Algae (or bacteria) ID?

[sassmastawillis]

I've been fighting what looks like a type of dino for the past 6-8 months without much success. Every time I try and siphon it out or clean it off the rock or sandbed, it seems like it only comes back stronger. Tank is almost 2 years old at this point, with a decent sized cleanup crew. Please let me know if there is any other information I can provide to help identify and confirm what is going on. Thanks.

Parameters

PH: 7.9-8.3
NO3: 10ppm
PO4: .13ppm
ALK: 10.11 DKH

 

[slingfox]

Looks like Dino’s. Have you ever been able to completely eliminate visible signs of Dino’s? If not then you should try manual removal (every day or every few days depending on how bad it is) and do daily dosing of silicates and bacteria (Microbe Life Special Blend), plus running UV 24/7. Your nutrients seem fine so don’t need to do anything on that front. It seems like you just need to continually remove the Dino’s which should come back weaker and weaker as the other microbes gain ground.

When starting a tank with dry rock, UV seems to be a must have since the Dino’s will come.

 

[sassmastawillis]

tank was running fine for about a year before issues started. I have an in tank uv filter that doesnt seem like its doing much. how should i go about manual removal?

 

[slingfox]

tank was running fine for about a year before issues started. I have an in tank uv filter that doesnt seem like its doing much. how should i go about manual removal?

Using whatever hose you use for water change you can go beach rock and suck up the Dino’s. If you want to recycle the water then run the outlet end of the hose a 50 micron filter sock. For dinos in the sand siphon out the top layer of sand where the dinos sit. Rinse out the sand with tap water a few times then with RODI water twice then add the sand back in. When I had Dino’s on the sand I would add fresh saltwater into the rinsed sand as well as bottled bacteria and silicate, let the mixture cure for an hour, then add the sand back into the tank. The key is you’re trying to tip the microbial balance. You do that by manually removing Dino’s, frying them with UV, and dosing silicates and a good source of bottled bacteria. At least this is what has worked for me. I also use the UV sand sweeper from 3DReefing. I dealt with two bouts of Dino’s in connection with a tank reset last year. Each time the Dino’s were gone in 2-3 days but I did not have a very severe outbreak since I started addressing once I saw the signs that Dino’s were coming. In contrast, my first bout with Dino’s 2.5 years ago was 5-6 weeks of pure pain.

 

[sassmastawillis]

If not then you should try manual removal (every day or every few days depending on how bad it is) and do daily dosing of silicates and bacteria (Microbe Life Special Blend), plus running UV 24/7.

what do you recommend I use to dose silicates? And a good way to monitor/test silicate levels?

 

[slingfox]

what do you recommend I use to dose silicates? And a good way to monitor/test silicate levels?

You can find water glass which is 40% liquid sodium silicate on Amazon. Dosing is 0.2 ml/15 gallons of system volume daily. Dilute with RO/DI and add to high flow area. You need a micropipette to do this kind of dosing correctly. You should get one of these regardless since they help with doing the pipette for periodic water testing more accurately:

https://a.co/d/00KKFZH0

Next time I need to dose silicates I may look for a less concentrated, more liquid version since it can be annoying trying to dilute the liquid glass into RODI.

 

[sassmastawillis]

Is running UV counterproductive if I am also dosing Microbe Life Special Blend?
I have an in tank UV filter, but I haven't been running it to not kill the beneficial bacteria I am dosing.

 

[slingfox]

Is running UV counterproductive if I am also dosing Microbe Life Special Blend?
I have an in tank UV filter, but I haven't been running it to not kill the beneficial bacteria I am dosing.

I assume UV is slightly counterproductive but running UV is fundamental to battling Dino’s. To give you bottled bacteria more of a chance you can turn UV off for an hour or two after dosing. What I have done in the past is put the tank into feed mode which shuts off the return pump and allows the bottled bacteria to circulate in the display tank for 30 minutes. The idea is try to get more microbes on the surface of the rock and sand to compete against the Dino’s.