drummereef
Team RC
No problem. Let me know how it turns out!
drummereef's 180g in-wall build
- Thread starter drummereef
- Start date
No problem. Let me know how it turns out!
drummereef
Team RC
So I'm seriously considering swapping my sand bed with new sand. Doesn't matter how much siphoning, lights out, etc... it just never looks clean or white anymore. I really think it's the remnants of the Dinos that have stuck to the grains making it look brown. What's the likely hood of it ending up the same if I try on of these...?
1. Cook new sand in a rubbermaid container (with lid) for a couple months, seeding it with a cup of sand from the display. I would dose bacteria and feed a little food weekly to keep the bacteria happy.
2. Gradually siphon out the old sand bed over a few weeks while adding the new "cured" sand to replenish until all the new sand has been added.
or...
1. Keep same step 1.
2. Siphon out ALL of the old sand at once and replenish with the new sand bed during one water change.
Do you think either of these methods would work or would I end up in the same place I am currently?
1. Cook new sand in a rubbermaid container (with lid) for a couple months, seeding it with a cup of sand from the display. I would dose bacteria and feed a little food weekly to keep the bacteria happy.
2. Gradually siphon out the old sand bed over a few weeks while adding the new "cured" sand to replenish until all the new sand has been added.
or...
1. Keep same step 1.
2. Siphon out ALL of the old sand at once and replenish with the new sand bed during one water change.
Do you think either of these methods would work or would I end up in the same place I am currently?
Fish4Me2
New member
Could you consider going sand less until the dinos are all gone? I had a bad case of dinos in my old 180, which had a sand bed. I had to move, so I took the rock/coral/livestock from the 180 and added them, along with ~20 gallons of water from the "dino tank", to a smaller tank. There was no sand bed in the smaller tank, and I've had no dinos at all in the year since. Maybe taking the sand out for a while will help with the battle?
110galreef
New member
Why not pull the sand, do like Fish suggested, go w/o sand till dinos clear up. Then I'd just add straight dry sand. I love the Carib Sea special grade stuff. Nice & small yet doesn't get blown around easily. You will be fine. I have always used dry sand with great results. Also keep the sand bed at a minimum like 1/2-3/4". Just enuf to keep the bottom white and not enuf to trap crap! You will only need like 40#. I started with max of 60# in my 250g tank! And i am sure I have siphoned about 5# or so out this far and still have plenty if not too much. Plus this thin layer is very easy to siphon and or just stir up to feed corals & filter feeders. 
I think your OVERTHINKING & complicating it with the cooking & bateria & slowing changing! You will have plenty of bacteria in your tank thus far and your load & stock is still very low.
I think your OVERTHINKING & complicating it with the cooking & bateria & slowing changing! You will have plenty of bacteria in your tank thus far and your load & stock is still very low.
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cromedogg33
Member
Brett,
Are you seeing the air pockets/bubbles on the dino algae? I'm battling it probably worse than you are right now. My only problem is it still does not resemble dino's to me. It's almost a cross between dino/cyano. It's not red, yet it's not snot brown. It grows a tad like cyano, but doesn't snot up like dino's should.
I'm really debating doing chemi-clean in my tank this weekend just to see if this is bacteria driven or not. My p04 isn't budging and I'm still running the pellets and dumping food in my tank. I've tried lowering feedings which kills corals, and upped feeding which helps this algae grow, which says to me it's feeding off excess nutrients.
Let me know if that helps you, because mine is all over my rocks and sandbed right now!!
Are you seeing the air pockets/bubbles on the dino algae? I'm battling it probably worse than you are right now. My only problem is it still does not resemble dino's to me. It's almost a cross between dino/cyano. It's not red, yet it's not snot brown. It grows a tad like cyano, but doesn't snot up like dino's should.
I'm really debating doing chemi-clean in my tank this weekend just to see if this is bacteria driven or not. My p04 isn't budging and I'm still running the pellets and dumping food in my tank. I've tried lowering feedings which kills corals, and upped feeding which helps this algae grow, which says to me it's feeding off excess nutrients.
Let me know if that helps you, because mine is all over my rocks and sandbed right now!!
Personally, I would just leave it until whatever it is cycles itself out. If that isn't what you want, siphon it all out and put all new sand in with a water change. Removing the sand will probably drive the dinos to the rock and corals. Sand is not going to be perfect, folks with perfect sand are just replacing it at regular intervals to make their tank look nice.
aquaph8
Love The Fish
I completely agree. I truly believe the more nonsense you go through now the stronger you will be in the future. Its just taking all the dry sand and rock time to catch up.
psteeleb
Team RC
sage advice
then again I also force mine to grow in my sump/refugium by using lower kelvin lights then I use in the display. This way I can siphon them out pretty easy.
drummereef
Team RC
I tried the Caribsea live sand once in my old 40g. I had a bad experience with it being full of ammonia straight from the bag. Just my experience so at this point I'm more comfortable sticking with dry sand. Thanks though.
Good thoughts about taking the sand out for a while. Might have to try this... Thanks!
Why not pull the sand, do like Fish suggested, go w/o sand till dinos clear up. Then I'd just add straight dry sand. I love the Carib Sea special grade stuff. Nice & small yet doesn't get blown around easily. You will be fine. I have always used dry sand with great results. Also keep the sand bed at a minimum like 1/2-3/4". Just enuf to keep the bottom white and not enuf to trap crap! You will only need like 40#. I started with max of 60# in my 250g tank! And i am sure I have siphoned about 5# or so out this far and still have plenty if not too much. Plus this thin layer is very easy to siphon and or just stir up to feed corals & filter feeders.
I think your OVERTHINKING & complicating it with the cooking & bateria & slowing changing! You will have plenty of bacteria in your tank thus far and your load & stock is still very low.
Yeah, I agree, just adding dry sand would be a lot easier. I did add a few pounds a while back but it only took a few days for the dinos to attach to the new sand. If I added more I'm thinking I'd have to remove all the sand first to make this work.
Mine definitely feeds directly off trace elements. I don't see a significant increase when I feed heavy vs light. I do see a massive growth shortly after performing a water change though. I don't think it's the IO salt, just the trace elements from the salt. I believe any salt would trigger a bloom. If you end up doing a Chemi-Clean treatment please let me know what happens! I've considered doing it myself.
Thanks!
Good thoughts, thanks!
Sure, no harm no foul.
I can't tell if it's really active in the sand bed or just looks dirty because it's just discolored the sand from the various blooms. I'm not opposed to replacing the sand from time to time to keep the tank looking nice, just don't want to keep provoking new blooms.
Cool, thanks for the heads up.
I will say since I've incorporated the fuge light in the sump under the tank a lot of algae has moved down there. Some Dinos are growing down there and some red slime. The red slime could be from the vinegar dosing too but I'm not totally sure.
cromedogg33
Member
Brett,
I did my chemi clean over the last 3 days and it did absolutely nothing to my tank, other than worrying about it constantly and rushing home after work to see if it killed anything just because of the horror stories you read on it.
I followed directions to the letter and had no loss or even remotely any stress. Your skimmer definately goes nuts, and running carbon seems to be the best way to remove the medication afterwards.
It did nothing to my algae I have, and my next shot is 3 days lights out.
I did my chemi clean over the last 3 days and it did absolutely nothing to my tank, other than worrying about it constantly and rushing home after work to see if it killed anything just because of the horror stories you read on it.
I followed directions to the letter and had no loss or even remotely any stress. Your skimmer definately goes nuts, and running carbon seems to be the best way to remove the medication afterwards.
It did nothing to my algae I have, and my next shot is 3 days lights out.
aquaph8
Love The Fish
Josh, did you turn you skimmer off during the treatment? Make sure you leave the skimmer off during treatment, do a water change after 48 hrs and repeat if nessasary. Sometimes it takes two treatments. After the last treatment do another water change and run some carbon and you'll be fine. Chemiclean isn't that unsafe if used as directed but you do need to make sure the skimmer is off or it wont work. HTH, and im not telling you a bunch of stuff you already know. Also dont use it as a cure all, its meant to get you back on top of your situation not cure it. If you use it too often some cyano can become immune to it and become even harder to get rid of. Dont listen to the horror stories though, its fine when used correctly.
drummereef
Team RC
Wow, that's really surprising. I would have guessed it would have at least taken some of it out, but nothing is shocking. Maybe it really is a variant of Dino. The stuff in my sand might very well be diatoms, not totally sure there either as it's really hard to tell. Thanks for posting your results, much appreciated!!
cromedogg33
Member
Ummmm...........
/wave
So how is everything going Brett? Have you decided on wether or not to keep the BP's offline? I think after talking with a few people here and there with tanks I admire, they have a few things in common with bacteria/pellets and some additives.
Are you still dosing coral snow at all? I just put in an order today for a couple zeo additives/bacteria in hopes of knocking out some algae.
/wave
So how is everything going Brett? Have you decided on wether or not to keep the BP's offline? I think after talking with a few people here and there with tanks I admire, they have a few things in common with bacteria/pellets and some additives.
Are you still dosing coral snow at all? I just put in an order today for a couple zeo additives/bacteria in hopes of knocking out some algae.
drummereef
Team RC
Hey Josh! Everything is doing OK, just maintaining at this point. All the fish are great and the corals are looking good. I've had to do some semi-regular lights out periods to battle the remaining dinos (or whatever it is), but it usually takes care of it for a few weeks in between. BP is still offline since I'm trying the Chaeto. Not much growth but the NO3 is holding around 15ppm. I haven't dosed much Zeo stuff in the last few months but had good luck with the products when I was dosing regularly. Good luck and let me know how the additives work for you!
psteeleb
Team RC
Hey Josh! Everything is doing OK, just maintaining at this point. All the fish are great and the corals are looking good. I've had to do some semi-regular lights out periods to battle the remaining dinos (or whatever it is), but it usually takes care of it for a few weeks in between. BP is still offline since I'm trying the Chaeto. Not much growth but the NO3 is holding around 15ppm. I haven't dosed much Zeo stuff in the last few months but had good luck with the products when I was dosing regularly. Good luck and let me know how the additives work for you!
glade to hear from you Brett - I was about to put out a missing reefers all points bulletin on you.
drummereef
Team RC
