Battling Dino and a bottomed out tank

[Jamiem1976]

Hey guys, I need of some help.

I'm battling quite a strong outbreak of Dino's, not sure what form as I have no way to ID as yet.

My parameters have bottomed out almost certainly due to the outbreak. Ammonia, Phosphate and Nitrite all zero, nitrate 1 or 2. I know I need to get these up but I also don't want it to be detrimental to the tank too.

I've a fluval Evo 52l, using bio orbs as media along with the stock carbon and porcelain pouch (new carbon pouch being added today). I've tried to siphon out some of the water bourne stuff but not having much luck apart from taking plenty of water out. Have some filter socks coming today which I'm going to try to use as a net.

I don't have a tonne of money to waste on options that arent going to work so I thought I'd ask for those with far superior knowledge.

Any help really appreciated, I'm really struggling.

 

[waqas_01]

Definitely ID it before spending any money. A toy scope that can do 300x-600x will work. You may be able to just add UV if you have a strain that reacts well to UV.

Regardless of type, you'll want to bring phosphate up to roughly 0.1ppm and nitrate at about 5-10ppm to let other things outcompete it.

When you dose phosphate, go slow and test often. The worst thing I did was let it jump a lot and I lost almost all corals.

I had coolia dino and i removed the sand over 4 weeks, added a piece of live rock, dosed phyto and pods, siphoned into a 10um sock in the sump for a week daily, along with elevated nutrients to get it out the door.

 

[IslandLifeReef]

I agree, you should try to identify the type first. Also, what are you using to test parameters. 0 ppm for PO4 on an API test kit is different than 0 ppm PO4 on a Hanna ULR checker.

 

[LiveFreeAndReef]

Hey guys, I need of some help.

I'm battling quite a strong outbreak of Dino's, not sure what form as I have no way to ID as yet.

My parameters have bottomed out almost certainly due to the outbreak. Ammonia, Phosphate and Nitrite all zero, nitrate 1 or 2. I know I need to get these up but I also don't want it to be detrimental to the tank too.

I've a fluval Evo 52l, using bio orbs as media along with the stock carbon and porcelain pouch (new carbon pouch being added today). I've tried to siphon out some of the water bourne stuff but not having much luck apart from taking plenty of water out. Have some filter socks coming today which I'm going to try to use as a net.

I don't have a tonne of money to waste on options that arent going to work so I thought I'd ask for those with far superior knowledge.

Any help really appreciated, I'm really struggling.

What temperature are you keeping the aquarium? Do you have lots of corals or is it fish only?

 

[Jamiem1976]

Temp usually at 25 but upped to 27 last night as I heard that can help. Woke up to a murky tank, both frostbites hiding behind a rock at the bottom, odd behaviour for them. Also have firefish and Cardinal too with a Kenya tree and a cabbage.

 

[Jamiem1976]

Latest pics, very very difficult to take as I'm using basically a child's toy

 

[waqas_01]

Latest pics, very very difficult to take as I'm using basically a child's toy

I cant really tell from the pic/vid. It may be clearer to you in person. Try referencing against this guide that was linked to me when I had them.

 

[BanjoBandito]

That small of a tank I'd rip clean it and rinse the sand, then use new water for the startup and begin silicates to trigger a diatom bloom.

 

[undermind]

You mentioned that your parameters bottomed out, almost certainly because of the outbreak. I'd suggest that it's almost certainly the other way around. Dinos usually appear after nutrients bottom out and create an environment where nothing can outcompete the dinos.

You also mentioned not having a ton of money to waste on options that aren't going to work. In respect of that, I think the best thing you could do now that has little to no cost is raise your nutrients to a point where other things can outcompete the dinos. That is a pretty essential part of beating them, probably regardless of which type of dinos you have. A reading of 0.1 phosphates on a test kit you can trust is a baseline, and keep it up there. If your nitrates are in a decent ratio, these will end up at 10 or so at that point. But focus on the phosphates as that's the most important thing right now. You don't need a full suite of test results on all your other params every time you test.

Also in regard to money, UV can help but it definitely depends on the type of dinos so don't throw money at the problem until you establish that phosphate baseline and the type of dinos. And I still might ripclean like Banjo said before spending a ton of money on a fix like UV.

A couple other thoughts...

I would consider pulling those bio orbs. When functioning, bio balls reduce nutrients. Those will fight with your effort to establish phosphates and nitrates again.

After you get your phosphates up (or even if you ripclean), consider adding a piece or two of actual live rock. Or some sand from someone else's mature tank. Or some live rock rubble from Aquabiomics. Any of these will help establish a microbiome that will help keep dinos at bay.

And maybe the best advice is check out some of the other threads about dinos but focus on the ones that take a holistic approach, like the "are you tired of battling altogether" thread. Lots of good info there even on the first page.

Good luck.

 

[Jamiem1976]

I have some better pics now (I hope), thinking it's ostreopsis as tank is cloudy in the morning and also I had a flourishing GSP which now seems to have died

 

[Screwgunner]

I was told to get my nitrates up to 10 it will make the dinos explode from the inside out. Go slow!

 

[sixty_reefer]

It’s the other way around, you got dinoflagellates because your po4 bottom out. Due to the lack of nutrients your bacteria went dormant and left the space for a dinoflagellates bloom. Normally all you need to do is to bring your nutrients up to awake that bacteria again and bring the dinoflagellates under control. Dosing live phytoplankton is a good procedure in this occasion due to be rich in N and P from the fertiliser used in the culture and amino acids.

 

[Screwgunner]

Have you seen tank of the month. 0 n. 0p. And nice!

 

[sixty_reefer]

Have you seen tank of the month. 0 n. 0p. And nice!

I guarantee you that information is not accurate

 

[Rams]

Here is what i did..it may or may not work for you depending on ID..I turned off skimmer for 3 days,dosed microbacter 7 and they are all gone(possibility of increasing nutrients and bacteria invading them).

 

[sixty_reefer]

Here is what i did..it may or may not work for you depending on ID..I turned off skimmer for 3 days,dosed microbacter 7 and they are all gone(possibility of increasing nutrients and bacteria invading them).

Have you got detected nutrients now?

 

[Dburr1014]

I have some better pics now (I hope), thinking it's ostreopsis as tank is cloudy in the morning and also I had a flourishing GSP which now seems to have died

Ostreos spin in circles, I didn't see that in the video.
Did you look thru the guide? It is very possible you have more than one type.

 

[Rams]

Yes nutrients came up from N-0,P-0 to N-9,P-0.06

Have you got detected nutrients now?