Keeping Dino's at Bay..

[Brandon Rush]

Looking for some advice/guidance. I've been dealing with dino's in my tank for some time. I've been using the elegance corals dino method and it almost completely eradicates all traces of dinos. Then a short time later the dinos start to creep back. After some pondering I think my nitrates and phosphates are dipping too low and allowing them to come back. I've attributed this to my filter rollers and skimmer working too efficiently. My tank is pretty heavily stocked (200 gallon with 20 fish). I'm looking for the best way to approach this, keeping the dinos at bay and not stressing corals in the tank with too high of nitrate levels. Should I run my skimmer just a few hours? Keep the filter roller working? What levels should I target for nitrate and phosphate to keep the dino's from coming back? Any other advice is appreciated!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I personally do not like the idea of reducing skimmer since it is useful for aeration, and I don't think it is a major contributor to low nutrients.

Not sure on the filter roller effects, but I would also stick with it and just feed more or dose food grade sodium nitrate and/or phosphate.

I'd aim for at least 2 ppm nitrate and 0.02 ppm phosphate.

 

[Clownfishy]

I had the same problem and was in that situation for over a year. The turning point for me was adding more fish, feeding more and added UV. First step is understand what Dino's you have. I left my skimmer on full time. I noticed it ran wetter foam. I now have my Nitrate and Phosphate consistently higher due to the food I feed my fish.
Hope some of that helps.

 

[Brandon Rush]

I had the same problem and was in that situation for over a year. The turning point for me was adding more fish, feeding more and added UV. First step is understand what Dino's you have. I left my skimmer on full time. I noticed it ran wetter foam. I now have my Nitrate and Phosphate consistently higher due to the food I feed my fish.
Hope some of that helps.

Are you running your skimmer 24/7, Iv'e got a UV and have it off while doing this cyano/dino treatment. Even with the UV on they seem to come back. Haven't id'd them yet

 

[Clownfishy]

Hi, yes I am running both my skimmer and UK 24/7. I did not use any off the shelf treatments for Dino so it did not matter for me to run the skimmer full time.

Do you know what Dino's you have as a UV is not the answer for all types of Dino's. Just for information, I have noticed that if I let my phosphates drop below 0.15 (yes that is 0.14 and not 0.014), the Dino's begin to return is low flow areas. It looks like I am stuck with high phosphates for the rest of time!