Dinos Cleared But Now High Nitrates

Austin317 · Dec 18, 2022

Hi guys, I finally have beat my Dino’s after 8 months! I resorted to Dino X and they cleared after 8 treatements! so excited! However, my nitrates are now high, but the Dino X instructions say not to do a water change for 1 week after the last treatment. I would wait, but I just lost my emerald crab and I am assuming it is because of the high nitrates. Thoughts on if I am ok to do a water change? It has been 3 days since the last treatment and I am running carbon in the system as instructed. Water parameters are below:

Temp: 77.2
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 35
PH: 7.9
Calcium: 410
Magnesium: 1380
Alk: 8.3
Phosphate: 0.01

HankstankXXL750 · Dec 18, 2022

IMO 35 nitrates won’t kill inverts. Are you sure it isn’t a molt?

vetteguy53081 · Dec 18, 2022

Dinos also release toxins which may have done it but nitrates that high- Dino should not be thriving and 8 months is a LONG battle. Were you adding nitrate and Phos during treatment?

Austin317 · Dec 18, 2022

@HankstankXXXL750 @vetteguy53081 Thanks for the feedback. My tank is only a waterbox P25 so there aren’t a lot of places for an emerald to hide. I am 90% sure it isn’t a molt. I was dosing neonitro and neophos prior to the Nitro X but stopped dosing during the treatment. Yes…. It was a LONG 8 months. Literally tried everything without success until the Dino X.

HankstankXXL750 · Dec 18, 2022

Austin317 said:
@HankstankXXXL750 @vetteguy53081 Thanks for the feedback. My tank is only a waterbox P25 so there aren’t a lot of places for an emerald to hide. I am 90% sure it isn’t a molt. I was dosing neonitro and neophos prior to the Nitro X but stopped dosing during the treatment. Yes…. It was a LONG 8 months. Literally tried everything without success until the Dino X.

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal · Dec 18, 2022

Nitrate of 35 is not high...

Austin317 · Dec 18, 2022

Erin1971Texas said:
Nitrate of 35 is not high...

I’ve just never had it that high… I was out of the game for about 15 years and back in the day it was all about 0 nitrate. I know that is not the case now, but thought 35 was too high.

HankstankXXL750 · Dec 19, 2022

Austin317 said:
I’ve just never had it that high… I was out of the game for about 15 years and back in the day it was all about 0 nitrate. I know that is not the case now, but thought 35 was too high.

Higher than I would want to run a sps or Lps tank, but my reefs got really high into the 40’s and super high phosphates .3-.5. None of my shrimp or crabs were affected.

I slowly brought them done to 15 and .03

Austin317 · Dec 19, 2022

HankstankXXXL750 said:
Higher than I would want to run a sps or Lps tank, but my reefs got really high into the 40’s and super high phosphates .3-.5. None of my shrimp or crabs were affected.

I slowly brought them done to 15 and .03

Good to know! Maybe I’ll just wait to do my water change at one week post Dino X then based on that feedback

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal · Dec 19, 2022

HankstankXXXL750 said:
Higher than I would want to run a sps or Lps tank, but my reefs got really high into the 40’s and super high phosphates .3-.5. None of my shrimp or crabs were affected.

I slowly brought them done to 15 and .03

My lps love nitrates between 30-50

Austin317 · Dec 19, 2022

Erin1971Texas said:
My lps love nitrates between 30-50

Do you run at that high on the norm? Any issues with inverts, specifically shrimp?

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal · Dec 19, 2022

Austin317 said:
Do you run at that high on the norm? Any issues with inverts, specifically shrimp?

Yes, my nitrates are consistently "high" (as are phosphates), and I've noticed no issues with inverts, although I don't usually keep shrimp or crabs. Snails, anemones, and fish are all fine.

HankstankXXL750 · Dec 19, 2022

Erin1971Texas said:
My lps love nitrates between 30-50

Do you have torches? I am by no way an expert, but couldn’t keep torches and some thought it might be high nitrates and phosphates.

I believe that my acans, Duncan’s, candy canes, and open brains do well in the higher nitrates. Along with my softies.

I am not sure, but I believe that the sps like acros and some of the montis aren’t so forgiving.

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal · Dec 20, 2022

HankstankXXXL750 said:
Do you have torches? I am by no way an expert, but couldn’t keep torches and some thought it might be high nitrates and phosphates.

I believe that my acans, Duncan’s, candy canes, and open brains do well in the higher nitrates. Along with my softies.

I am not sure, but I believe that the sps like acros and some of the montis aren’t so forgiving.

I do have a couple torches and a lot of frogspawn...

Austin317 · Dec 20, 2022

Erin1971Texas said:
I do have a couple torches and a lot of frogspawn...

Interesting.. good to know! I’ve always been super anal about my nitrates being over 15ppm but it sounds like I don’t need to be as concerned.

Spare time · Dec 20, 2022

Up the phosphate. It's the only known possibly correlate to dino blooms on this forum (that is, when they bottom out). Other than that yeah I don't see why you can't do a water change

vlangel · Dec 20, 2022

Austin317 said:
Interesting.. good to know! I’ve always been super anal about my nitrates being over 15ppm but it sounds like I don’t need to be as concerned.

I have a high nutrient tank by design and I have nassarius snails, a coral banded shrimp that is several years old and an Atlantic cucumber. My nitrates are consistently in the 35 ppm range and my phosphates are .25 - .5 ppm. I do keep ornamental macro algae and they need nutrients so such high nutrients may not be a good idea in every tank, but it works well in mine.

Austin317 · Dec 20, 2022

Spare time said:
Up the phosphate. It's the only known possibly correlate to dino blooms on this forum (that is, when they bottom out). Other than that yeah I don't see why you can't do a water change

Retested today and have 20ppm nitrates and .08 ppm phosphates. Worst of all… my Dino’s are now coming back ‍

thought I was in the clear. Guess not…

Spare time · Dec 20, 2022

Austin317 said:
Retested today and have 20ppm nitrates and .08 ppm phosphates. Worst of all… my Dino’s are now coming back ‍ thought I was in the clear. Guess not…

Usually my next plan, if a uv doesn't work on a particular species, is to start bacteria cocktails in an attempt to add competition. I like pns proobio and Dr Tim's eco balance/waste away. A hearty mix of (non tigrio) copepods possibly live phyto may add some predation. The next option that I would consider would be adding real ocean live sand to try and get other zooplankton. Again, dinos are not well understood as a phenomena in thks hobby as you probably have seen, and at most someone can do is recommended things to try that may or may not have been related to their dinos going away.

Ps don't forget to double check your test kits is possible. I don't think they are off but it's always something to consider.

Austin317 · Dec 21, 2022

Spare time said:
Usually my next plan, if a uv doesn't work on a particular species, is to start bacteria cocktails in an attempt to add competition. I like pns proobio and Dr Tim's eco balance/waste away. A hearty mix of (non tigrio) copepods possibly live phyto may add some predation. The next option that I would consider would be adding real ocean live sand to try and get other zooplankton. Again, dinos are not well understood as a phenomena in thks hobby as you probably have seen, and at most someone can do is recommended things to try that may or may not have been related to their dinos going away.

Ps don't forget to double check your test kits is possible. I don't think they are off but it's always something to consider.

Thanks for the feedback. I double checked my test kits and everything is accurate. It is crazy to me that having elevated phosphate and nitrates still don’t kick this Dino outbreak… I’ve done everything at this point outside of adding pods… UV constantly for 3 months, microbacter 7, peroxide, blackout multiple times, dosing neophos and neonitro, Dino X for 8 treatments… so tired of these Dino’s haha…