Anyone still running pellets?

[sinful]

I've ran em twice now and had pretty poor results both times. Each time was for roughly 6 months or so. I ran dr tims if I remember right. Even had them on a recirculating reactor.

I don't know why but I'm getting an urge to run them again. My tank has zero algae, zero. BUT I just can't get rid of Dino's in my sand. I've tried blackout, I've tried no water changes and I've even tried the Dino X which worked GREAT for about two weeks. They were completely gone and then came back with vengeance. I let it go with out stirring the sand a couple weeks and the sand literally turned into hard clumps from the Dino. Almost like small rocks. I ended up siphoning most of the sand out and replacing it with new sand.

Its been about two weeks and I'm starting to notice them making a return again. As a last ditch effort before I break it down and reboot, I'm thinking about running pellets again. I've read online that they have sometimes helped. Anyone have any experience?

 

[asbauto]

I would be careful running pellets for dinos, when I started running pellets it caused a dino outbreak in my tank so I let it run hoping it was something else causing this and with no resolution after almost 8 months of running pellets I decided again to pull the plug on my reactor. This might be just a big coincidence but it seems the pellets can actually feed the dinos and they will out compete other bacteria for the food source. I know others have had the same conclusion while running pellets but it took my tank many months to recover and is still not perfect but it gets better every week without carbon dosing

 

[TampaSnooker]

Dinos are always present. Blooms indicate a disruption at the bottom of the food chain. There are several techniques for erradicating them, but getting a positive ID via microscope is key if you want a sure fire way.
This short thread has the best data I've read: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2307000

For starters though, think small. Adding microbes may be your best bet either via fresh live rock or stimulating the food web with phyto.

 

[Travis1787]

The Dino sand algae is a constant battle for my tank as well but I'm realizing more and more that its a constant battle for about everyone with sand it seems....

Its highly annoying the best thing I've found to help it is a very dedicated diamond goby haha

 

[Travis1787]

Dude that link is insane info

Wow thanks for sharing it snooker

 

[TampaSnooker]

Light reading...
Start with the first couple pages, then jump to page 20 or so where the microscopic ID comes up. The guys from Iceland and Madrid know their microbes. The skimmate method is off the wall thinking but carries risks if you don't have a scope to confirm that what you add back will eat dinos. Frickin genius idea though...

If you do have access to a scope, AlgaeID.com will help you with close enough ID based on behavior.

 

[Webmanny]

I just started running pellets today. I've been noticing done algae in my tank and need to lower nutrients.

We'll see how it goes.

 

[rogergolf66]

I just started running pellets today. I've been noticing done algae in my tank and need to lower nutrients.

We'll see how it goes.

Good luck. I always have had cyno bacteria when running pellets. Not sure what was worse the cyno or the algae

 

[Webmanny]

Good luck. I always have had cyno bacteria when running pellets. Not sure what was worse the cyno or the algae

Oh crap. I hope I don't get that. It looks like it is nasty. I had good luck in the past with Biopellets. The only issue I had and it was my fault, was that I added too much and it turned into a bacteria bloom. The tank turned to milk, but everything survived.

I hope this time around things go as good, but without the bloom.

 

[TampaSnooker]

One concession most of the people in the Dino thread had is that they welcomed other algaes if they helped beat Dinos. We know how to beat cyano and filamentous algaes - it's basic in comparison. Food for thought.

 

[Travis1787]

One concession most of the people in the Dino thread had is that they welcomed other algaes if they helped beat Dinos. We know how to beat cyano and filamentous algaes - it's basic in comparison. Food for thought.

Yea very cools stuff... here we are trying to rid our tanks of algae by running gfo Bio pellets skimming and other methods. Striping our systems of most algae but having no results on dinos and further fueling them by taking out all their competition

 

[sinful]

Oh crap. I hope I don't get that. It looks like it is nasty. I had good luck in the past with Biopellets. The only issue I had and it was my fault, was that I added too much and it turned into a bacteria bloom. The tank turned to milk, but everything survived.

I hope this time around things go as good, but without the bloom.

Is that what that was?? Twice I had that happen. I actually turned the output out on the reactor and it literally filled the chamber with white sludge.

 

[Webmanny]

Is that what that was?? Twice I had that happen. I actually turned the output out on the reactor and it literally filled the chamber with white sludge.

That is what I found out after plenty of reading. That milk substance is caused by a bacterial bloom. It is usually preceded by your filter socks clogging super fast, while looking clean. This time around, I started with a super small amount and I will let it sit at that level for a few weeks before moving forward with adding more.

This will take every bit of my patience to avoid over doing this again.