Back in again. 75g sps build thread

[dwest]

Currently making a bunch of RODI water in prep for some major tank work. Either wednesday or sunday I will be draining down the tank, removing all the rock for some cleaning and aptasia removal, sucking out all the sand in the display and fuge it getting moved to the trash. Yesturday I doesed 500ml of Reef Stew to the display and added a box of Siporax to the sump to increase biofilteration in prep for the sand being removed. I really really hate and dont want to go this route but it looks like its going to be the best method at controlling the amphidinium dinoflagellates. Since nothing else has worked and amphidinium stay on the sand gains protecting them from all other know methods of control removing their perfered sanctuary seems best. DinoX did help some I think but not completely and it had the nasty side effect of killing sps. Increased no3 and po4 has not done much but I thinknit has slowed them down some. 3 day black outs are ineffective against amphidinium because they are both photosynthetic and autotrophic so they can survive with no light. I think I may have pinned down the main cause for the dino bloom, newer tank with low bio diversity, low no3 amd po4 combined with dosing ChemiClean to treat cyano was the last factor to set the stage for dinos. With already low bio diversity using ChemiClean futher killed off benifical organisms leave a large place for dinos fill, thats the theory anyways.

I hate to say this, but the aiptasia will likely come back. If it were my tank, I would remove the sand and add some berghia. Either way, again good luck.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I was lucky also; my dino was ostreopsis. That amphid stuff is really tough to beat out. Which did you have?

Amphidinium

 

[ScottB]

Amphidinium

Can you share the short story on (or link to) your treatment method? Asking for a friend.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Can you share the short story on (or link to) your treatment method? Asking for a friend.

Now that I made you laugh..... It was simple. I did a good siphoning and water change. I then reduced my blues to 12% and turned off whites.
At night for 5 nights, I added 1m/l per 10 gallons of hydrogen Peroxide. Additionally I added .5 M'L of bacteria (Bacter 7)
by day 3, it was subsiding. Important things to add:
- Do not feed corals or add coral foods
- Do Not vodka dose or use NO3Po4-X
- Siphon or net any loose dino you can loosening with a turkey baster
- If dino goes to overflow, have a way to trap it so it does not return to intake of return pump

ONCE GONE, INCREASE WHITE GRADUALLY AND WEEKLY. CONTINUE TO DOSE PEROXIDE FOR 8 WEEKS AT .5M/L OF PEROXIDE PER 10 gals.

 

[Rick5]

Check out this video. I don't recall whether I actually found the video helpful. However, I purchased all of the bottled bacteria products referenced in the comments section from Amazon and I dosed the tank aggressively. I also added sea lettuce and pods (although I don't recall specifically which type of pods). I remember using a measuring cup and literally pouring cups of bacteria liquid into my tank. Initially, I failed to act and thought the dinoflagellates were simply algae or diatoms. Days into the dinoflagellate infestation, I began to lose SPS quickly. When I determined that the tank was suffering from a dinoflagellate infestation, I stopped performing water changes and proceeded to feed heavily, which had no visible impact. That negative trend went on for weeks (perhaps 2-3 weeks). After adding the bacteria I noticed an improvement within a few days and, if memory serves, I then added the sea lettuce and pods (although I can probably double check my credit card history to figure out what the precise timeline was). While I cannot definitively conclude that the bacteria, sea lettuce and pods kicked the dinoflagellates, those were the only additions/changes to my tank that correlate with the disappearance of the dinoflgatellates. I hope this helps someone because it was a nightmare.

Edit: I also remember trying (at the outset) hydrogen peroxide and shutting off the lights for prolonged periods of time but that did not help.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Thank you everyone for all the support and positive comments. I will take as many pics as I can when I do the reset and post progress. For aptasia removal I will be scrapping all the ones I find off and coving the area in F Aptasia. I know this wont get all of them but I can knock back most of them then add some peppermint shrimp once the psuedochrome aka Kill'a is gone. Cant find berghia locally and I think they woule get eaten by my sixline or blown around the tank by the flow.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Today is the day, about to get started on the tank. Wish me luck.

 

[MrWheelock]

Good luck!

 

[SeaDweller]

dang, the only time I think I’ve ever dealt with them was when I set up a frag tank in the beginning of the year. I’m almost positive it was dinos but didn’t confirm. Brown snot coming from the egg crate? I’m sure that sounds familiar.
The rock was from my current system and there we’re only two fish in there and some snails. The water ran clean but I dosed NO3 and ghost fed daily to the bacteria and the two fish. I dealt with it for about 3 weeks?

I beat it by letting all kinds of ugly algae grow and outcompete it. So maybe I got lucky.

and here I thought you were done with it

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Did not take as long as I thought it would. All went smooth with no issues. I removed some aptasia but know I did not get them all. Cleaned all the rock really well using a 5g bucket of tank water and swishing around plus some tooth brush action. Also found that last large bristle worm and removed it, it got a lot fatter. Pulled out a bunch of empty snail shells too, only the large turbos and my conch survived the dinos. The psuedochrome is in the QT tank now waiting to back to the LFS. Really glad to have that fiah out of the tank, now I can put shrimp in and add new fish without too many issues. Mman thing I hate about doing a reset is the rock work will never be the same again and I really liked my aquascape. The sand played a role in how the rock was placed so I had to make a few changes but got it close. Sorry pics not in order, do t know why it does that.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Tank has cleared up over night, crystal clear water now. I do miss the look of the sand and hate all the light spilling into the stand and sump now, so I need to do something about that. Going to clean the skimmer and pumps today along with a full water test.

 

[ScottB]

Tank has cleared up over night, crystal clear water now. I do miss the look of the sand and hate all the light spilling into the stand and sump now, so I need to do something about that. Going to clean the skimmer and pumps today along with a full water test.

Glad the restart went smoothly.
Just a thought since you had some dino. Don't go crazy cleaning things up too much. That is their cue to take over. Don't ask me how I know nor how many times I repeated this before putting 2 and 2 together.

Leave some bacterial and algal slime in the system for the restart. Run dirty for a while and slowly dial back nutrient once the algae gets some grip. Bare bottom adds to the risk of dino return -- but hey -- it won't be the sand based amphidinium!

Lastly, I think your scape is superb.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Glad the restart went smoothly.
Just a thought since you had some dino. Don't go crazy cleaning things up too much. That is their cue to take over. Don't ask me how I know nor how many times I repeated this before putting 2 and 2 together.

Leave some bacterial and algal slime in the system for the restart. Run dirty for a while and slowly dial back nutrient once the algae gets some grip. Bare bottom adds to the risk of dino return -- but hey -- it won't be the sand based amphidinium!

Lastly, I think your scape is superb.

Thanks for the comments. I did not do a full cleaning. Mainly just removed the sand, shook the rock in tank water to remove trapped sand and detritus and scrubbed off some hair algae. The rock was reused and kept wet in a 55g tank along with all the live stock.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Pics from today.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Well so far so good. Not quiet a full week since the mini reset and sand removal, no visable amphidinium dinoflagellates so far. The few remaining corals are perking up, my BamBam zoas are slowing opening up after over a month. New coraline is popping up as ia some green film algae on the rock. Even my turbo snails are more active, maybe I will add some new snails and see if they live. Snails would die within a few days when the dino was full swing. No4 and po4 are both nice and high, 20ppm and 0.21ppm. Last big thing is I bought 2 Hydra 32 HDs for the reef. These will be replacing the 2 PFO 250W MH lights. Pretty excited for the LED upgrade.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Yep

 

[ScottB]

Those lights should produce some nice shimmer and color for sure. Enjoy.

How are you acclimating to the BB look so far? I am seeing more & more large cell amphid victims in the dino thread. Still no conclusive answers for them aside from sucking out sand which no one wants to hear.

Keep those nutrients up. I am just coming out of my second relapse now. (Bangs palm to forehead)

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Looking forward to the differences you see with the new lights long term.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Those lights should produce some nice shimmer and color for sure. Enjoy.

How are you acclimating to the BB look so far? I am seeing more & more large cell amphid victims in the dino thread. Still no conclusive answers for them aside from sucking out sand which no one wants to hear.

Keep those nutrients up. I am just coming out of my second relapse now. (Bangs palm to forehead)

Yeah I am excited to get them hung over the reef. Possible project for tomorrow if Homedepot is open. Going to make a hanging rail.

Getting used to the BB look again, once coraline starts growing on the bottom glass it will look better. I still need to black out the under side of the tank, all the light spill into the sump really bugs me. Yeah I am seeing more and more posts about amphidinium dinoflagellates too. I just ID'd amphidinium in my brothers tank as well. Seems the only way to get an upper hand on it is to remove the sand. I really wonder why this seems to becoming a common and major issue the reef tanks. Lack of real ocean live rock is part of it for sure but in my case I started with some fairly decent live rock that had a good diversity of life on it and just after a year dinos showed up.

No3 was 15-20ppm on API and 40ppm on Red Sea Pro, not sure why the large difference but no3 is there. Po4 is 0.21ppm Hanna ULR. Bought some liquid no3 and po4 and have not even needed it.

 

[ScottB]

Yeah I am excited to get them hung over the reef. Possible project for tomorrow if Homedepot is open. Going to make a hanging rail.

Getting used to the BB look again, once coraline starts growing on the bottom glass it will look better. I still need to black out the under side of the tank, all the light spill into the sump really bugs me. Yeah I am seeing more and more posts about amphidinium dinoflagellates too. I just ID'd amphidinium in my brothers tank as well. Seems the only way to get an upper hand on it is to remove the sand. I really wonder why this seems to becoming a common and major issue the reef tanks. Lack of real ocean live rock is part of it for sure but in my case I started with some fairly decent live rock that had a good diversity of life on it and just after a year dinos showed up.

No3 was 15-20ppm on API and 40ppm on Red Sea Pro, not sure why the large difference but no3 is there. Po4 is 0.21ppm Hanna ULR. Bought some liquid no3 and po4 and have not even needed it.

Does seem to be common now versus I never knew what it was a year ago. Part of it probably awareness and the social media effect of more shared info. Maybe even more new reefers than past I dunno. Or all the new cool toys/chems we have for stripping nutrients. All of the above perhaps.