Just defeated dinos. When to do WC?

Cflow · Nov 30, 2022

I’ve been battling dinos for the past 6 weeks or so. I stopped doing wc, removed gfo, stopped carbon dosing, started feeding a TON more, added a legit uv sterilizer, removed my algae reactor, stopped cleaning my glass, and started AGGRESSIVELY dosing KPO4 and KNO3. I finally broke down and bought dr Tim’s Dino treatment and it’s still in the mail. Suddenly the Dinos disappeared once NO3 up to about 20. My PO4 test is expired so I’m a bit blind, but it has to be at least measurable. I do not run a skimmer. It’s day 2 of absolutely no visible dinos. How long should I wait until doing a water change. I’m sure my parameters are a bit wacky since I only dose kalk for ca and alk and rely on wc for other elements. Luckily I had no coral loss. My corals actually look great at the moment. I’m going to hold off on Dr Tims treatment and let things settle. A turf algae bloom is in the beginning stages.

tmccaff · Nov 30, 2022

I would get a ACP test if you dont know what that is its a kit you send to lab. It also checks your RO/DI.

Cflow · Nov 30, 2022

I’m not sure what an ACP is, but I’ve done lots of ICP tests in the past. I’ve found they are usually more important if you don’t do regular water changes. My question is when to do a water change after finally finding the biological balance that starved out Dinos. I don’t want to do one too soon, but the tank needs some cleaning.

tmccaff · Nov 30, 2022

I meant this:

ATI ICP-OES Pro Lab Water Test Kit (w/ Prepaid Shipping Label) - ATI

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sfin52 · Nov 30, 2022

Cflow said:
I’m not sure what an ACP is, but I’ve done lots of ICP tests in the past. I’ve found they are usually more important if you don’t do regular water changes. My question is when to do a water change after finally finding the biological balance that starved out Dinos. I don’t want to do one too soon, but the tank needs some cleaning.

I'm trying to remember back to when I had dinos and how long I waited to do a water change. I would I believe I waited a week than did a water change.

Your corals are looking better because the zooxanthellae isn't starving and able to feed the coral.

Cflow · Nov 30, 2022

It’s actually kind of weird. Some of the corals actually look pale and super bright like my old zeovit days, even though my nitrate is significantly higher. I picked up an ORA green planet (oddly from my local petco) which was super brown. It’s almost completely green already after about 2 weeks. I kept some chaeto in my display tank just in case I start my macroalgae reactor again, but I’m not sure I want to keep chaeto again.

sfin52 · Dec 1, 2022

Cflow said:
It’s actually kind of weird. Some of the corals actually look pale and super bright like my old zeovit days, even though my nitrate is significantly higher. I picked up an ORA green planet (oddly from my local petco) which was super brown. It’s almost completely green already after about 2 weeks. I kept some chaeto in my display tank just in case I start my macroalgae reactor again, but I’m not sure I want to keep chaeto again.

Running a cheato reactor isn't bad. But you where running both good and the reactor which stripped your tank of nutrients. Remember that if your running a fuge that you may have to doese nitrates, phosphates and other elements for the cheato to thrive.

Cflow · Dec 1, 2022

I’ve just cleaned the glass so far. I’ll wait a few more days for a wc. The chaeto reactor is sort of annoying since in run in-live with no sump. Harvesting or cleaning is a major chore that usually gets my carpet wet. I mainly wanted a refugium to help with ph.

BetterJake · Dec 1, 2022

Following this. I think I'm on the back 9 in the battle against some prorocentrum dinos. I would cry if I did a WC too soon and they came back in full force.

Cflow · Dec 9, 2022

So I went ahead and did a 10% wc last Saturday and another 10% this past Wednesday. A couple of my corals started to STN from the base. My green slimer started looking funny. I thought it was going to blow all of its tissue, but it held in. I bet my po4 was super high. I have a good amount of turf algae, but no signs of dinos. For a few days my glass quickly got covered by green film algae, but today it stayed clean for more than a day. I noticed my pods started repopulating. I also added a small skimmer. Just a mame glass skimmer. It’s more for aeration. I also stopped the uv sterilizer a few days ago. I’m still on the fence with restarting my chaeto reactor. The less equipment the better.

Nate Chalk · Dec 9, 2022

Cflow said:
So I went ahead and did a 10% wc last Saturday and another 10% this past Wednesday. A couple of my corals started to STN from the base. My green slimer started looking funny. I thought it was going to blow all of its tissue, but it held in. I bet my po4 was super high. I have a good amount of turf algae, but no signs of dinos. For a few days my glass quickly got covered by green film algae, but today it stayed clean for more than a day. I noticed my pods started repopulating. I also added a small skimmer. Just a mame glass skimmer. It’s more for aeration. I also stopped the uv sterilizer a few days ago. I’m still on the fence with restarting my chaeto reactor. The less equipment the better.

Just finished that cycle here. Dinos came back.

Be careful not to end up in that same boat.

Corals stn from base slimer turning grayish. I think reaction from starving to actually having nutrients. Having nutrients is better than dinos coming back. Stn can be fixed