Back in again. 75g sps build thread

[Justin Aretz]

Yep dinoflagellates, confirmed. Alive, moving and thriving unfortunately.

So now the plan is to use Dino X starting with lights out tonight. Bacteria dosing is not really helping much and between Live Rock Enhance, MB7 and MB Clean the tank has been heavily dosed with good bacteria.
Some sad current tank shots too.

Those appear to be unarmored dinos. I have had success 100% of the time by adding a variety of microfauna (pods) and feeding the hell out of the pods with spirulina (food as well as a phosphate source). What are your current params?

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Those appear to be unarmored dinos. I have had success 100% of the time by adding a variety of microfauna (pods) and feeding the hell out of the pods with spirulina (food as well as a phosphate source). What are your current params?

I have not done a water test this week, work has been crazy and I did not have time on Wednesday which is my water test day. Last weeks testing results, temp 77.0 ph 7.93 salinity 1.026 alk 7.5 cal 400 no3 0.25 po4 0.01. Alk and cal are low because I am not dosing or doing water changes as part the dino battle. I dose no3 to keep it detectable but I just ran out so I need to get more and some po4 to dose as well. The tank has a healthy pod population already but I have been thinking about adding some Reef Stew which is full live pods, brine shrimp and phyto.
Well I spoke too soon about loosing corals. Last night a few more of my acros rtn'd and my montis all look really bad again. Its hard to say if its from the either the no lights for 3 days and only blues or if its from the DinoX, for sure their poor health is a major factor either way. But the sand is clean and clear of dino right now. I am also seeing several patches of green hair algae on the rock. Even a small patch of bubble algae which is odd because I have never had it in this tank, have not seen it in any systems I bought fish or corals from and have not added anything new for a while. From what I have researched on dino having green algaes showing up is a good sign. My filter sock has not been nasty brown with dinos for the last few days as well. Filter socks have been full of dino for over a month. Hopefully the dinos wont show back up in the next days. Hoping I am on the right path now and I my outlook on my reef is becoming more postive. Getting the drive back now.

 

[SeaDweller]

I have not done a water test this week, work has been crazy and I did not have time on Wednesday which is my water test day. Last weeks testing results, temp 77.0 ph 7.93 salinity 1.026 alk 7.5 cal 400 no3 0.25 po4 0.01. Alk and cal are low because I am not dosing or doing water changes as part the dino battle. I dose no3 to keep it detectable but I just ran out so I need to get more and some po4 to dose as well. The tank has a healthy pod population already but I have been thinking about adding some Reef Stew which is full live pods, brine shrimp and phyto.
Well I spoke too soon about loosing corals. Last night a few more of my acros rtn'd and my montis all look really bad again. Its hard to say if its from the either the no lights for 3 days and only blues or if its from the DinoX, for sure their poor health is a major factor either way. But the sand is clean and clear of dino right now. I am also seeing several patches of green hair algae on the rock. Even a small patch of bubble algae which is odd because I have never had it in this tank, have not seen it in any systems I bought fish or corals from and have not added anything new for a while. From what I have researched on dino having green algaes showing up is a good sign. My filter sock has not been nasty brown with dinos for the last few days as well. Filter socks have been full of dino for over a month. Hopefully the dinos wont show back up in the next days. Hoping I am on the right path now and I my outlook on my reef is becoming more postive. Getting the drive back now.

I hope so too

 

[Nar-1992]

Nice build

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Nice build

Thanks, appreciate that.

 

[wareagle]

Sorry to see that you did have Dinos, sucks that the microscope took so long to get to you. There's a guy on youtube that cleared his system of Dinos by using his UV filter inline with his gravel vac and sending the water back to the sump. Mine were looking so bad that I didn't even want to give that a try, so I just took all the sand out, but if you're going to be clearing them out anyway it may be worth a try.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Here is the reef today after 4 doses of DinoX and 3 days with no MH and only 6 hours of the blue led bar, turned the MH back on for 3 hours a daily 2 days ago.

And this was Nov 2nd

The dino sticky in the nuisance algae forum and my thread in the same forum has been very helpful in putting an ID on the dinos. That has helped in knowing how to deal with them. Cyano showed up again but also has totally cleared up. There are several patches of green hair algae growing on the rock and even some bubble algae showed up. The bubble algae suprised me, this tank has never had it and I have not introduced it on anything, no new additions for a while.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Making some major progress on the dinos finally. DinoX is work, it may also be killing my remaining sps. Still seeing some light patches showing up again on the sand now thatbthe lights have been on for a few days. So still dosing DinoX and mixing up the sand a few hours before dosing. I ordered some Brightwell Noe Phos , Nitro and BRS Pharma Kalk. Going to switch from 2 part back to kalk which I used for years successfully and dose no3 and po4 to 10ppm and 0.10ppm. I wonder why this tank cant maintain decent nutrient levels, I never had this issue with my other tanks.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Um wow, yeah. Water test today. No3 at 15-20ppm and po4 at 0.09 ppm. No dosing of either and no changes. Either the dino was consuming all the no3 and po4 cause a false low reading or the dinos are dieing and releasing locked up no3 and po4 back into the water.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Hello everyone! Keeping you updated on the reef and the battle on dinoflagellates. Still dosing DinoX and it has really been helping. Still dosing bacteria but not heavy because of the DinoX dosing, 5mls each of MB7 and MB Clean 2 times a week. Blowing off the rock and stirring up the sand bed with a 30-45 minute bubble scrubbing after once a week. Seems to be working as dinos are nearly cleared up but still some small brown patches. Dinos are seen under the microscope from samples of these areas, a lot less now though. Tomorrow will be the 8th dose of DinoX and Fauna Marin says a minimum of 10 for dinos. Down to only a few sps, at this point I can barely call my tank a reef. Nothing good happens fast so I just need to keep on this path and be patient. There is light at the end of this long tunnel.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Finished off the DinoX treatment. Just finished a 15g water change. Now its time to get back on track with regular maintenance and get the lights back up to full time duration. Going to keep a close eye on no3 and po4 and dose as needed. Hopefully the dinos dont some back up. I only have 2 sps frags left now. A browned out rainbow stylo and a nearly gone seasons greatings monti. Not going to add any sps until these 2 are looking good again. For now just want to keep the tank stable and dino free. I will add some more easy frags of lps and zoas if everything goes well.

 

[DS204]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts about the product. I'm battling green hair algae and I've been following along your journey and observing your results.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts about the product. I'm battling green hair algae and I've been following along your journey and observing your results.

Thanks! Funny I was happy when GHA started showing up in my tank. Trust me its way better than dinos. Try Vibrant or Micro Bacter Clean for the hair algae, stuff works.
Tank as of today, looking empty but clean.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

I am glad it’s cleaned up. Hope you get it stocked back up soon.

 

[DS204]

Try Vibrant or Micro Bacter Clean for the hair algae, stuff works.

Tank is looking much better! Trying Prodibio Biodigest right now, but if that doesn't do the trick I am switching to Vibrant after seeing it work on your setup. Cheers, thx!

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Tank is looking much better! Trying Prodibio Biodigest right now, but if that doesn't do the trick I am switching to Vibrant after seeing it work on your setup. Cheers, thx!

Thanks! I did not use Vibrant. I used DinoX which is for dinoflagellates only also dosed Micro Bacter7 and Micro Bacter Clean. Hair algae needs a totally different aproach than dinoflagellates. Controlling no3 and po4, manual removal, a good clean up crew and tangs will help a lot.

I am glad it’s cleaned up. Hope you get it stocked back up soon.

Thanks! As much as I want it full of sps frags again I am going to go slow. Concentrate on stability and biodiversity to prevent another dinoflagellate bloom. Once I see my remaining corals looks good I will start to add new frags again.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

How about a subject change.?

Picked up these 55g barrels for $20 each. Water station build just got real.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Really hope this is not dinos again. I added in 10 lbs of cleaned sand that was removed while syphoning out dinos and hope is just some diatoms. So over this crap and just want my reef back. Highly considering UV now, ya more equipment and cords.

 

[ScottB]

Depending on the Dino species, UV is a Godsend. But yeah, brown on the sand is more likely boring diatoms.

Sorry have not read back that far; did you get an ID on the dinos?

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Depending on the Dino species, UV is a Godsend. But yeah, brown on the sand is more likely boring diatoms.

Sorry have not read back that far; did you get an ID on the dinos?

Yea I did but I would need to look about at some posts to see which dino it was. Its the kind that lives in the sand and disapears at night.