dino experiment
- Thread starter t4zalews
- Start date
jkopp36
New member
Yes, I left carbon and GFO running for all dosing. I am happy to say that all signs of dinos are gone in my system. Been that way for about a month now. I'm back to weekly water changes now and started dosing some supplements a few weeks ago and things have never looked better for me. My SPS really browned out during all this but they were still growing. The water changes and supplements have REALLY colored them back up. I sure hope I'm on the right path. I still have ozone running too.
t4zalews
65g Ritteri Tank
I'm not running activated carbon right now, but I'm going to go buy a small pump and set it back up. The brown algae is gone, but I still get a lot of bubbles on my rocks. I'm dumping some kalk twice a day to keep pH up. I may have to do another lights off round, I think I went to full lighting schedule again too fast. But my corals have really came back with their colors. I may do a couple days with just actinics and no halides to see if I can beat off the bubbles. Besides that no snot algae.
frank2926
Active member
Here is how I beat them.
Raised Alkalinity to 14 dkh, and magnesium to 1400 kept an eye on PH (did not want it over 8.5) Took about 3-4 days to raise parameters this high.
No lights for 3 days, removing any visible snot daily during this time.
after 3 days with no lights, I went to just actinics for a day, no sign of snot,
2nd day of just actinics, and half a halide period
3rd day saw some snot, No lights again for 1 day.
back to just actinics, for 1 day then half halide period , then full lights .
Gone and not back since.
My SPS corals did not look all that great after 3 days of no light, lost a lot of color. I would not go more than 3 days even if you still see signs of snot.
I had noticed that were the snot came back was in an area of the tank that ambient light was hitting, so I covered the front of the tank so NO light got in.
Raised Alkalinity to 14 dkh, and magnesium to 1400 kept an eye on PH (did not want it over 8.5) Took about 3-4 days to raise parameters this high.
No lights for 3 days, removing any visible snot daily during this time.
after 3 days with no lights, I went to just actinics for a day, no sign of snot,
2nd day of just actinics, and half a halide period
3rd day saw some snot, No lights again for 1 day.
back to just actinics, for 1 day then half halide period , then full lights .
Gone and not back since.
My SPS corals did not look all that great after 3 days of no light, lost a lot of color. I would not go more than 3 days even if you still see signs of snot.
I had noticed that were the snot came back was in an area of the tank that ambient light was hitting, so I covered the front of the tank so NO light got in.
Last edited:
blide
Premium Member
One thing to note about adding Kalk to your tank is that you shouldn't add a lot to the skimmer section of the sump because it'll make your skimmer go nuts and overflow. I learned the hardway after reading through this thread. I had to add it to the display in front of a powerhead.
DocG
Premium Member
An update - I gave my treatment regimen back of page 6 of this thread:
When I was done the 3rd round it appeared that the Dino's were mostly gone. There were 2 patches that I couldn't reach to siphon left and that was it. Those patches disappeared in a few days and I resumed my full photoperiod about a week after that. I have had absolutely no signs of Dino's since then. None! I am so happy about this. It has been over a month.
On a side note, I did lose my Mandarin Goby about 10 days after the treatment was over, it wasn't starvation because he was the biggest fattest Mandarin I have ever seen. He was also one of the oldest fish in my tank at around 5-6 years old. My two thoughts on this are either he was old and weak and couldn't take it or the peroxide somehow effected the pods in the tank (it didn't kill them) and he was eating essentially spoiled/poisoned/bad food and that killed him.
Also noted: I had a very small diatom outbreak about a week after I was done the treatment, mainly on the powerheads and a few rocks (brown dust). It was gone after a week, but I was paranoid that the Dino's came back. I wasn't going to panic and do anything unless I saw bubbles and snot.
Fortunately is was only diatoms and all is now very well in the tank.
When I was done the 3rd round it appeared that the Dino's were mostly gone. There were 2 patches that I couldn't reach to siphon left and that was it. Those patches disappeared in a few days and I resumed my full photoperiod about a week after that. I have had absolutely no signs of Dino's since then. None! I am so happy about this. It has been over a month.
On a side note, I did lose my Mandarin Goby about 10 days after the treatment was over, it wasn't starvation because he was the biggest fattest Mandarin I have ever seen. He was also one of the oldest fish in my tank at around 5-6 years old. My two thoughts on this are either he was old and weak and couldn't take it or the peroxide somehow effected the pods in the tank (it didn't kill them) and he was eating essentially spoiled/poisoned/bad food and that killed him.
Also noted: I had a very small diatom outbreak about a week after I was done the treatment, mainly on the powerheads and a few rocks (brown dust). It was gone after a week, but I was paranoid that the Dino's came back. I wasn't going to panic and do anything unless I saw bubbles and snot.
Fortunately is was only diatoms and all is now very well in the tank.
jrp1588
New member
I've been fighting this for months as well. My tank is in a basement bedroom, so it's about as closed in as it gets. PH usually hovers around 7.8 even with a kalk ATO. I've been trying to raise pH with the kalk slurry method, but the pH drops back down to 7.8 in only a matter of hours. What is causing this extreme dropoff?
frank2926
Active member
Raise your alkalinity to 13/14 DKH , then just watch PH so it does NOT go over 8.5 PH will rise but will not stay. It is the Alkalinity that is import to fight dinos, not the PH.
frank2926
Active member
I removed all my sand while fighting them. then put some back after it was clear for a long time.
t4zalews
65g Ritteri Tank
I actually bought all new rock...BRS ecosaver rock. And I'm gunna purchase new live sand and use all new water. I may lose some of my corals, but I have already lost so many, it doesnt even matter at this point. I'd rather just start off with a new slate.
doctorgori
New member
acrylic_300
New member
Here is what I am noticing:
I'd like to start by saying I've been battling dinos for about 3 years. The first year they killed all sps in the tank...the next couple years I just let them go and gave up on them basically reducing my tank to live rock, fish, and a few very hardy softies that are nearly impossible to kill (not thriving).
I started cleaning the tank up about a month ago...determined to exterminate the dinos this time. I did the normal routine with elevated PH and 72 hours of darkness every other week. It was so close to being gone it wasn't even funny and then I added a new fish that ended up dying somewhere.
At the end of the second 72 hour blackout I notice new dino patches reappearing. The dead fish is no where to be found. Basically three weeks of slaving down the drain. Peroxide time! Here is what I noticed.
The new areas of dinos look like tiny heat waves coming off the rocks and sand. It's only a matter of time before those little waves of slime turn into streaming threads of snot. The dinos recede a good bit when the lights are off and expand more and more during the light cycle.
I dumped 40ml in my 300 gal tank shortly after the light came on and I could see the new dinos waving. My zoas closed for a bit then reopened, but the dinos receded all day. *One patch of well established dinos in dim lit area expanded later in the day (I think it was retracted when I used the peroxide).
Today I turned the lights on two hours early and let them run for a couple hours. The spots of dinos that retracted yesterday were trying to come back out at about half strength. The well established patch of dinos was expanded and going pretty strong. I dumped 40ml of peroxide and the new patches went invisible while the well established patch remains sort of visible but retracted (just a flat mat). The zoas recovered more quickly today.
From this observation...I'm not sure if it does any good to add peroxide while the dinos are retracted. I think they need to be out waving in the water to be damaged real good. I hope like hell it's killing them or at least keeping them retracted and out of the light long enough for something else to take over.
I've decided not to remove the few small patches of dinos that remain so that I can more accurately judge the damage the peroxide may be doing to all the dinoflagellates that I cant see.
I'd like to start by saying I've been battling dinos for about 3 years. The first year they killed all sps in the tank...the next couple years I just let them go and gave up on them basically reducing my tank to live rock, fish, and a few very hardy softies that are nearly impossible to kill (not thriving).
I started cleaning the tank up about a month ago...determined to exterminate the dinos this time. I did the normal routine with elevated PH and 72 hours of darkness every other week. It was so close to being gone it wasn't even funny and then I added a new fish that ended up dying somewhere.
At the end of the second 72 hour blackout I notice new dino patches reappearing. The dead fish is no where to be found. Basically three weeks of slaving down the drain. Peroxide time! Here is what I noticed.
The new areas of dinos look like tiny heat waves coming off the rocks and sand. It's only a matter of time before those little waves of slime turn into streaming threads of snot. The dinos recede a good bit when the lights are off and expand more and more during the light cycle.
I dumped 40ml in my 300 gal tank shortly after the light came on and I could see the new dinos waving. My zoas closed for a bit then reopened, but the dinos receded all day. *One patch of well established dinos in dim lit area expanded later in the day (I think it was retracted when I used the peroxide).
Today I turned the lights on two hours early and let them run for a couple hours. The spots of dinos that retracted yesterday were trying to come back out at about half strength. The well established patch of dinos was expanded and going pretty strong. I dumped 40ml of peroxide and the new patches went invisible while the well established patch remains sort of visible but retracted (just a flat mat). The zoas recovered more quickly today.
From this observation...I'm not sure if it does any good to add peroxide while the dinos are retracted. I think they need to be out waving in the water to be damaged real good. I hope like hell it's killing them or at least keeping them retracted and out of the light long enough for something else to take over.
I've decided not to remove the few small patches of dinos that remain so that I can more accurately judge the damage the peroxide may be doing to all the dinoflagellates that I cant see.
Aquaman101
New member
How fast should you dose the peroxide? Do you pour your entire batch (1 ml per 10 gal) at once? Or little bits throughout the day?
acrylic_300
New member
I think most people are doing all at once or maybe split in half. My only worry with half dosing is that the dinos may build a resistance.
On the other hand if you could figure out what dose causes them to retract then you could probably dose that amount several times a day to keep them beat down.
Today I used a small amount to nuke a mother spot where the dinos originally started with a syringe and it only took about 2ml compared to the 40ml I dosed the whole tank with earlier.
I'm dosing more than recommended and the strongest dinos still expand after about 3 hours. I may try cutting back the amount and dosing twice during the light cycle so I can get a good 6 hours of light without them rebounding. I may just double the dose though...everything seems to be doing fine.
Aquaman101
New member
Is it safe to dose peroxide and try to maintain an elevated pH at the same time for a double-whammy?
t4zalews
65g Ritteri Tank
In my experience with dose peroxide, dosing it never really had an effect on my Ph.
Beenalongtime79
New member
dinos... the gift that keeps on giving...
Aquaman101
New member
I am on day 3 of turning the lights back on. I have the tank still wrapped in black trash bags, but I don't have the lights covered so the fans are able to let the heat escape. I have not turned the lights on for my regular 8 hour light period yet though. I started on Day 1 with 2 hours of lights, Day 2 with 3 hours, Day 3 with 4. I will work my way back up to 8 by adding one hour a day.
So far they haven't shown back up.........yet.
So far they haven't shown back up.........yet.
Beenalongtime79
New member
Had a little bout of dinos and used the 3 day lights out w/ peroxide at 1ml/10 gal and it worked wonderfully.
I actually cheated and used some actinic lighting for an hour for feeding each day and then lights out again for the 3 days and just started a slow increase in light again.
It was pretty amazing how effective 3 days of lights out were. They just slowly died away. I've had a few small breakouts that eventually die out on their own, but they are always very annoying as they tend to kill the tips of my SPS so this time, I didn't want to even deal with it and used 3 days lights out (w/ 1 hour actinics for feeding) and the daily peroxide and wallah. Gone by the end of the treatment cycle. Has been roughly two weeks w/ absolutely no sign of dino life, but like I said before this is the norm even w/ normal light cycle, it just took 3 days instead of 2-3 weeks for the dino infestation to clear this time using the lights out/peroxide cleansing.
I normally run carbon and GFO and aggressively skim so these are in action as well, but I feel even with these measures, if you don't cut lights out and even use peroxide everyday, it takes awhile for them to burn out. With all measures in place though (I think lights out is absolutely critical), it tends to be an easy fix. (well at least for my tank setup)
Cheers,
John
I actually cheated and used some actinic lighting for an hour for feeding each day and then lights out again for the 3 days and just started a slow increase in light again.
It was pretty amazing how effective 3 days of lights out were. They just slowly died away. I've had a few small breakouts that eventually die out on their own, but they are always very annoying as they tend to kill the tips of my SPS so this time, I didn't want to even deal with it and used 3 days lights out (w/ 1 hour actinics for feeding) and the daily peroxide and wallah. Gone by the end of the treatment cycle. Has been roughly two weeks w/ absolutely no sign of dino life, but like I said before this is the norm even w/ normal light cycle, it just took 3 days instead of 2-3 weeks for the dino infestation to clear this time using the lights out/peroxide cleansing.
I normally run carbon and GFO and aggressively skim so these are in action as well, but I feel even with these measures, if you don't cut lights out and even use peroxide everyday, it takes awhile for them to burn out. With all measures in place though (I think lights out is absolutely critical), it tends to be an easy fix. (well at least for my tank setup)
Cheers,
John
