What is causing my constant return of Dino??

[Lou Raffael]

Hi everyone,

I have no idea what I'm doing wrong and would really like someone to explain to me so I can fix it and move on. I had an issue with Dino's recently, treated with Dino-X with lights off for a few days and it went away. Came back a few days after turning the lights back on so I did the same thing with the same result. Then it came back much worse so I did a full blackout for 3 weeks and treated with Dino-X and added a reactor with carbon. Thought that was going to be the end of it but I then got a ton of green algae, took all of that out and found that my phosphates spiked so I then switched the reactor to Phosguard and it helped with Phosphates. When phosphates went to zero I split the reactor between carbon and phosguard thinking I'd get the best of both protections but now the Dino is coming back heavy and I'm seeing some green algae

I've got two Radion 15's only on about 6-7 hours at about 55% at peak, using RO/DI water, doing 20-35% water changes every week, got the reactor going and a good size skimmer, I think I'm actually underfeeding so I'm lost to what is causing the dino's and the algae? The tank is about 9 months old, started with dead rock that was flushed out in RO water for 3 months before into tank. Someone please help. If you can tell me what causes Dino's or something that I'm doing I can fix it but I'm at a loss.

Thanks

 

[sfin52]

What’s you po4 and No3 numbers. Also take a look at algea. Sticky at the top is @mcarroll thread about Dino. Read fist page. That should help ask any questions and we’ll get right back to you.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I agree that driving nutrients too low might encourage dinos since it may reduce competition with them from other organisms that thrive with higher nutrients.

If you are dosing trace elements of any sort, you might stop.

 

[Lou Raffael]

I tested No3 (2 ppm) and Po4 (0.1). I'm dosing Alkalinity but that's it. Should I stop doing that, do I buy another reactor and run both phosguard and carbon separately all the time? Any suggestions are very much appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I tested No3 (2 ppm) and Po4 (0.1). I'm dosing Alkalinity but that's it. Should I stop doing that, do I buy another reactor and run both phosguard and carbon separately all the time? Any suggestions are very much appreciated.

Thanks

Those nutrient levels are good and dosing alk is good.

I'd look to treat for dinos in ways other than nutrients.

 

[sfin52]

Id your species and it will give you a starting point.

 

[Servillius]

They’re persistent buggers.

When you do lights out, do full lights out for three to four days then bring the lights back on over about 6 weeks slowly with a little blue initially and a bit more at a time.

That said I have a question. What kind of algae did you get and how did you take it out? I’ve found if I have red slime and and use a red slime killer I frequently get Dino as a result.

I guess the question I’m going to throw out there is has anyone tried to treat dino by driving vodka so hard that you swamp it by pushing red slime?

 

[landlubber]

dino-x is probably just clearing them while its being dosed but not completely killing them off which is why you see them resurface. it's going to take ID of the dino and the appropriate tactic to resolve them once and for all.
i just got through my bout with prorocentrum after dealing with them for the better part of 11 months and also resorted to dino-x. i probably wouldn't go that road or any other quick fix chemical again.

 

[Lou Raffael]

They’re persistent buggers.

When you do lights out, do full lights out for three to four days then bring the lights back on over about 6 weeks slowly with a little blue initially and a bit more at a time.

That said I have a question. What kind of algae did you get and how did you take it out? I’ve found if I have red slime and and use a red slime killer I frequently get Dino as a result.

I guess the question I’m going to throw out there is has anyone tried to treat dino by driving vodka so hard that you swamp it by pushing red slime?

Hi Servillius,

When I had the green slime I used a small scooper and took out chunks of the sand along with as much algae as I could get since it was clumped together.

 

[Lou Raffael]

How do I ID the Dino’s? I looked them up online but there’s mostly pictures of them under a microscope. Is there a better thread or website that breaks them down better?

 

[landlubber]

How do I ID the Dino’s? there’s mostly pictures of them under a microscope.

exactly.
ID'ing them will require you to collect some from your tank and view them under a microscope. you can buy a cheap kids scope for under $20

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

How do I ID the Dino’s? I looked them up online but there’s mostly pictures of them under a microscope. Is there a better thread or website that breaks them down better?

Show us a picture too.

Who ID them as Dino's for you?

 

[jsker]

Out there question. what kind of light are you running?

 

[Lou Raffael]

I'm using two Radion XR15's

 

[carpetlayer719]

I had the same type of thing only I wasn't testing. But I did notice that they came back stronger after a water change so I changed salt mix and it helped a lot.

 

[roberts01]

In my previouse tank i had dino outbrake along with cyano, zero nitrats and zero phosphates. Did 3day lights out with h2o2 dosing, that did the job. And no impact on livestock.

 

[wopadobop]

Stop exporting .
Stop water changes
Let n and p go up .
Stop using Dinox it’s snake oil.

Stop even cleaning the glass . Basically do t touch the tank and keep feeding.

Do keep running carbon as some Dino’s are toxic .

Pretty simple .

Soaking dry rock in ro. While good for possibly checking to see if it leaching anything won’t really Do much . You need to have it in heated saltwater in complete
Darkness . Let the bacterial film build on the surface , helps keep other unwanted nasties from growing on it . Also read the Dino thread .