Dinos........I think.

[Pennywise the Clown]

Now I'm confused as for all the world it looked like dinos earlier in the week and I have been overfeeding like mad to try and raise nutrients.

 

[dwest]

Now I'm confused as for all the world it looked like dinos earlier in the week and I have been overfeeding like mad to try and raise nutrients.

Do you still have the brown stuff on the sand? Very possible to have both.

 

[Pennywise the Clown]

Do you still have the brown stuff on the sand? Very possible to have both.

It's pretty much all like in the photo. Nothing on my rocks, just brown matts in the sand.

 

[Gareth elliott]

Cyano are nitrogen fixers, many of the same dino cures still apply to them. If nitrate is very low, corals and macro algae can be stunted but cyano can thrive as they can pull N2 directly from the water column. The raising of nutrients to provide an environment for the macroscopic to outcompete them.

 

[Pennywise the Clown]

Cyano are nitrogen fixers, many of the same dino cures still apply to them. If nitrate is very low, corals and macro algae can be stunted but cyano can thrive as they can pull N2 directly from the water column. The raising of nutrients to provide an environment for the macroscopic to outcompete them.

So carry on with the heavy feeding?
Is it possible that I did have dinos but the heavy feeding has encouraged cyano which is out competing them?

 

[Pennywise the Clown]

After a week of heavy feeding (probably at least 4 x the regular amount) changing my light spectrum to blues/UV only, aggressive siphoning of the sand bed and installing a 5 micron filter sock at night, my sand bed is looking far, far better. I had one small patch of dinos, cyano (whatever it is) left yesterday which I siphoned out and today I have pretty much white sand.
Strangely, even after all the overfeeding, this morning my Nitrate reading was 0 and phosphate around 0.01.
Coral wise, my lps are unaffected, one of my zoa frags seems to be struggling and a toadstool and finger leather have retracted their polyps. Everything else looks good.

 

[dwest]

After a week of heavy feeding (probably at least 4 x the regular amount) changing my light spectrum to blues/UV only, aggressive siphoning of the sand bed and installing a 5 micron filter sock at night, my sand bed is looking far, far better. I had one small patch of dinos, cyano (whatever it is) left yesterday which I siphoned out and today I have pretty much white sand.
Strangely, even after all the overfeeding, this morning my Nitrate reading was 0 and phosphate around 0.01.
Coral wise, my lps are unaffected, one of my zoa frags seems to be struggling and a toadstool and finger leather have retracted their polyps. Everything else looks good.

Fingers crossed! BTW, I dose NaNO3 periodically (bought solid pellets through amazon) when nitrates get below 1 ppm. Good luck.

 

[Ahbaloch]

Turn the blues off and post a pictyre in white light

 

[Pennywise the Clown]

Dinos are still in retreat I hope.
The only thing of concern is that my leather corals, 2 finger leathers and a toadstool, have all retracted. Everything else, hammers, blasto, duncan and zoas, look healthy.
Any ideas?

 

[sfin52]

My nitrates read 0.2 on the low end of the Salifert kit. 0 on the high end. Phosphates have never registered at all, probably due to the Rowaphos I was running (which has now gone)
I was always very happy with these readings which was, in hindsight, a big mistake.

Thanks guys, I will follow your advice and keep you posted.

We always read keep phospahte at 0 and nitrate at zero. But in reality they are part of the building blocks of life. All corals need this as the does zooxanthellae. Don't beat your self up over this. I made the same mistake.
Microscope is need to id the species. As stated above uv can work if it's the right species. Other species burrow into the sandbed at night.
Stop all po4 reducing agents. I strongly recommend adding activated carbon to your filter. This will control the toxins dino release into the tank .

 

[dwest]

Dinos are still in retreat I hope.
The only thing of concern is that my leather corals, 2 finger leathers and a toadstool, have all retracted. Everything else, hammers, blasto, duncan and zoas, look healthy.
Any ideas?

We always read keep phospahte at 0 and nitrate at zero. But in reality they are part of the building blocks of life. All corals need this as the does zooxanthellae. Don't beat your self up over this. I made the same mistake.
Microscope is need to id the species. As stated above uv can work if it's the right species. Other species burrow into the sandbed at night.
Stop all po4 reducing agents. I strongly recommend adding activated carbon to your filter. This will control the toxins dino release into the tank .

I agree, if you don’t have GAC running, I would do so to remove dino toxins. Also, my leathers sometimes close for days. I wouldn’t be concerned at this point with them.

 

[sfin52]

I agree, if you don’t have GAC running, I would do so to remove dino toxins. Also, my leathers sometimes close for days. I wouldn’t be concerned at this point with them.

I agree.

 

[Pennywise the Clown]

This is what is growing on the overflow at the moment. I am leaving it alone but there are bubbles in there.

 

[dwest]

This is what is growing on the overflow at the moment. I am leaving it alone but there are bubbles in there.

Cyano make bubbles too.

 

[rockskimmerflow]

This is what is growing on the overflow at the moment. I am leaving it alone but there are bubbles in there.

I'm seeing some green in there- that's a really good sign in the battle against dinos. You will have to keep on the heavy feeding until you fully break them, once that happens though keep testing your Nitrate and Phos as they will spike once the dinos have stopped stripping your water. This is a good sign but you will need to ramp down the feeding again once they break because you'll overrun your levels quickly without any dino blooming in the system. You'll always have dinos in the tank, but maintain a good microfauna and flora population and you won't see another bloom. Most common cause of a recurrent dino bloom is allowing nutrients to bottom out which lets the dino re-establish a foothold. Cyano is also a sign that you are on the way to beating the dino. It is usually during the transitional phase when you see the cyano, but it should pass too once you get a nice green microalgal base to take over the system. Good luck!

 

[Pennywise the Clown]

I'm seeing some green in there- that's a really good sign in the battle against dinos. You will have to keep on the heavy feeding until you fully break them, once that happens though keep testing your Nitrate and Phos as they will spike once the dinos have stopped stripping your water. This is a good sign but you will need to ramp down the feeding again once they break because you'll overrun your levels quickly without any dino blooming in the system. You'll always have dinos in the tank, but maintain a good microfauna and flora population and you won't see another bloom. Most common cause of a recurrent dino bloom is allowing nutrients to bottom out which lets the dino re-establish a foothold. Cyano is also a sign that you are on the way to beating the dino. It is usually during the transitional phase when you see the cyano, but it should pass too once you get a nice green microalgal base to take over the system. Good luck!

Thanks for the great reply. There is definitely a lot of green in there which wasn't there before.
It sounds like I am going in the right direction.

 

[SanDi's Reef Savvy]

Thanks for the great reply. There is definitely a lot of green in there which wasn't there before.
It sounds like I am going in the right direction.

Hey Steve, I've battled Dinos, Cyano, hair algae, etc. in the past and I found using Fluconazole is what helped my system out. I also tried cutting back on running my skimmer instead of 24/7 I cut back to 12/7 and it seemed to help raise my nutrients quicker and easier then over feeding my system daily and trust me I did that as well. Lol. These are just a few ideas I wanted to share with you. Stay on top of it and don't get discouraged. Its processes like this in this hobby that makes it so interesting and challenging sometimes. This is how we all learn. Good Luck to you !!

 

[Pennywise the Clown]

I am now in the middle of a bacterial bloom, most likely caused by the amount of food I am feeding. There are still a couple of small rusty brown patches on the sand and on the tips of some rocks, but it is not matted like before, more like diatoms. Also my corals are not as happy, still open but not a much or as large as before. My 5 micron bag is not picking up as much as before. Normally it would be overflowing in the morning but the last few nights it has been fine. I take that as a good sign.
I'm debating whether or not to go back to my full spectrum lighting instead of just blue/uv that I have at the moment to see if this perks my corals up a bit?

 

[rockskimmerflow]

I am now in the middle of a bacterial bloom, most likely caused by the amount of food I am feeding. There are still a couple of small rusty brown patches on the sand and on the tips of some rocks, but it is not matted like before, more like diatoms. Also my corals are not as happy, still open but not a much or as large as before. My 5 micron bag is not picking up as much as before. Normally it would be overflowing in the morning but the last few nights it has been fine. I take that as a good sign.
I'm debating whether or not to go back to my full spectrum lighting instead of just blue/uv that I have at the moment to see if this perks my corals up a bit?

FWIW I've never found any value in changing the light spectrum during a dino battle. It just stresses corals more and we want green based micro and macroalgae to begin to grow and dominate the substrates in the tank to outcompete the dino. Your regular light spectrum is better for that than blue. I use T5 and halide on many client tanks so there is no spectrum control beyond the bulbs themselves. I just leave them on, eradicate the dino with biological methods, and add a large UV as insurance against a future bloom. Sounds like you're on the right track!

 

[dwest]

FWIW I've never found any value in changing the light spectrum during a dino battle. It just stresses corals more and we want green based micro and macroalgae to begin to grow and dominate the substrates in the tank to outcompete the dino. Your regular light spectrum is better for that than blue. I use T5 and halide on many client tanks so there is no spectrum control beyond the bulbs themselves. I just leave them on, eradicate the dino with biological methods, and add a large UV as insurance against a future bloom. Sounds like you're on the right track!

I agree. I would put the lighting settings where you want them and then keep them there.