Dinoflagellates.

Stopped by old town aquarium for the first time. They had one of those copepod and phyto culture tanks going
 
Is it true that dinoflagellates dies in fresh water? If so, I will be siphoning out my top layer of sand into a bucket with ro/di to rinse. Then re add to tank. Is this okay? Or nah?
 
The dinoflagellates should die if exposed long enough to fresh water. I don't know what the time limit might be, though, and I'd expect a few to survive here and there. Rinsing the sand might remove some detritus. I'd be tempted, though, to soak the sand in RO/DI with a powerhead and check the phosphate level after twelve hours or so, to see whether the sand is leaching a significant amount of phosphate.
 
Is it true that dinoflagellates dies in fresh water? If so, I will be siphoning out my top layer of sand into a bucket with ro/di to rinse. Then re add to tank. Is this okay? Or nah?
I thought about cleaning my sand and reusing it but did not want to take the chance so I replaced the sand with new after dinos were gone. Dinos are resilient little buggers.
 
I just did a water change. Way too much Dino on my sand bed. Going to do 3 days lights out now and will be dosing hydrogen peroxide every day. 3 ml each day for my 29 g biocube.

Switching filter floss and carbon pad out today as well.
 
If you're still fighting and haven't tried pods and phyto yet, do it!

Look at my posts and pics from the last week. Was going good then moved rock around and got a huge bloom. Two days ago I siphoned the bloom out from gravel, yesterday I added pods and phyto, get this... Today when I got home from work was the first time I didn't have to siphon gravel in a LONG TIME!!

a9a9b301154a185d9f1b54a1038a4276.jpg
 
It's a GREAT feeling isn't it.


Yes! You were the one that told me pods would be the nail in the coffin, correct?
Thanks
It's too early to tell if this will last but it's been the biggest improvement I've seen in months.
Now I'm paranoid to change anything. Should I switch out phosphate media or leave it? Put my skimmer back in or leAve it out? I dunno.
I'm thinking of starting a refugium since I already have a refugium sump that I only put a skimmer in. I'm thinking just adding one piece of live rock, light, and cheato
 
Yes! You were the one that told me pods would be the nail in the coffin, correct?
Thanks
It's too early to tell if this will last but it's been the biggest improvement I've seen in months.
Now I'm paranoid to change anything. Should I switch out phosphate media or leave it? Put my skimmer back in or leAve it out? I dunno.
I'm thinking of starting a refugium since I already have a refugium sump that I only put a skimmer in. I'm thinking just adding one piece of live rock, light, and cheato
Yes that was me.
I would start the skimmer on the dry side but go easy on phosphate media, I would try to keep po4 @ .03 and continue with the phytoplankton, I'm not sure how much your dosing but I was dosing 100ml 4x a day in a 200gal system, after a couple weeks I noticed algae patches forming on the sand(I know it was only algae because I have a microscope) I then cut the dose in half and it cleared up in short order, I haven't vacuumed my sand for a couple weeks and it looks great and I do 15gal water change weekly and run half the carbon I use to. I'm still using the 10uM socks.
My po4 has been as hi as .06 and as low as .02 without issue.
 
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Yes that was me.
I would start the skimmer on the dry side but go easy on phosphate media, I would try to keep po4 @ .03 and continue with the phytoplankton, I'm not sure how much your dosing but I was dosing 100ml 4x a day in a 200gal system, after a couple weeks I noticed algae patches forming on the sand(I know it was only algae because I have a microscope) I then cut the dose in half and it cleared up in short order, I haven't vacuumed my sand for a couple weeks and it looks great and I do 15gal water change weekly and run half the carbon I use to. I'm still using the 10uM socks.
My po4 has been as hi as .06 and as low as .02 without issue.

How much phyto do you guys dose for a 30 gal? And any specific phyto? And do you just throw in thousands of pods at once?
 
Yes! You were the one that told me pods would be the nail in the coffin, correct?
Thanks
It's too early to tell if this will last but it's been the biggest improvement I've seen in months.
Now I'm paranoid to change anything. Should I switch out phosphate media or leave it? Put my skimmer back in or leAve it out? I dunno.
I'm thinking of starting a refugium since I already have a refugium sump that I only put a skimmer in. I'm thinking just adding one piece of live rock, light, and cheato

Wow, looking good!
I'm paranoid, so I wouldn't touch a thing for at least a few months.

ivy
 
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