What do I do!

sfin52 · Apr 10, 2019

Ernie Crucet said:
Not sure if anyone has mentioned it but there is the following thread where people are posting how they beat dinos, me included.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/who-has-won-the-war-on-dinos.582708/

I posted the sticky that @mcarroll had started.

Seminoles76 · Apr 10, 2019

Neoalchemist said:
The reason I suggested a water change is to make the biggest dent in the population as possible and get the rest into the water during uv and black out. Also, in my case I found that I was having trouble getting any other competitors to grow. I started out with no water changes but got nowhere in 4 or 5 months. Once I got back to manual removal through normal water changes (with maintained no3 and po4 levels) I started to see algea growth including cheato after that less and less dinos.

Makes good sense. I think he will be successful with your approach. Good solid approach you gave him.

sfin52 · Apr 10, 2019

Neoalchemist said:
I think you need a bigger uv. Jeabo makes an inexpensive 24 watt unit. The key to uv is that it has to be grossly oversized compared to the manufacturers recommendations to work with dino's and if the conditions arent right to at least give the dino competitors a leg up (no3 po4 and maybe silicate dosing)then the dinos will always come back.

Agree. I would also add that once the dino is retreating it may be necessary to add biodiversity back into the tank.

sfin52 · Apr 10, 2019

the key is levels of po4 and no3. I did the same thing but through a sock and put the water back in. The hardest part is to deal with the nuisance algea with trying to lower nitrates and phosphates. This will lead back to the same situation.

Seminoles76 said:
Makes good sense. I think he will be successful with your approach. Good solid approach you gave him.

Scooter90254 · Apr 10, 2019

Totally on board with this approach.

Pulled the microscope out tonight.

Did the best I could with the kids microscope and I’m no scientist. Haha

chk4tix · Apr 10, 2019

Just fought this battle a few months ago. I was successful with Dino-x (I list what I did in my build thread). I wish you the best of luck

Ernie C · Apr 10, 2019

Scooter90254 said:
Totally on board with this approach.

Pulled the microscope out tonight.

Did the best I could with the kids microscope and I’m no scientist. Haha

Looks like ostreopsis. That’s what I had.

Neoalchemist · Apr 10, 2019

I see what look like maybe prorocentrum in there as well as ostreopsis. The up sized uv and elevated nutrients will help with both.

Neoalchemist · Apr 10, 2019

Good pics

sfin52 · Apr 10, 2019

thats a real common one and will go into the water column at night UV will be really effective. No need to black out either. Get an oversized UV. Get phosphates and nitrates up.

Ernie Crucet said:
Looks like ostreopsis. That’s what I had.

Crashjack · Apr 11, 2019

I battled dinos twice, and the keys were:

Increase nitrate/phosphate with dosing (not overfeeding). I would use the standard 10 nitrate/.1 phosphate as a minimum (when I battled the 2nd time, recovery was very slow until I doubled those levels).
Remove dinos via water changes or running through a low micron filter, weekly if you can.
A properly sized UV will at worst help a little and at best, help a lot.
Welcome a GHA or cyano infestation with open arms. Other than manual removal and CUC, do not try to remedy these with chemicals, potions, or even worse, by reducing nitrate/phosphate. The reason I battled dinos the second time is because I was so freaked-out by my GHA infestation, I let (and helped) nitrate/phosphate get too low again. The second go-round, I let my cyano plague run wild, only removing with water changes and didn’t stop dosing until I could maintain high nutrient levels without dosing. I’m finally on the backend of the second battle. I believe dinos are gone (technically they are never truly gone, but the infestation is gone). I’m now to the point where after I remove the cyano during biweekly water changes, it doesn’t get as bad by the next water change as it was at the time of the previous water change. My nutrients are still pretty high, but I’m going to give them time to come down on their own, and I’m never going to let nutrients get back to 0 or even close.
Be patient. My second battle has been going on for like 10 months (counting the cyano infestation). Just keep battling as there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Scooter90254 · Apr 11, 2019

OK ordered a 10 Micron filter sock and UV sterilizer this morning.

Next week I will start siphoning them out through the sock and dumping the water back in.

Add the new UV sterilizer.

Continue to feed heavy and see if I can get my nutrients up. I need a new phosphate test kit. The one I have doesn't give me consistent readings. Probably just get a Hanna checker. Once I have that I can start dosing.

Do I need the ultra low reader or just the low reader?

sfin52 · Apr 11, 2019

I believe its the ultra low.

Crashjack · Apr 11, 2019

It is unlikely you will be able to raise with additional food, and you could also create ammonia problems if you fed too much. Even if you saw an increase, there is no way to manage both nitrate and phosphate with feedings. I used Seachem Flourish nitrogen and phosphorous (separate products). There are other products as well, but these are easy to use and easy to find online. You will likely run into times when you have to dose more or less of one than the other. You will need to dose daily at first, measuring every few days so you can adjust. Once you get nitrate and phosphate up and somewhat holding, you can reduce dosings to maybe 3 times per week. Once your nutrients hold or even increase with very small additions, try no additions for a week and see if your nitrate/phosphate levels hold. If so, measure weekly, and if you get much below the 10 nitrate/.1 phosphate level, resume dosing. When your tank is covered with GHA, cyano, etc., be happy because dinos are on their way out. Also remember, this will most likely be a multi-month process.

Salty Lemon · Apr 11, 2019

Seminoles76 said:
Scooter. Remember Rocky got up in the 14th round and took Apollo’s soul. You gotta take the soul of the Dino’s

LOL! ;Hilarious

Crustaceon · Apr 11, 2019

IMO it’s definitely a result of too
much nutrient export. For reference, when I first started in this hobby I had a 36 gallon, had dinos initially, which later transitioned into GHA which I then got through too. This was my stocking/equipment list and the maintenance routine that did it:

2 clowns
2 firefish
Some GSP frags
A few misc zoas polyps
1 frogspawn head
1 torch head

Tunze 9002 skimmer
Fluval heater
Finnex ray 2 led lights (DB/BB)
A single aqueon 700 gph circulation pump

9dkh
Cal 480
Mg 1400
8ppm nitrates
Po4? Always tested back then but never got detectable numbers
Temp 79
Sg 1.025

I fed a single cube of frozen mysis once per day (anything more led to GHA a few days later)

Every saturday I siphoned one quarter of my sandbed, removing five gallons in the process. This was replaced by five gallons of new salt water using instant ocean reef crystals mixed and aerated the day before.

Here’s the tank at the one year mark. Note the addition of the HOB overflow and plumbing for a sump which was a much later upgrade. I was up to two mysis cubes by then due to the additional fishies, still no GHA or dinos.

Neoalchemist · Apr 11, 2019

Scooter90254 said:
OK ordered a 10 Micron filter sock and UV sterilizer this morning.

Next week I will start siphoning them out through the sock and dumping the water back in.

Add the new UV sterilizer.

Continue to feed heavy and see if I can get my nutrients up. I need a new phosphate test kit. The one I have doesn't give me consistent readings. Probably just get a Hanna checker. Once I have that I can start dosing.

Do I need the ultra low reader or just the low reader?

The ultra low range is the one and do yourself a favor and get a couple of extra reagent packs while you are at it. ULR reader can be a bit finicky so you will need the extra reagents for learning curve and test that go wrong.
Next thing to think about is this.

Scooter90254 · Apr 15, 2019

Well 48 hours after installing the bigger UV and doing a large manual clean up I have to admit it’s already looking visually better.

Nitrate are up to 7 so that’s looking up.

Cyano is still present and tanks looks rough but I believe the Dino’s are not as healthy.

I’ll get a Hanna phosphate checker this week and will start dosing Nitrate and Phosphate by the end of the week.

I’ll keep this updated. Thanks everyone

Neoalchemist · Apr 15, 2019

Scooter90254 said:
Well 48 hours after installing the bigger UV and doing a large manual clean up I have to admit it’s already looking visually better.

Nitrate are up to 7 so that’s looking up.

Cyano is still present and tanks looks rough but I believe the Dino’s are not as healthy.

I’ll get a Hanna phosphate checker this week and will start dosing Nitrate and Phosphate by the end of the week.

I’ll keep this updated. Thanks everyone

I use ulr phosphorous reader