all over the sand and rock in my tank after the first 2 months of it running. i was manually taking it out as a solution but it just kept coming back and it was driving me crazy. i was planning on buying a diamond goby already, but i put him in and all the dinos disappeared within a few days of him moving the sand around. he saved my tank
 
I does Clorox at the .003ml per gallon once a day for 4 days and Dino's have been gone for a couple months. I tried all the above and had no luck. Clorox did the trick with absolutely no side affects.
 
I does Clorox at the .003ml per gallon once a day for 4 days and Dino's have been gone for a couple months. I tried all the above and had no luck. Clorox did the trick with absolutely no side affects.
I’ve heard about people dosing bleach. Interesting what size tank do you have
 
I have this same nasty looking stuff. I have done soany water changes it's insane. Nitrates 20 phosphate .25 can anyone help me. I have even done 3 day black out and it comes right back. I turned up the flow and have gobby but no luck. Even took out so much sand I added more.
 
I get dinos anytime I carbon dose (vinegar, pellets, or Red Sea) - including very small amounts of carbon dosing when nitrate and phosphate are still very elevated. As long as don't dose carbon, I don't get dinos.
 
I’ve heard about people dosing bleach. Interesting what size tank do you have

My tank is a standard 120. I estimated the water volume at 100 gallons with sump. I dosed .3ml when lights went out for 4 days. Each day I had less and less dinos. After 3 days of dosing they were completely gone but I still dosed the 4 day to make sure. I've seen other dose a larger amount and have issues with fish. At my low dosage I saw no ill side affects. And actually my sps had better polyp extension.
 
I dealt with Ostreopsis, last time they shown up I raised my phosphates to 1.0 and my nitrates to 20 ppm. I used a UV Sterilizer and a marineland magnum internal canister filter. 1 week and the GHA took hold in my refugium and soon after the ostreopsis was gone. The GHA died, and I placed cheato in the refugium again and shut down the skimmer. Not leaning towards ever turning the skimmer back on.
 
My tank is a standard 120. I estimated the water volume at 100 gallons with sump. I dosed .3ml when lights went out for 4 days. Each day I had less and less dinos. After 3 days of dosing they were completely gone but I still dosed the 4 day to make sure. I've seen other dose a larger amount and have issues with fish. At my low dosage I saw no ill side affects. And actually my sps had better polyp extension.

Very cool I will remember this if I ever have to deal with them again!
 

IF YOU HAD TO TAKE A REEFING EXAM, WOULD YOU PASS?

  • Yes!

    Votes: 32 45.7%
  • Not yet, but I have one that I want to buy in mind!

    Votes: 9 12.9%
  • No.

    Votes: 26 37.1%
  • Other (please explain).

    Votes: 3 4.3%

New Posts

Back
Top