I'm gonna call it, Dino's are done!

reefteaser · Apr 6, 2024

Had a cyano problem about 3 years ago. After trying other things I added a UV sterilizer and not only solved that problem, but got algae well under control. More recently, after good results with some other Tropic Marin products, I started dosing Bacto Balance at the beginning of the year. It does great for my NO3 and PO4, but I got cyano again. I'm not sure it's related or not. I vacuumed, blacked out, and dosed chemiclean, which knocked it back but didn't eliminate it. All the while my UV was running at a high flow rate. I dosed chemiclean again a month later, but this time it didn't have much effect and Dino's started showing up in red stringy mats with bubbles.
So, I looked again to the forums for help and found some discussions on setting the UV flow rate for dinos. Some felt there were some varieties that had tougher cell membranes and need more time exposed to the UV light. I'm a little lazy, and didn't try to ID what I had. I don't have a flow meter, just the pump rating and head pressure chart that approximated the flow for algae, but now I intended to slow it down. In the end I set enough flow to get through the UV filter and into the tank as slow as I can.
That was Tuesday, and I vacuumed the sand as well. When the lights turned off there a few red spots, but nothing like previous where in 2-3 hours it looked terrible again.
Wednesday there was marked improvement, today (Saturday) I'm calling it: DINO'S ARE DONE!!!
I'm leaving the UV as is for a while. If you're in a similar situation and have or will have a UV filter, I'd give this a try.
115 gal mixed reef, 25 watt Aqua Ultraviolet UV

Reefing_addiction · Apr 6, 2024

reefteaser said:
Had a cyano problem about 3 years ago. After trying other things I added a UV sterilizer and not only solved that problem, but got algae well under control. More recently, after good results with some other Tropic Marin products, I started dosing Bacto Balance at the beginning of the year. It does great for my NO3 and PO4, but I got cyano again. I'm not sure it's related or not. I vacuumed, blacked out, and dosed chemiclean, which knocked it back but didn't eliminate it. All the while my UV was running at a high flow rate. I dosed chemiclean again a month later, but this time it didn't have much effect and Dino's started showing up in red stringy mats with bubbles.
So, I looked again to the forums for help and found some discussions on setting the UV flow rate for dinos. Some felt there were some varieties that had tougher cell membranes and need more time exposed to the UV light. I'm a little lazy, and didn't try to ID what I had. I don't have a flow meter, just the pump rating and head pressure chart that approximated the flow for algae, but now I intended to slow it down. In the end I set enough flow to get through the UV filter and into the tank as slow as I can.
That was Tuesday, and I vacuumed the sand as well. When the lights turned off there a few red spots, but nothing like previous where in 2-3 hours it looked terrible again.
Wednesday there was marked improvement, today (Saturday) I'm calling it: DINO'S ARE DONE!!!
I'm leaving the UV as is for a while. If you're in a similar situation and have or will have a UV filter, I'd give this a try.
115 gal mixed reef, 25 watt Aqua Ultraviolet UV

I should probably do this
Ugh

LARedstickreefer · Apr 6, 2024

I, too, am calling Dino’s done for in my tank. I tried all of the other suggestions (adding various bacteria, balancing nutrients, blackouts, ect) and wound up losing ALL of my corals (Acroporas, Montiporas, Zoas, LPS) except some brown zoas (go figure).

I pretty much just gave up…

Then I got a new spurt of emotional energy and got the Aqua Ultraviolet 15w sterilizer.

Like magic, Dino’s are nowhere to be seen! They were literally everywhere before and in massive floating clumps.

I respect wanting to do this the natural way but can’t recommend anything else than a good uv sterilizer. Took two days for a tank full of Dino’s to disappear.

Now for the rebuilding!