Rust from pump causing Dino??

[philosophile]

I got some on ebay. Sometimes it's called "water glass". If you want a some more info for figuring out dosing, you can google sodium silicate dosing and Randy Holmes-Farley he wrote an article on it a few years back.

 

[natas]

Did you get aqueous solution or solid form? Also what grade did you get?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

It is always sold as a concentrated solution.

 

[philosophile]

I use a 40% solution, 2ml for 90g tank volume. I think Randy's article suggests 1ml per week iirc. I doubled it to really fuel the diatoms. I've reduced it to 1ml per week for maintenance now. I'll probably discontinue weekly dosing in a few months, just so I don't cause an explosion of sponges, which can also be a side effect of dosing silicate.

 

[greenhead]

It's funny but I don't think these things the OP is talking about are dinos. I get the same ones in my frag tanks every time I use Redsea NoPox. But snails eat the stuff. Real dinos will kill snails. I also get em every time I add a new frag rack in the SPS system. This stuff loves ULNS. I call it brown bryopsis. The difference between it and bryopsis is its grows better when mag levels get increased. It seems to prefer clean water and fresh nutrients from newly mixed saltwater. What I do now when these outbreaks happen is try and get parameters as close to NSW as I can and NO water changes or GFO changes. Especially no coral food or supplements along with reduced periods of daylights and a good manual removal of the easy to get stuff. What I have witnessed after these steps is that a natural beneficial bacteria will take over and the brown hairy crap just starts to melt away in sheets.

 

[Squidmotron]

You just described dinos perfectly, IMO. Opinions vary though.

 

[natas]

The stuff I have is nothing like bryopsis. This stuff is brown and very snot like. Under a microscope it is circular in shape and moves (almost spins)

And this stuff has killed snails in my tank, just not all of them. I do know that the snails that survived are very slow compared to what they used to be.

 

[Squidmotron]

I think you need a fair amount to kill snails. Mine only starts killing stuff when it gets to plague-like proportions.

 

[Mattewell]

You know, now that I think about it. I remember seeing brown film in my saltwater mixing container. I had never cared much because people have reported seeing this brown film in their container while using certain salt mixes. I cleaned and bleached my mixing container and that's about the same time the Dinos went away in my tank. Maybe it's just a coincidence, but I thought it would be worth mentioning.

I'd be very curious to know if the OP has seen this brown film in their container too?

 

[Squidmotron]

You know, now that I think about it. I remember seeing brown film in my saltwater mixing container. I had never cared much because people have reported seeing this brown film in their container while using certain salt mixes. I cleaned and bleached my mixing container and that's about the same time the Dinos went away in my tank. Maybe it's just a coincidence, but I thought it would be worth mentioning.

I'd be very curious to know if the OP has seen this brown film in their container too?

That's pretty typical with the reef salt mixes. It's why I use the regular stuff now. I think it's the "vitamins", whatever that is. But I never liked all that brown gunk.

 

[natas]

My mixing container has no brown in it, just a ton of white.

 

[natas]

Ok things are looking better since I added cuprisorb. I still have dino but it is only in a few spots now. Whatever cuprisorb is absorbing seems to be working right now. I am not saying the battle is over but this is the best the tank has looked since January. I know some of you have doubts and I will too until I am 100% free of dino.

Anyone have opinions?

 

[Squidmotron]

Was it only just cuprisorb you added? Amazing. I've heard others claim that works. Keep us updated.

 

[natas]

Yup just added cuprisorb. As I said I still have the Dino but it is very minimal as of right now. I have had it minimized like this after doing three day lights out but once the lights kick back on (even just blues) it comes back fast and hard. Right now I am on a regular light schedule so seeing the Dino this weak makes me think it is working. I may try three days of lights out to give them even more of a hard time.

If it's not the rust/iron it is absorbing then maybe it's something with my salt. I have used red sea coral pro since I started this tank.

 

[Bodnaahh]

For what its worth I do believe that there is a link between iron and dino blooms. one of the main ingredients in most f/2 for culturing phyto is FeCl3. Also with Red tides caused by Dinos out in the Ocean I believe there is usually instances with high Iron conc. in the water.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Also with Red tides caused by Dinos out in the Ocean I believe there is usually instances with high Iron conc. in the water.

Iron is certainly limiting for phytoplankton in much of the ocean. It may also be limiting for dinos under some circumstances, and low tank levels may impact even the macroalgae and larger corals and such that we keep.

FWIW, I'd be careful about the difference between the possible conclusions that

1. Reducing something (possibly iron, possibly copper, possibly something else) with Cuprisorb helps with dino problems.

and

2. Added iron (or copper or soemthing else) causes dino problems.

One can stop the growth of pests (like algae) by limiting many things (N, P, Fe, etc), but that doesn't mean that any one of those "causes" the algae problem. Each is just one of many things it needs to thrive.

 

[natas]

One can stop the growth of pests (like algae) by limiting many things (N, P, Fe, etc), but that doesn't mean that any one of those "causes" the algae problem. Each is just one of many things it needs to thrive.

This is where things get complicated. I have had my nitrates test at 0 (red sea test kit) and phosphates test at 0.01 (hanna phosphorus which is more accurate). And saw no change. This is complicated because many of the "cures" for dino require things that will result in higher levels of nitrate and phosphates.....like no water changes and high ph (which raises alk which causing stn or burnt tips from uln...higher nutrients minimize this).

Also I find it interesting that many people who dose carbon have dino issues. Many of these tanks are considered uln. Seems like Dino can live off of minimum nitrate and phosphate

 

[Squidmotron]

The only thing I can think of that Curpisorb can remove that dinos would actually need is iron, but I definitely raise an eyebrow that this would be a reason. Is there anything else it removes that might be relevant?

 

[natas]

It also removes copper, lead and cadmium.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Dinos presumably do need copper, but I doubt we have any good evidence of what it binds that might relate to dinos. I expect it also binds organic matter.

Also I find it interesting that many people who dose carbon have dino issues.

It certainly wouldn't surprise me if they could consume added organic matter.