Yeah I guess that makes sense. It's difficult because with so many different species of Dino's, nobody seems to know what "the right conditions" are.
Dinoflagellates.
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Yeah I guess that makes sense. It's difficult because with so many different species of Dino's, nobody seems to know what "the right conditions" are.
karimwassef
Active member
The right conditions usually follow an aggressive algae removal remedy - overuse of phosphate removers, aggressive carbon dosing, using chemical algae removers, etc...
These kill the natural algae and biofauna that a healthy reef tank needs and exposes the ecosystem to a dino plague that becomes entrenched until the natural conditions can regain a foothold.
Artificial systems like our reef tanks are really starved for diversity, so once a single creature takes over, balance becomes difficult to regain.
I guess I'd compare it to a yo-yo dieter who can't seem to get long term good results.
These kill the natural algae and biofauna that a healthy reef tank needs and exposes the ecosystem to a dino plague that becomes entrenched until the natural conditions can regain a foothold.
Artificial systems like our reef tanks are really starved for diversity, so once a single creature takes over, balance becomes difficult to regain.
I guess I'd compare it to a yo-yo dieter who can't seem to get long term good results.
EvMiBo
VictoriaConcordiaCrescit
Are you running air stones? They recommend running the skimmer (and allowing it to overflow back into the system) because it acts as a massive aerator. Oxygen levels drop while dosing chemiclean. Most system crashes while dosing chemiclean happen because people don't aerate enough or at all. (fair warning)
dustinkimpel
Member
Alright guys update, My dinos are gone. Knock on wood. I'm up to running my lights 6 hours a day and no dinos have returned and my corals a flourishing. Things I've done:
Removed Sand bed kept BB
Removed and soft scrubbed all rock
Dosed H202 for 5 days
Went lights out for 6 days
Added new sump, skimmer and attached Coralife UV sterilizer to return line.
Added 3 new fish
heavy water changes during the lights out period sucking out all visible dino (I know people say wc feed them but it worked for me)
One of the new fish had ich so pulled all fish and put them in hospital tank (maybe the ich had something to do with getting rid of the dino?)
Tank currently just has coral and a cleaner shrimp in it for the next 72 days.
I'll post pics later to show how good my tank is looking, not a dino in sight.
Good luck guys, feel like I've won this battle
Removed Sand bed kept BB
Removed and soft scrubbed all rock
Dosed H202 for 5 days
Went lights out for 6 days
Added new sump, skimmer and attached Coralife UV sterilizer to return line.
Added 3 new fish
heavy water changes during the lights out period sucking out all visible dino (I know people say wc feed them but it worked for me)
One of the new fish had ich so pulled all fish and put them in hospital tank (maybe the ich had something to do with getting rid of the dino?)
Tank currently just has coral and a cleaner shrimp in it for the next 72 days.
I'll post pics later to show how good my tank is looking, not a dino in sight.
Good luck guys, feel like I've won this battle
dustinkimpel
Member
This was all done during a 1.5 week period. Doing it all at once seemed to put them in their place.
Guys let me know if you think this is cyano or Dino's. Originally it had a stringy Dino look to it, I've blacked out for 2 days with seemingly no difference. Just now, I turned my pumps off and it seems to have almost settled into a cyano looking type mat. I'm just confused because I've never seen a system wide cyano outbreak kind of situation. I will post pictures and video from the "before" stringy appearance to the now "matted" appearance and would like to know what you guys think.
This is the originally stringy appearance when I thought it was Dino's.
https://vimeo.com/134984475
These are pictures today that make me lean toward cyano.
Note: I tried dosing with peroxide when I thought it was Dino's. First few days noticed no difference then all of a sudden one day after a dose it blew up and went everywhere.
https://vimeo.com/134984475
These are pictures today that make me lean toward cyano.
Note: I tried dosing with peroxide when I thought it was Dino's. First few days noticed no difference then all of a sudden one day after a dose it blew up and went everywhere.
Quiet_Ivy
New member
Quiet_Ivy
New member
Well, you sure don't hesitate once you've decided to treat.
Keep a really close eye on your ammonia levels, you might have nuked a lot of the biofilter there between scrubbing your rocks, removing sand, the peroxide. Maybe ghost feed the tank while your fish are in QT?
hth and congrats
Ivy
Quiet_Ivy
New member
2nd pic does look like cyano. I have both cyano and dinos (good grief) and 2 day blackouts don't seem to affect either one much. 3+ days is the magic number. Cyano comes off in big sheets if you gently pull it. The bubbles look more like they're inside or under the mat where dinos seem to have bubbles at the end of the strings.
H2O2 is a weak acid but will certainly kill bacteria. Both dinos and cyano like it when there isn't much competition. Given the choice, I'd sure opt for cyano.
hth
ivy
Adrnalnrsh
New member
No airstones. I removed my durso standpipe so water is falling into my overflow box. Skimmer is off and am topping off with Kalkwasser which releases oxide molecules. PH has been hovering around 7.8-8.0
At first I only dose half the dose, then added 25% and another 25%. Cyano is slowly dying from what I can tell.
Tank has not crashed nor appears any worse than before.
JamesHolt
Active member
I tried this several times, first time I did a freshwater dip (30sec) on everything, within a few hours the dinos were showing on the corals..
The second time I used a freshwater/H2O2 dip (two capfuls in a bowl of water)for around a minute (corals only) the dinos came back on the corals and spread quickly..
Just guessing, but I think there were some dormant ones in the plugs/rocks the corals were mounted on...
Third time I used a freshwater/H2O2 (several ounces in a bowl of water) for 3 minutes followed by an iodine dip..
They came back on the corals, It was just was slower...
After each one of these dips, the corals were placed into a clean 10gallon tank with fresh salt water....
dustinkimpel
Member
Pictures of my tank post dino:
Adrnalnrsh
New member
Did you post what you did to solve the issue? Sorry, don't feel like digging through old threads.
dustinkimpel
Member
Page 58
dustinkimpel
Member
Very nice pics! I really like that hairy ?mushroom. Is that porites in the last pic? Looks suspiciously SPS.
Do you think you'll keep the tank bare bottom? I know it's popular for nutrient control but I can't get used to the way it looks.
Ivy
Thanks!!! And I have no idea what that is in the last pic. Have another thread up asking about it but nobody seemed to be able to answer. I'll probably keep it BB it's a breeze to clean.
Alright - just picked up an emperor aquatics 40 watt uv.
To deal with the Dino's (and anything else they potentially help with)
I have a feeling that most people who haven't had luck with UV underpowered their UV relative to the size of their tank. My tank is 140 gallons. I'll report back in a couple of days as to how it's going!
To deal with the Dino's (and anything else they potentially help with)
I have a feeling that most people who haven't had luck with UV underpowered their UV relative to the size of their tank. My tank is 140 gallons. I'll report back in a couple of days as to how it's going!
karimwassef
Active member
Remember to keep the UV flow very slow.
Two biggest mistakes are underpowered and too fast ... That's essentially useless. And that's the feedback most UV critics come back with.
Two biggest mistakes are underpowered and too fast ... That's essentially useless. And that's the feedback most UV critics come back with.
The directions say 262 gallons per hour maximum flow for protozoa. I'm using a sicce syncra silent 1.5 with maximum flow rate of 358 gph and have the flow restrict or set to about the half way mark.https://vimeo.com/135208485
The pump is located right at the overflow to get water straight from the tank and the return from the uv is plumbed right near the intake for the skimmer.
Hopefully this arrangements takes care of it!
