are these Dinos???

[sensei]

Does it blow off the rocks? If not it's probably not dinos. Looking like what I think I'm dealing with right now. Calothrix

yes it blows off rocks.

 

[sensei]

@saltyfilmfolks
@dwest

I would like to id the strain I have, and see the best strategy to fight with it. everything I have read that Dinos very low level of NO3 and PO4, that this is not my case. I have very detectable levels.
I have been thinking in an idea @Velcro mentioned in his thread. He mentioned using filters to sterilize the water and filter them out.
I am a pharmacist and work in pharmaceutical company, I can get a sterilizing filter and try to filter the water.

until now the things I have done are:
1.- I placed a 36 watts UV lamp in dt. I adjusted the flow out of the lamp to be 120 gal per hour. I have around 600g of water so that gives a turnover of almost 5 time aquarium water in 24 hours.
I am thinking of getting another lamp to have more watts recycling dt

2.- I placed some GAC in sump

3.- I syphoned as much as I could in filter sock in sump

any ideas??

 

[sensei]

There are thousands of types of dinos. Mine killed some fish, most would not.

Looks like dinos. Are they moving?

I know someone that can ID them. She’s very busy now but maybe she can chime in..
@reeferfoxx

yes they are moving all around. like circular form. but it could only see one type, like the pictures posted

 

[dwest]

@saltyfilmfolks
@dwest

I would like to id the strain I have, and see the best strategy to fight with it. everything I have read that Dinos very low level of NO3 and PO4, that this is not my case. I have very detectable levels.
I have been thinking in an idea @Velcro mentioned in his thread. He mentioned using filters to sterilize the water and filter them out.
I am a pharmacist and work in pharmaceutical company, I can get a sterilizing filter and try to filter the water.

until now the things I have done are:
1.- I placed a 36 watts UV lamp in dt. I adjusted the flow out of the lamp to be 120 gal per hour. I have around 600g of water so that gives a turnover of almost 5 time aquarium water in 24 hours.
I am thinking of getting another lamp to have more watts recycling dt

2.- I placed some GAC in sump

3.- I syphoned as much as I could in filter sock in sump

any ideas??

Your dinos are mostly on the rocks, not the sand correct? If they are mostly in sand, they likely are amphidinium, which cannot be treated with UV as they really don’t go into the water column substantially. Assuming they are not amphidinium, UV can probably help. Unfortunately with your size tank, you will likely need 200-300 watts of UV with 600 ish gallons per hour of tank water flowing from DT directly back to DT.

I agree that your levels of phosphate and nitrates makes no sense. It’s certainly not the current classical dino scenario. They only information I can give you is that I had dinos about 10 years or so as well. I have no idea what my nutrient levels were back then because I didn’t test them, but they were likely high. I do know that when i replaced the sand, they went away.

If I were you, I’d keep manually removing it, wait for an ID from reeferfoxx, and keep replacing GAC. Also, any advice you get from salty, follow it. I’d also be looking at potential UV sterilizers. It sounds like you may be able to get your hands on one. That would be a huge bonus.

 

[sensei]

Your dinos are mostly on the rocks, not the sand correct? If they are mostly in sand, they likely are amphidinium, which cannot be treated with UV as they really don’t go into the water column substantially. Assuming they are not amphidinium, UV can probably help. Unfortunately with your size tank, you will likely need 200-300 watts of UV with 600 ish gallons per hour of tank water flowing from DT directly back to DT.

I agree that your levels of phosphate and nitrates makes no sense. It’s certainly not the current classical dino scenario. They only information I can give you is that I had dinos about 10 years or so as well. I have no idea what my nutrient levels were back then because I didn’t test them, but they were likely high. I do know that when i replaced the sand, they went away.

If I were you, I’d keep manually removing it, wait for an ID from reeferfoxx, and keep replacing GAC. Also, any advice you get from salty, follow it. I’d also be looking at potential UV sterilizers. It sounds like you may be able to get your hands on one. That would be a huge bonus.

Yes, Dinos are mostly on rocks. my tank is bare bottom, but I have 2 tanks attached. the 2nd tank is a peninsula tank but the strange thing is that the bubbles are only seen in main dt and not in the tank attached.
When I mentioned @Velcro comment about sterilizing the water he mentioned a paper filter like the ones used in pharmaceutical industry to sterilize liquids. I was thinking of trying his idea and test one to try to trap as much dinos as possible for a couple of hours. Now I only have one 36watts UV lamp installed with 120 g per hour flowing since 24 hours ago.

do the dinos stay mainly in dt? I ask because UV lamp is recommended to be installed in dt and not in sump

Thanks for your help
regards

 

[dwest]

Yes, Dinos are mostly on rocks. my tank is bare bottom, but I have 2 tanks attached. the 2nd tank is a peninsula tank but the strange thing is that the bubbles are only seen in main dt and not in the tank attached.
When I mentioned @Velcro comment about sterilizing the water he mentioned a paper filter like the ones used in pharmaceutical industry to sterilize liquids. I was thinking of trying his idea and test one to try to trap as much dinos as possible for a couple of hours. Now I only have one 36watts UV lamp installed with 120 g per hour flowing since 24 hours ago.

do the dinos stay mainly in dt? I ask because UV lamp is recommended to be installed in dt and not in sump

Thanks for your help
regards

The paper filter sounds cool. Is it simply a small micron filter paper or something more elaborate?

The dinos are mostly in DT because that’s where the most lighting is. We have seen the most success running from DT back to it. I also had them in my now removed chaeto fuge as it was lit strongly as well.

You are welcome and good luck!

 

[sensei]

The paper filter sounds cool. Is it simply a small micron filter paper or something more elaborate?

The dinos are mostly in DT because that’s where the most lighting is. We have seen the most success running from DT back to it. I also had them in my now removed chaeto fuge as it was lit strongly as well.

You are welcome and good luck!

dwest,
I also noticed that my ATS did not grow GHA well, and had some slime on top. now that you mention that you had it in your chaeto maybe Dinos were also present in my ATS and this is why I can not grow a nice green algae as my other tank.

the filter it a sterilizing cartridge with a final membrane pore of 0.22 microns, I used a prefilter to prevent clogging of final filter. It is working perfectly fine.
I installed today and filtered water for around 4 hours after blowing rocks to make sure Dinos were in water column.
I was afraid to run it more time because it will strip all particles from water column.
I wll try to see if I find Dinos in the filter tomorrow.

here is a photo of the filter assembly I used

 

[dwest]

dwest,
I also noticed that my ATS did not grow GHA well, and had some slime on top. now that you mention that you had it in your chaeto maybe Dinos were also present in my ATS and this is why I can not grow a nice green algae as my other tank.

the filter it a sterilizing cartridge with a final membrane pore of 0.22 microns, I used a prefilter to prevent clogging of final filter. It is working perfectly fine.
I installed today and filtered water for around 4 hours after blowing rocks to make sure Dinos were in water column.
I was afraid to run it more time because it will strip all particles from water column.
I wll try to see if I find Dinos in the filter tomorrow.

here is a photo of the filter assembly I used

The slime in your ATS sounds like the slime I had in my cheato fuge. That’s where I first started noticing strange things.

Any idea how much flow you are getting through your sterilizer? Also, there may be some benefit to running this with lights out next time. Your dinos may go into the water column at night on their own. Please keep us posted and good luck.

 

[sensei]

The slime in your ATS sounds like the slime I had in my cheato fuge. That’s where I first started noticing strange things.

Any idea how much flow you are getting through your sterilizer? Also, there may be some benefit to running this with lights out next time. Your dinos may go into the water column at night on their own. Please keep us posted and good luck.

dwest,
I measured flow after the sterilizing filter and I was getting a little more than 2 gal per minute, I did not install a pressure manometer so I had caution not to give to much pressure to avoid breaking the membrane. I was afraid to leave filter all night because It was going to strip the water completely of small particles. I am not sure if sps can handle that? what do you think?

I have another filter in case I do it again.

This is what I have done: I used a powerhead to blow all rocks yesterday. Rocks looks somewhat clean of Dinos residue after that, at same time sterilizing filter was filtering water inside dt and UV lamp was has been on for 2 days now. In addition I changed GAC yesterday in case all that blowing released toxins from dinos.

I am not sure what to do next, can you please tell me what you think?

thanks a lot

 

[reeferfoxx]

yes they are moving all around. like circular form. but it could only see one type, like the pictures posted

With your image and your description, you have Coolia spp.

I see you found the dino thread and yes we can help you more there. Sorry for taking so long to respond.

 

[sensei]

With your image and your description, you have Coolia spp.

I see you found the dino thread and yes we can help you more there. Sorry for taking so long to respond.

Yes, thanks I will continue to do the questions in the dino thread.

 

[sensei]

Sounds like your on the right track.
Uv , no carbon dosing , gac.
If you don’t get much response from the coral , try purigen. The coral reaction is quite interesting.

@saltyfilmfolks

Salty
Happy new year!
I am not sure what you meant by "The coral reaction is quite interesting"??
can you please elaborate more about it?

I have not had a positive response from coral the ones that were irritated when this all began are still irritated, I just ordered purigen as you suggested and want to try it.

I am not sure how much should I use on my tank. should I stop GAC when I start purigen?
is purigen able to absorve toxins from water?
do you run purigen in a bag?

thanks a lot

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

@saltyfilmfolks

Salty
Happy new year!
I am not sure what you meant by "The coral reaction is quite interesting"??
can you please elaborate more about it?

I have not had a positive response from coral the ones that were irritated when this all began are still irritated, I just ordered purigen as you suggested and want to try it.

I am not sure how much should I use on my tank. should I stop GAC when I start purigen?
is purigen able to absorve toxins from water?
do you run purigen in a bag?

thanks a lot

Hi!
You can run carbon as well yes.
Purigen is kinda like a gfo or gac. It is resins that are formulated to remove origanic compounds. Many of those we’d call toxins.

A lot of dino threads the Ops will state the corals done open, lps will gape etc etc as a result of the toxins from the dinos. So when relief is provided the corals appear to be happier.

Like gfo and carbon, to get better results you can increase flow through and around it by running it in a reactor. A bag works as well, but I’d put it in a high flow area , on the return pump, in the overflow or filter sock.

 

[sensei]

Hi!
You can run carbon as well yes.
Purigen is kinda like a gfo or gac. It is resins that are formulated to remove origanic compounds. Many of those we’d call toxins.

A lot of dino threads the Ops will state the corals done open, lps will gape etc etc as a result of the toxins from the dinos. So when relief is provided the corals appear to be happier.

Like gfo and carbon, to get better results you can increase flow through and around it by running it in a reactor. A bag works as well, but I’d put it in a high flow area , on the return pump, in the overflow or filter sock.

Thanks for your answer @saltyfilmfolks

sorry if I ask to much,
what do you mean by the Ops?
lps will gape? not sure what you mean by gape?

I read that purigen was used to reduce NO3 by removing organics that then convert to NO3
When using purigen in a case of dinos do you wait till it changes color to regenerate with bleach anduse it again?
I am not sure how much should I use for my tank?

have you ever had Dinos?

Thanks again

 

[Diznaster]

OP is a common abbreviation in internet forums for "Original Poster". Basically the person that started the thread.