I beat dino but what now?

[Marc2952]

Do its been about 3 weeks since i finally beat the dinos, i was dosing phosphates and nitrates to keep it abovd 0 throught the battle, now the question is should i keep dosing phosphates? Im getting alot of algae and my phosphates keep hitting 0 again due to the algae consuming it all. But wont leaving it at 0 make the dinos come back again? Whats the next step?

 

[brandon429]

here's what Jon did after dinos, check out his detail cleaning work to export all dead cells etc.

120 gallon rip clean

I’ve decided to perform a rip clean on my 120 with 100% new water. The tank has been running for 5 years and was battling Dino for several months. I used the bacteria method from elegant corals and worked great I haven’t seen Dino in months now. But I tried several other methods including...

www.reef2reef.com

some might say leave it alone. at least now you can track the opposite of that advice yep

 

[Marc2952]

here's what Jon did after dinos, check out his detail cleaning work to export all dead cells etc.

120 gallon rip clean

I’ve decided to perform a rip clean on my 120 with 100% new water. The tank has been running for 5 years and was battling Dino for several months. I used the bacteria method from elegant corals and worked great I haven’t seen Dino in months now. But I tried several other methods including...

www.reef2reef.com

some might say leave it alone. at least now you can track the opposite of that advice yep

I like that idea only issue is that i dont have a tank for corals, i barely had enough space for my QT lol i just dont know if letting the algae consume all the phosphates will bring the dinos back or starve my corals out.

 

[brandon429]

I forgot about that extended hold part you're right, we can skip that/you'd just clean your tank as deeply and rip clean the sand, where living and nonliving dinos exist in a mix. you dont have to hold separately, its his takedown clean and reassemble we can pattern. all in a few hours time depending on tank size. the standout character of that thread compared to any other advice on the matter is its thorough rip saw cleaning of all surfaces. rocks in saltwater, sand in tap then ro. reassemble.

 

[Marc2952]

I forgot about that extended hold part you're right, we can skip that/you'd just clean your tank as deeply and rip clean the sand, where living and nonliving dinos exist in a mix. you dont have to hold separately, its his takedown clean and reassemble we can pattern. all in a few hours time depending on tank size. the standout character of that thread compared to any other advice on the matter is its thorough rip saw cleaning of all surfaces. rocks in saltwater, sand in tap then ro. reassemble.

Awesome im gonna do a deep cleaning of the sand, i was thinking of maybe siphoning the sand with a 1 micron sock down to the sump so i dont do any water changes for now? and just remove as much of those algae and probably dino stuff as possible through the sock?

 

[brandon429]

I cant recommend any lesser of an access job simply because that way above separates the cells in the bed from the rest of the rocks and the water, unfortunately only complete disassembly cleaning is safe, although many people sure do remove sand in increments, or with water still intact, its just not as safe as the thorough take down + reassemble job. it could spread the issue around to do a customized way.

 

[brandon429]

hey can you post a full tank shot of your setup

 

[Marc2952]

hey can you post a full tank shot of your setup

Sure this are some of the pictures ( sorry even with the polyplab lenses pictures didnt come out good, some corals are being choked out by the algae from what it seems too.

 

[brandon429]

hey that really does not look bad it looks like a maturing reef, just a little direct intervention needed if you want it sharp. It would probably clean up given enough time, but certainly dont add dosers like chemi clean....our manual methods here are far safer and more effective.

if thats a giant large tank it isn't as easy to rip clean, but a nano sure is. how many gallons is that bad boy

 

[Marc2952]

hey that really does not look bad it looks like a maturing reef, just a little direct intervention needed if you want it sharp. It would probably clean up given enough time, but certainly dont add dosers like chemi clean....our manual methods here are far safer and more effective.

if thats a giant large tank it isn't as easy to rip clean, but a nano sure is. how many gallons is that bad boy

Thanks and its a 75 gallon with a 20 gallon sump.

 

[brandon429]

That’s such a big job it really is, a thorough cleaning. It doesn’t look that bad above

If you can stand to just direct siphon and remove any growths daily, could mean up to 2-4 gallons a day picking off growths with a long hose and stilled tank, that raw mass removal over and over harms the communal benefits of those invaders, you might can exhaust / it already looks like a weak invasion. The rip clean is safe we can show in pattern, but hideous effort to do it right lol. It would be nice if simple repeat directed siphon worked here.

*additl cheat alert, the Amazon $150 55watt pond sterilizer.

if you hand remove those growths, plus cheat burn with uv, this is possible, we used uv to hammer jakes dinos. Hidden joker card cheat.

Problematic Algae And How To Manage It | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog

I have now been keeping reef tanks for over 30 years and over that time I have seen fads and techniques come and go and I have been asked questions about just about every aspect of the hobby.

reefbuilders.com

 

[Marc2952]

That’s such a big job it really is, a thorough cleaning. It doesn’t look that bad above

If you can stand to just direct siphon and remove any growths daily, could mean up to 2-4 gallons a day picking off growths with a long hose and stilled tank, that raw mass removal over and over harms the communal benefits of those invaders, you might can exhaust / it already looks like a weak invasion. The rip clean is safe we can show in pattern, but hideous effort to do it right lol. It would be nice if simple repeat directed siphon worked here.

*additl cheat alert, the Amazon $150 55watt pond sterilizer.

if you hand remove those growths, plus cheat burn with uv, this is possible, we used uv to hammer jakes dinos. Hidden joker card cheat.

Problematic Algae And How To Manage It | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog

I have now been keeping reef tanks for over 30 years and over that time I have seen fads and techniques come and go and I have been asked questions about just about every aspect of the hobby.

reefbuilders.com

I dont mind a little manual labor everyday as long as i beat these! Thanks a bunch for the tips wish me luck

 

[brandon429]

hey would you document your work for us, we really collect these events.

hey are you going to drain off most of the top water for reuse/handy rippers trick although mostly new water can't be beat for total cell export. Just naming work reducing options, however you choose for water its drain, be catching corals and holding separate bucket of water if not attached to rocks, be catching fish they can stay with corals.

rocks, try n hold em separate from corals and fish since we're possibly upwelling detritus on them/on the bottom, swish or rinse rock surfaces in old tank water or new sw to eject detritus.

all that is left is the muddy sand. either blast it with tap like we've done above, or replace +pre rinse the new in tap. if you simply do not put back clouding whether in rocks or sand, it cannot recycle. The bacteria on those rocks about can handle twice your fish bioload right now, no ramp up, even if you remove sand. live rock is that powerful, and dependable. we want to list your upcoming job in the 30 page sand rinse/sand swap thread alongside Jons. its a big surgical job, we love those. pure force is fun to implement then measure a shiny reef next day.

 

[Neoalchemist]

I beat ostre., proro., and amph about a year ago. No ripclean needed(but it may certianly help). Once the dinos are mostly gone for at least a couple of weeks I allowed the algea to run wild for a month or so.
The most important thing was to start removing the algea the old fashioned way, frequent manual removal. Don't be super aggressive. You've got give your microbial life time to increase thier populations enough to utilize the extra nutrients and saturate the water with thier chemical cues rather than the algea's.
The other important thing is to keep those nutrients measurable from here on out. Eventually your numbers will stabilize and then start to behave like a normal tank (which usually means they will begin to rise) after that you are out of the woods.
Since i was dealing with amphidimium I used sodium silicate to induce a diatom bloom and I maintianed that bloom for at least a month after I the last time I saw dinos. I would use this method in the future regardless of wich dino strain I had for a couple of reasons, mainly a diatom bloom in this context was very controllable. Another reason is the diatoms seem to prefer the same zones as the dinos. They also feed the food chain since almost everything in the tank eats them.
I might even increase my po4 and no3 dosage while im working on removing the eccess algea.
One thing to note is, that a few months down the road all of the sudden the smell of the tank will change drastically back to normal. Its quite remarkable how all of the sudden it smells like sea water again and you realize how used to the stink of dinos you have become.
Also any minor resurgance of dinos has to be removed immediatly.
They will threaten to come back at least once or twice, and as long as the conditions arent in thier favor and your are dilligent in removing them they wont have a chance.

One other small but important tip. If the dinos try to re-appear on the sand suck them out along with all of the sand they are in contact with. You can clean the sand and return it if you want but get it out of there.

 

[Marc2952]

I beat ostre., proro., and amph about a year ago. No ripclean needed(but it may certianly help). Once the dinos are mostly gone for at least a couple of weeks I allowed the algea to run wild for a month or so.
The most important thing was to start removing the algea the old fashioned way, frequent manual removal. Don't be super aggressive. You've got give your microbial life time to increase thier populations enough to utilize the extra nutrients and saturate the water with thier chemical cues rather than the algea's.
The other important thing is to keep those nutrients measurable from here on out. Eventually your numbers will stabilize and then start to behave like a normal tank (which usually means they will begin to rise) after that you are out of the woods.
Since i was dealing with amphidimium I used sodium silicate to induce a diatom bloom and I maintianed that bloom for at least a month after I the last time I saw dinos. I would use this method in the future regardless of wich dino strain I had for a couple of reasons, mainly a diatom bloom in this context was very controllable. Another reason is the diatoms seem to prefer the same zones as the dinos. They also feed the food chain since almost everything in the tank eats them.
I might even increase my po4 and no3 dosage while im working on removing the eccess algea.
One thing to note is, that a few months down the road all of the sudden the smell of the tank will change drastically back to normal. Its quite remarkable how all of the sudden it smells like sea water again and you realize how used to the stink of dinos you have become.
Also any minor resurgance of dinos has to be removed immediatly.
They will threaten to come back at least once or twice, and as long as the conditions arent in thier favor and your are dilligent in removing them they wont have a chance.

One other small but important tip. If the dinos try to re-appear on the sand suck them out along with all of the sand they are in contact with. You can clean the sand and return it if you want but get it out of there.

Ok quick question about keeping the nutrients readable, if the algae keeps the phosphates at 0 wouldnt dosing more phosphate just make the algae constantly grow? And if the algae consumes all the phosphate in the water wouldnt that cause the dinos to come back? Im currently removing them but alot of them are starting to suffocate my corals, i check my phosphates though and its always at 0 ( already uses a whole bottle of Neophos )

 

[Neoalchemist]

Then its time to start removing the algea. If your dinos are in low numbers get a couple of urchins the purple atlantic pincushion will do some good work for you. I dont know if you stopped water changes or not (I dont for this reason) do a normal water change and remove a bunch of algea. But keep you no3 po4 at healthy numbers say 15 and .05. Dont remove all algea let the clean up crew work on it too. They do better if its short.

 

[Neoalchemist]

Ok quick question about keeping the nutrients readable, if the algae keeps the phosphates at 0 wouldnt dosing more phosphate just make the algae constantly grow? And if the algae consumes all the phosphate in the water wouldnt that cause the dinos to come back? Im currently removing them but alot of them are starting to suffocate my corals, i check my phosphates though and its always at 0 ( already uses a whole bottle of Neophos )

I think I misunderstood you. If you are still removing dino in quantity. Then keep doing what you are doing. Once you are able to keep nutrients readable for a while the microrganisms and other algea that need a little more po4 and no3 will start to re-establish themselves and begin to chase out the dino in differant ways and eventually grow to where the dino cant get enough resources. Then thier bloom will end and some dino cells will encyst and go dormant until low nutrient situation comes back. Then the competition will starve and recede and the dinos will riegn again. This is why you have to do your best moving forward to make sure the tank doesn't become nutrient limited in the future.

 

[Marc2952]

I think I misunderstood you. If you are still removing dino in quantity. Then keep doing what you are doing. Once you are able to keep nutrients readable for a while the microrganisms and other algea that need a little more po4 and no3 will start to re-establish themselves and begin to chase out the dino in differant ways and eventually grow to where the dino cant get enough resources. Then thier bloom will end and some dino cells will encyst and go dormant until low nutrient situation comes back. Then the competition will starve and recede and the dinos will riegn again. This is why you have to do your best moving forward to make sure the tank doesn't become nutrient limited in the future.

What i mean is that i have almost no patches of dinos in the tank nomore ( only in the sand from what it seems) the thing is that im getting alot of algae, some have started to cover my corals. Thing is that now i keep dosing phosphates and nitrates to keep it above 0 but cant due to the algae consuming it right away. I fear that by the algae keeping it at 0 the dinos will get a hold again. I tried sceaping the rocks and so have have removes a ton of them i just dont know if i shouls continue dosing phosphates or just let the alage die off a bit so it can release the phosphate again? Idk exactly how this process works.

 

[Neoalchemist]

Then this,

Then its time to start removing the algea. If your dinos are in low numbers get a couple of urchins the purple atlantic pincushion will do some good work for you. I dont know if you stopped water changes or not (I dont for this reason) do a normal water change and remove a bunch of algea. But keep you no3 po4 at healthy numbers say 15 and .05. Dont remove all algea let the clean up crew work on it too. They do better if its short.

 

[CoralClasher]

Do its been about 3 weeks since i finally beat the dinos, i was dosing phosphates and nitrates to keep it abovd 0 throught the battle, now the question is should i keep dosing phosphates? Im getting alot of algae and my phosphates keep hitting 0 again due to the algae consuming it all. But wont leaving it at 0 make the dinos come back again? Whats the next step?

What did you do to get rid of the Dino? When my Dino are gone the phosphate went up without me adding more. You might not be done with Dino if you still get 0.00 reading. I’m starting to think 0.00 phosphate isn’t the cause of Dino but is a symptom.