Dino - Time to go to war

rockstarta78 · Nov 1, 2017

Africangrey said:
I completely wiped out all the osteo dino after 6 weeks of Vibrant dosing, used 2x of recommended dosed for the 1st 14 days (2 weeks) then the maintainese dose after that.

How often did you dose every week? Everyday? or twice a week?

Africangrey · Nov 1, 2017

2x per week

rockstarta78 · Nov 1, 2017

Africangrey said:
2x per week

that's exactly what I'm doing. I guess it'll take time.

rockstarta78 · Nov 2, 2017

As luck would have it, when I got home last night I found out that my skimmer overflowed and dumped 3 days worth of skimmet in the tank. *** at this point doesn't even cut it.

I did a 50% water change over the weekend. Dinos are looking exactly same. No improvement that I can see. Bryopsis are out of control. I was on the verge of giving up, this was so frustrating seeing that the skimmer overflowed. Still trying to figure out what could have caused the skimmer to overflow. Seeing no other alternative, I dosed Fluconazzole to the tank last night. But I am wondering if it will make the bryopsis worse and start Cyano as well. I think I am going to have to take my sand out, give it a through cleaning, dry out the sand, and put the sand back in.

I forgot to mention, when I setup this tank, I never washed the sand since I wanted live sand. This was caribsea special grade sand. In hind side I think that was a BIG mistake on my part. I think I should have washed my sand and could have avoided all these pain and suffering.

rockstarta78 · Nov 6, 2017

I just thought about something, pH. How does pH effect Dino? I have always struggled to maintain a high pH, and I've been thinking about using a CO2 scrubber. Since my tank is in the basement it does not get a lot of outside air, and I think that contributes to the low pH. I think low pH has effect on Dino. @mcarroll thoughts?

I recently messed up my ACL, so I haven't been able to walk for 4-5 days. So I haven't been able to dose my tank with anything, or siphoned the sand. Now the dinos are coming back again. I swear I can't catch a break.

mcarroll · Nov 6, 2017

There are some scientific articles that talk about pH some, but nobody has seen a result from tweaking pH in aquarium testing yet. (It's not too wise to mess with pH, generally speaking.)

Beardo · Nov 6, 2017

rockstarta78 said:
I just thought about something, pH. How does pH effect Dino? I have always struggled to maintain a high pH, and I've been thinking about using a CO2 scrubber. Since my tank is in the basement it does not get a lot of outside air, and I think that contributes to the low pH. I think low pH has effect on Dino. @mcarroll thoughts?

I recently messed up my ACL, so I haven't been able to walk for 4-5 days. So I haven't been able to dose my tank with anything, or siphoned the sand. Now the dinos are coming back again. I swear I can't catch a break.

I went the high pH route, 8.75 for a couple months followed by 8.60 for another month by dosing a kalk slurry controlled by Apex and still had dinos.

Sorry you are having so many issues, hang in there.

rockstarta78 · Nov 7, 2017

Well seeing that both @mcarroll and @Beardo are against the PH issue, I am not even going to try raising PH. I am sticking to my manual removal. What a PITA!

filbie70 · Nov 19, 2017

rockstarta78 said:
Seems like you have the perfect environment for Dino. Post a picture of your algae. If it's Dino, the battle is way more challenging than GHA. I am treating my tank like an experiment right now.

GHA is gone. Unfortunately, my algae die off did not elevate NO3 or PO4, still reading 0. Dino’s are really taking off now rocks are rust tinted. I done have any fish in the tank only inverts, Lips, and sps. Blasto near the sand are dying back. Wellsos, Duncan, and Scolys are doing well. I have two SPS that didn’t bleach, just look dull and lifeless. I have about 60 others that don’t have the same polyp extension they one had. I have not done a water change since Fluconazole was added 4 weeks ago. I’ve been adding frozen unwashed angel blend for 3 days. Looking online for KPO4, found greenhouse grade on Amazon. I cannot find KNO3, I’ve only found Ca(NO3)2. Any help in where to buy and dosing would be appreciated. I’m considering a 3 day black out as it will,take 2 days to get NO3 and PO4 additives Thoughts, please?

taricha · Nov 19, 2017

filbie70 said:
I cannot find KNO3, I’ve only found Ca(NO3)2. Any help in where to buy and dosing would be appreciated. I’m considering a 3 day black out as it will,take 2 days to get NO3 and PO4 additives Thoughts, please?

Spectracide stump remover from hardware store is KNO3. Can also order food grade NaNO3 for meat curing.

Blackout is just a delay. Solves very little.

filbie70 · Nov 19, 2017

taricha said:
Spectracide stump remover from hardware store is KNO3. Can also order food grade NaNO3 for meat curing.

Blackout is just a delay. Solves very little.

Does the blackout knock them back enough so I can get ahead of them? I have Vibrant, I can try the 2x dose. The KPO4 I am looking at is
Monopotassium Phosphate Soluble 0-52-34 MKP Hydroponics Aquariums, from Amazon. I will purchase the Spectracide. How do you calculate the does for the KNO3 and KPO4 to get steady rise? I will cut back on the frozen food. The only other food I add is Red Sea Reef energy A & B.

filbie70 · Nov 19, 2017

taricha said:
Spectracide stump remover from hardware store is KNO3. Can also order food grade NaNO3 for meat curing.

Blackout is just a delay. Solves very little.

I found an article saying possible copper in Spectracide SR. Anyone used reagent grade or food grade Sodium Nitrate?

Beardo · Nov 19, 2017

filbie70 said:
I found an article saying possible copper in Spectracide SR. Anyone used reagent grade or food grade Sodium Nitrate?

I have been using the reagant grade sodium nitrate from Amazon. The food grade for curing meats is sodium nitrite so watch the spelling.
They also have listings for food grade potassium nitrate.

filbie70 · Nov 19, 2017

Beardo said:
I have been using the reagant grade sodium nitrate from Amazon. The food grade for curing meats is sodium nitrite so watch the spelling.
They also have listings for food grade potassium nitrate.

I noticed the Potassium Nitrite after my post. I am buying the reagent grade. How do you calculate dose to raise 2ppm? I assume it is simple calculation by volume, but I wasn’t sure about chemical bond of NaNO3. Molarity wasn’t my favorite part of chemistry. I assume I don’t need to overthink this, but it is dry weight to dissolved solution in aquarium, 220gal.

taricha · Nov 19, 2017

filbie70 said:
Does the blackout knock them back enough so I can get ahead of them? I have Vibrant, I can try the 2x dose. The KPO4 I am looking at is
Monopotassium Phosphate Soluble 0-52-34 MKP Hydroponics Aquariums, from Amazon. I will purchase the Spectracide. How do you calculate the does for the KNO3 and KPO4 to get steady rise? I will cut back on the frozen food. The only other food I add is Red Sea Reef energy A & B.

Blackout can give you a few days to get your plan together, which is great.

If you are dosing P and N, but adding vibrant to kill algae - you're kinda pulling opposite directions at the same time. Those don't really mesh.

Reef energy is vitamins and amino acids which will really fuel dino growth. I'd stop it until dinos are gone.

Calc the doses for nitrate....
NaNO3 is 85 molar weight
NO3 is 62 ...So NaNO3 is 62/85 = 73% nitrate.
1ppm is a mg per kg so a mg per Liter.

In my tank 3.5g NaNO3....
3.5 x 73% / 260 Liters = 10mg/L = 10ppm nitrate.

filbie70 · Nov 19, 2017

Radions are off, T5s off, black plastic over the glass to block sunlight. Hopefully, it will slow it down until the NaNO3 and KPO4 arrive.

rockstarta78 · Nov 20, 2017

I have resorted back to manual removing. In my mind nothing beats manual removing. My bryopsis are gone, I still have GHA lingering. With my ASL messed up, I wasn't able to perform a WC in about 3 weeks. Hoping I can do a big WC after the thanksgiving weekend. However, I've been dosing twice the amount of Vibrant twice a week. I can't tell for sure if it's having any effect on the Dino, but glass is looking super clean. Hopefully this ACL thing will heel soon, and I can get back to taking care of this tank. The injury has me neglecting the tank, which I know is bad for this tank right now.

filbie70 · Nov 21, 2017

taricha said:
Blackout can give you a few days to get your plan together, which is great.

If you are dosing P and N, but adding vibrant to kill algae - you're kinda pulling opposite directions at the same time. Those don't really mesh.

Reef energy is vitamins and amino acids which will really fuel dino growth. I'd stop it until dinos are gone.

Calc the doses for nitrate....
NaNO3 is 85 molar weight
NO3 is 62 ...So NaNO3 is 62/85 = 73% nitrate.
1ppm is a mg per kg so a mg per Liter.

In my tank 3.5g NaNO3....
3.5 x 73% / 260 Liters = 10mg/L = 10ppm nitrate.

Thank you, dosing PO4 today. 2nd day of black out. I am going to remove the top layer of sand tonight.