I have dino ' s AGAIN

[fishroomlady]

I've not battled them but have certainly heard they are difficult to get rid of from some very experienced reefers. I think your situation is the exception scs.

 

[mrcoffee2]

All algae absorb nutrients, so if the nutrients are held inside, they can't go elsewhere.

Dino's are the easiest/quickest to get rid of. If you leave them alone, more should not grow. You could vacuum them though.

I didnt think it would work either... However I held back my water changes to 3 weeks. On the 2nd week the dinos started to clear. Now they are pretty much gone. Cyano has come in and made a home now though.

 

[SantaMonica]

Cyano is the last to go.

 

[qterry22]

I use to never have them then moved in with the girlfriend before I got my own place and I had them no matter what I did or the rodi unit,but as soon as I moved into my new apt I haven't had em since same rodi unit and everything...

HAHAHA! Had to be the girl....she was just an extra excess amount of unneeded nutrients. Lol JK.

Back to the OP. I had a small battle with dinos. Let me first say that I was totally caught with my pants down. I had no idea what it was, where it came from, and when I came to the forums I was in denial. Thinking "oh that doesn't look exactly like what I got". Its good you know what the problem is and are ready to take it head on. That is the only way to deal with them. My fix was simple, patient, and deliberate.

First I reduced my lighting period. The reason for this was that they like other algae will feed off the light. This only helps slow them. This alone will not solve the problem.

Second I reduced the feedings and nutrients I put into the tank. (I also ran a refugium that had chaeto and caulerpa growing for nutrient export.)

Third I reduced water changes. This helped (possibly my mental state more than the tank) by allowing me to control and know exactly what was going into my tank.

4th I created a contraption that was egg crate wrapped in plastic netting that would collect dinos. I found they are most active during the lighting cycle. I would clean this screen contraption daily as it would be loaded with dinos.

Eventually over the course of a month they slowly started receding. I would also like to second the recommendation of removing snails. I later attributed them to the reason the dinos survived so long. To this day I have one turbo snail that survived the dino attack. I have since added a few more snails but nothing to what I had prior to the outbreak.

As you continue to remove nutrients via pruning your macro algae and cleaning what you catch on the screen you will eventually over come the attack. Its not going to be fast and some days will feel as if your not making any progress. However you have to be consistent and patient. Blowing off the rocks and everything covered during lighted hours will help the net contraption catch more of the dinos.

Good luck with your battle and I wish you the best.

 

[TriggerThis]

I have Dino's STILL! Lol
Haven't got rid of them the first time yet.
They're going away slowly but now the cyano is taking their place.
So it's all just really peachy...

 

[xcountryx]

Do you have a photo of the net contraption? And do you use it to skim the water column or is it sitting in a corner? A lil more detail would b great thanks.

 

[qterry22]

Do you have a photo of the net contraption? And do you use it to skim the water column or is it sitting in a corner? A lil more detail would b great thanks.

I do have a picture on my desktop. I will post it after I take my little girl to school. I used a zip tie to suspend it in the water column directly in front of my wave maker.

 

[qterry22]

Sorry it took so long to get the pictures up. I had to put my desktop back together and it took me longer to do than anticipated. Here is how I used the screen/eggcrate contraption. I zip tied it to my center brace infront of my wavemaker. I will look for before and after pics of my tank aswell.

 

[SantaMonica]

Yes that's basically a very weak algae scrubber. Put some super lights, and super turbulent flow/air across it, and it will start packing with growth

 

[xcountryx]

Well its been a few days since I taken the covers off. I ha my done any water changes. Started with 4 hours of actinic light then the 2nd day I did 4 hour actinic 2 hour daylight. Then bumped up and hour for both every day after. So far the tanks look great. My wife even suggested doing a 3 day blackout each month but maybe every 2 months for the next few months will be just fine. Just want to keep this at bay. Here's a few tank shots and yanks everyone for helping with the progress.

 

[qterry22]

Awesome to see your making progress. I will be following the thread. Keep us posted on the progress and keep the photos coming to let us see how your making out. I wish you the best.

Q