Hopefully not Dino's....

Hallowhead · Jun 25, 2019

Howdy all,

I just got done treating bryopsis a month ago. I really hope I don't have din's now

Tanks is a IM 30 L. I am running filter floss in both filter chambers. The one chamber has a media caddy running chemi pure blue & purigen. I have marine pure blocks in the middle chamber.

My parameters are as follows:

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0 (I know this needs to come up some - working on it with feeding more often)
Phosphate 0 (I know this needs to come up some - working on it with feeding more often)

So I thought it was GHA but I am not sure. When doing my water change I took a toothbrush and scrubbed all locations thoroughly removing what I thought to be all of it. I then siphoned out as much from the water column as I could. The next day it appears that a lot has come back and it's longer and stringy. I have noticed that dino's have bubbles and I don't see any bubbles... yet.

It's growing over frags and causing my zoa's to remain closed. I try to spot siphon with a baster to help remove some of the annoying strands.

I am adding a second power head soon as some spots may be dead spots so I was thinking maybe that's why?? I have lowered my light intensity a little. It was at 50% and I've lowered to 45%. Should I go lower?

Here are some pics.

Hallowhead · Jun 26, 2019

Another note: The dino's or whatever algae is only on the right side of the tank. They have not found their way over to the left side... just yet. I think tomorrow during the day I am going to siphon some more out or scrub it again.

Hemmdog · Jun 26, 2019

Looks like dinos. Feed more, a lot more. Also fwiw chemipure blue and purigen are doing the same thing so you would only run one or the other. Take all that media out for now and let nutrients build up. Rinse the media out good with tap or RO, let it air dry, store it.

Hallowhead · Jun 26, 2019

Hemmdog said:
Looks like dinos. Feed more, a lot more. Also fwiw chemipure blue and purigen are doing the same thing so you would only run one or the other. Take all that media out for now and let nutrients build up. Rinse the media out good with tap or RO, let it air dry, store it.

I should take out the marine pure blocks as well or keep those? If I let the media bags dry out they're safe to re-use?? Yeah I thought I was originally feeding to much than my zoa's all closed up so I realized my nitrates were too low, and than I started ghost feeding to get it back up and here I am again not feeding enough

Hemmdog · Jun 26, 2019

Hallowhead said:
I should take out the marine pure blocks as well or keep those? If I let the media bags dry out they're safe to re-use?? Yeah I thought I was originally feeding to much than my zoa's all closed up so I realized my nitrates were too low, and than I started ghost feeding to get it back up and here I am again not feeding enough

You can keep the marine pure in. Yea rinse the media out, assuming it hasn’t been in there for over 2 months, then let it dry out, you should get some more life out of it when you need it again. I wouldn’t put it back in until nitrates are 5-10. How many fish do you have? I had dino’s in my 90 in the beginning. Adding a fish was an easy fix. Dino’s were gone within a month. I didn’t need to invest in an expensive UV sterilizer or anything to get rid of them. Also what are you feeding the tank? Frozen will help you with nitrates, pellets&flake and reef roids will raise phosphates.

Hallowhead · Jun 26, 2019

Hemmdog said:
You can keep the marine pure in. Yea rinse the media out, assuming it hasn’t been in there for over 2 months, then let it dry out, you should get some more life out of it when you need it again. I wouldn’t put it back in until nitrates are 5-10. How many fish do you have? I had dino’s in my 90 in the beginning. Adding a fish was an easy fix. Dino’s were gone within a month. I didn’t need to invest in an expensive UV sterilizer or anything to get rid of them. Also what are you feeding the tank? Frozen will help you with nitrates, pellets&flake and reef roids will raise phosphates.

I have two clown fish, a flame angel and I think.. maybe still a yellow watchmen goby. I have not seen him in 3 weeks though

I have a cover so he couldn't have jumped out. He's either perished to another fish, crab, or even a snail or is hiding under the rocks.

I've been feeding frozen mysis every other day and sometimes on the in between days feeding new spectrum. Since I have such a small amount of fish I cut a small chunk of the frozen mysis off defrost in tank water and dump water into tank slowly over a minute or two. Maybe it's time to get some more fish.

Hemmdog · Jun 26, 2019

Hallowhead said:
I have two clown fish, a flame angel and I think.. maybe still a yellow watchmen goby. I have not seen him in 3 weeks though I have a cover so he couldn't have jumped out. He's either perished to another fish, crab, or even a snail or is hiding under the rocks.

I've been feeding frozen mysis every other day and sometimes on the in between days feeding new spectrum. Since I have such a small amount of fish I cut a small chunk of the frozen mysis off defrost in tank water and dump water into tank slowly over a minute or two. Maybe it's time to get some more fish.

Nice, sounds like you know what your doing.

New fish time! Always a good time.

Hallowhead · Jun 26, 2019

Hemmdog said:
Nice, sounds like you know what your doing.
New fish time! Always a good time.

Definitely a good time! Gotta decide between cardinals or a blenny...

Hemmdog · Jun 26, 2019

Hallowhead said:
Definitely a good time! Gotta decide between cardinals or a blenny...

How big is the tank? A tang will solve your nutrient problem in no time. lol

Hallowhead · Jun 26, 2019

Hemmdog said:
How big is the tank? A tang will solve your nutrient problem in no time. lol

muahahah it's 30 gallons AIO.... I'll be behind the tang bars if I put one in.

Hemmdog · Jun 26, 2019

Hallowhead said:
muahahah it's 30 gallons AIO.... I'll be behind the tang bars if I put one in.

Ah, that is true haha.

saltyhog · Jun 26, 2019

I far prefer dosing inorganic nitrate and phosphate over overfeeding. In my situation overfeeding seemed to fuel the dinos and didn't raise my nutrients significantly. A bag of lab grade sodium nitrate is about $10 on Amazon and Seachem Flourish Phosphate is inexpensive as well. Dose, test, rinse repeat till you get parameters where you want them.

rolyguy7 · Jun 26, 2019

Check your rodi water. Use a TDS meter. The more solids in your rodi water the more dinos you’ll see. I try to keep mine 0-7 ppm TDS and change my DI resin accordingly. If you’re buying water, it’s probably your local store rodi system with high TDS. You usually start seeing them in 10ppm TDS or higher.

Hallowhead · Jun 26, 2019

rolyguy7 said:
Check your rodi water. Use a TDS meter. The more solids in your rodi water the more dinos you’ll see. I try to keep mine 0-7 ppm TDS and change my DI resin accordingly. If you’re buying water, it’s probably your local store rodi system with high TDS. You usually start seeing them in 10ppm TDS or higher.

I only run 0 TDS

Hallowhead · Jun 26, 2019

saltyhog said:
I far prefer dosing inorganic nitrate and phosphate over overfeeding. In my situation overfeeding seemed to fuel the dinos and didn't raise my nutrients significantly. A bag of lab grade sodium nitrate is about $10 on Amazon and Seachem Flourish Phosphate is inexpensive as well. Dose, test, rinse repeat till you get parameters where you want them.

Do you just dose by hand ?

rolyguy7 · Jun 26, 2019

Here you go bud. This is the thread you’re looking for.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/sodium-nitrate-dosing.271540/

I’ve used these myself:

You don’t need both. The sodium nitrate one is the cheapest of the two and works well.

Saltpetre Potassium Nitrate, FCC, 1 lb. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0773MYVHS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_io6eDb66TQD2Z

Duda Energy 5sn 5 lb. Sodium Nitrate Fertilizer 99+% Pure Chile Saltpeter Gold Metal Refining Industrial Grade Glass Pottery Enamels https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KZOECLE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_1o6eDbM2V91PH

Dosing calculator:
http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/calculator.htm

rolyguy7 · Jun 26, 2019

What is your alkalinity and calcium at on this system?

saltyhog · Jun 26, 2019

Hallowhead said:
Do you just dose by hand ?

Yes sir. I test daily and dose based on that. You'll quickly learn what you need to dose for your tank. This is the sodium nitrate I used. It's gone up a little since I bought 18 months ago. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0190TOJUS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

rolyguy7 · Jun 26, 2019

Did a quick math for you on the calculator.
30 gallon tank
1 level teaspoon of sodium nitrate
100ml of rodi water for mixing solution

10ml of the mixed solution will approximately increase your nitrates by 3.24ppm

Hallowhead · Jun 26, 2019

rolyguy7 said:
Did a quick math for you on the calculator.
30 gallon tank
1 level teaspoon of sodium nitrate
100ml of rodi water for mixing solution

10ml of the mixed solution will approximately increase your nitrates by 3.24ppm

I will have to look into getting that dose. I will test alk in a few.