Need Help With ID- Dinos?

[mcarroll]

Well a setback like that is a definitive bummer, but at least the way forward is clear.

Manually remove as much as possible and USE ACTIVATED CARBON before, during, and after your manual cleanup.

 

[jwshiver]

Well a setback like that is a definitive bummer, but at least the way forward is clear.

Manually remove as much as possible and USE ACTIVATED CARBON before, during, and after your manual cleanup.

Will do. Found two snails closed up and on their backs this afternoon. Hopefully the UV with the new bulb will start doing some damage.

 

[mcarroll]

Will do. Found two snails closed up and on their backs this afternoon. Hopefully the UV with the new bulb will start doing some damage.

Hate to see that...

Activated carbon too!

 

[TechnicalFisher]

After making some good progress, I had the same problem- had to travel and came back to chryso all over the place. Interestingly, my nitrates have remained elevated (around 20ppm) with no dosing for 4 days. However, my PO4 is still at 0, even after dosing 5ml of flourish phosphate last night. Dosed another 6ml this am and am going to continue bumping it up until see an increase. Will do a manual cleaning tonight and continue the fight. Unfortunately have to leave town for another 4 days next week so may be repeating this latter at least once more.

 

[mcarroll]

After making some good progress, I had the same problem- had to travel and came back to chryso all over the place. Interestingly, my nitrates have remained elevated (around 20ppm) with no dosing for 4 days. However, my PO4 is still at 0, even after dosing 5ml of flourish phosphate last night. Dosed another 6ml this am and am going to continue bumping it up until see an increase. Will do a manual cleaning tonight and continue the fight. Unfortunately have to leave town for another 4 days next week so may be repeating this latter at least once more.

Dump your four days' worth of P-fertilizer into the ATO before you go so levels don't dip further/again.

Seems like 7 mL p er day ought to be safe for that little bit of time since you're still at zero as of the last test.

 

[TechnicalFisher]

Good idea. Unfortunately I don't have a clue what my daily evap rate is so not sure how I'd get the dose right. Will see if I can figure it out though in the next couple of days.

Good news is after continued dosing P is now at .04, so progress. Corals look as good as they have ever looked, though chryso continues to persist.

 

[mcarroll]

Don't you have to refill the reservoir on a pretty regular schedule?

Assuming you're an HVAC household, It'll vary some with the mild seasons (maybe now) but should be pretty consistent most of the time. Seems like most tanks vary around 1 gallon per day/5 gallons per week. Of course depending on the amount of surface area exposed, etc. If this is at least close and you can't make a more accurate estimate of ATO usage, I'd just assume 1 gal/day through the ATO and dose accordingly.

You'll only be gone one week, so it can only go so wrong:

• The worst case is if you OVER-estimate the ATO delivery rate, meaning that it actually doses less than 1 gal/week. This will mean that nutrients are low again when you get back....just not as low as they would have been had you done nothing. Still a win.
• UNDER-estimating the ATO delivery rate (meaning that more than 1 gal/week gets dosed) will just mean that 100% of your nutrients get dosed....a win!

 

[jwshiver]

My rocks have been 95%+ free of Dino for several days and it has drastically reduced from the glass but, I can't seem to clear them out of the sand. When I'm home I stir the sand every 1-2 hours. It is amazing how fast they can come back. I have upped the vacuuming of the sand to twice a week. This seems to help but what a pain in the tail. I'm starting to have small pockets of cyano down in areas of the rock were strong water flow is all put impossible. How long can I expect it to take to get it out of my sand bed? Any recommendations? Clearing out the sand bed is the final hump for me to get over. My colors and PE continue to amaze with the upped nutrients!

 

[mcarroll]

So refresh me on where your N and P tests show that you are now (before dosing)? Also remind me if you've been doing daily, or how long, this whole time so far?

If you haven't considered re-inoculating the tank, then that's something else I'd definitely do if possible.

Find a healthy tank to get some detritus, sand or rock bits from.....up to 1 cup of material either way, and don't shy from detritus...that might be the best source of all three. Some detritus-loaded sand might be the ideal.

Also, if you're growing macro algae, @taricha has experimented with placing a handful onto problem dino spots on the sand bed. Worth a try if you have it!! Macro from a healthy tank is another for of inoculation too, BTW, if you don't already have some.

 

[TechnicalFisher]

So here's my latest, about a month in on dosing N and P (with a 4-day lapse) and I'm still really struggling with the chryso. My N is currently at 16ppm and P at .09. Corals look happy and all other tank parameters are in line but my sands nearly covered in brown as are many rocks. It's a very fine layer and is doesn't seem to be growing as fast, but it's also not going away.

Here's a crappy cell phone pic but gives the gist of it...

I'm going to monitor my numbers and keep the nutrients about where they are now. Hoping I'll start to see improvement soon!

 

[mcarroll]

CUC working on it yet? Any chance to boost CUC?

 

[TechnicalFisher]

Just wanted to belatedly follow up on this thread. Thanks to everyone's help, I'm happy to say that the tank has been chryso-free for over a month and looking good. I got on a regiment of N and P dosing, maintaining around 10-15ppm N and testable P for about 2 months and everything cleared up. I've been backing off dosing, trying to let the tank find it's natural balance, but will still dose on occasion when things get low. I think my issues were a combination of using dry rock and keeping nutrients too low, made worse by using NOPOX early on. I'm not sure what it is about the dry rock but it seems like a common thread in the tanks that have chryso issues.

Anyway, just wanted to say thanks to all who helped. Just posted an update on my build thread if anyone's interested in the latest: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/techfishers-50-g-cube-build.276721/page-2#post-3701839

 

[reeferfoxx]

can't remember what keyed me in on chrysophytes finally because I remember there was practically no info on them or even p

Eh em.

Just wanted to belatedly follow up on this thread. Thanks to everyone's help, I'm happy to say that the tank has been chryso-free for over a month and looking good. I got on a regiment of N and P dosing, maintaining around 10-15ppm N and testable P for about 2 months and everything cleared up. I've been backing off dosing, trying to let the tank find it's natural balance, but will still dose on occasion when things get low. I think my issues were a combination of using dry rock and keeping nutrients too low, made worse by using NOPOX early on. I'm not sure what it is about the dry rock but it seems like a common thread in the tanks that have chryso issues.

Anyway, just wanted to say thanks to all who helped. Just posted an update on my build thread if anyone's interested in the latest: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/techfishers-50-g-cube-build.276721/page-2#post-3701839

Im glad to hear everything is going well! Job well done!!

 

[mcarroll]

Eh em.

;Writing

I honestly don't remember what decided it for me though....it was such a winding road to arrive at the final diagnosis that I'm not sure I rested on the Chrysophytes recommendation the first time it was suggested.

I think my "list of suspects" may have gone in an "order" something like this:

diatoms
encrusting diatoms
dino's
diatoms+cyano
dino's
chrysophytes
chrysophyes+cyano,
dino's
diatoms
chrysophytes​

Chrysophytes are still weird to me. Dino's make more sense and I've never even had them.

It feels like there's a LOT more&better info out here on chrysophytes now than when I was vs them.