Not to bore you with the details but nearly every piece of equipment on my tank failed within a 3 week period. Lights, skimmer, powerheads, return pump, and the heater which would have burned my house down if I wasn’t home. So I’ve replaced everything over a period of a few weeks but my tank went downhill in a hurry. It’s near a sliding glass door that has a not so great shade on it and I’ve been battling what I think is dinos. I haven’t worried too much about them because I figured it would most likely go away as I got everything back up and the water back in order. It hasn’t gone away but has gotten worse even after a 75% water change over a 2 week period. So I’ve decided to blackout my tank and add Dr. Tim’s. Does anyone have any experience with this and any helpful tips? I only have a few coral frags so I’m not too worried about them, but I have 8 fish that I plan on feeding at night when it’s darkest. My tank has been covered for an hour and Tim should be here a little later today.
Tales From the Dark Side
- Thread starter eea60123
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Bret Brinkmann
Well-Known Member
I beat dinos and have free of them for about a year. First let's make sure it is dinos. Does it get worse throughout the day and slightly better over night? Can you take a sample in a cup, stir it up until it breaks completely apart, then it reforms in 15 minutes? If so then it's dinos. You can post a picture if you want more confirmation.
Assuming it is dinos, then measure your nitrates and phosphates with a good tester like Red Sea, Hanna, or Salifert. You'll want to target about 5ppm nitrates and 0.1 ppm phosphates. Chances are you bottomed one of these out prompting the bloom along with the added sun light to what ever lights you have on the tank.
If they are dose inorganic sources such as KNO3 Spectrocide stump remover, careful a little goes a long way, and Seachem Flourish for phosphates. It can take several months to clear up completely but it will go away and stay away. It worked for me. I also did manual removal when clumps of dinos got big enough using a baster.
If they get slightly better through the night, then they are going into the water column and a UV will help speed things up. Be sure size it correctly along with the proper flow running through it. The dino sticky thread has info on sizing on the 1st post. Run GAC for any dino toxins and change once a week to help your livestock make it through.
Assuming it is dinos, then measure your nitrates and phosphates with a good tester like Red Sea, Hanna, or Salifert. You'll want to target about 5ppm nitrates and 0.1 ppm phosphates. Chances are you bottomed one of these out prompting the bloom along with the added sun light to what ever lights you have on the tank.
If they are dose inorganic sources such as KNO3 Spectrocide stump remover, careful a little goes a long way, and Seachem Flourish for phosphates. It can take several months to clear up completely but it will go away and stay away. It worked for me. I also did manual removal when clumps of dinos got big enough using a baster.
If they get slightly better through the night, then they are going into the water column and a UV will help speed things up. Be sure size it correctly along with the proper flow running through it. The dino sticky thread has info on sizing on the 1st post. Run GAC for any dino toxins and change once a week to help your livestock make it through.
