Brown hair algae impossible to beat!!

[ReeferBean]

I don’t think it’s Dino’s. My guess on the rock is chrysophyte and on sandbed Cyanobacteria.
Lots of algaes create bubbles when they make a mat.

If the mat remains the same day and night, I am a little more confident that it is cyano on sand. Increase the flow, and get nitrate up to 10.
For algae on rocks you can just suction out into a filter sock. Keep NO3 5-10 and PO4 0.05-0.1 and you will start getting a green algae that the snails will eat.

A microscope will make identification of what you are dealing with much more certain. You can post pics on here and people will be able to help you ID it.

Dino’s, cyano, chrysophyte are all treated very differently. So actual microscope ID comes in really handy.

I agree. Looks like cyano to me as well.

 

[SMSREEF]

I agree. Looks like cyano to me as well.

I was wrong, lol. Microscope pic shows dinos

 

[Willbiker]

Funny enough before your recent post i was going to go for a and f. Ive removed my skimmer cup and have upped my feeding in order to get my po4 and no3 up.

My uv is now plumbed in however ive read that this type of dino doesn't become water bound. Ill leave it on anyway.

Ive also ordered some microbacter7 to dose and ill look to order pods too.

Ive also got a 5 micron sock on order. I will vacuum using it for a week or 2 to see if this helps. If I go insane..ill stop

Ive just seen dj city's post where he set up a uv pumping from the sand bed. I may give this a go .

Thanks again

 

[Willbiker]

It is quite the read. While there are countless variations, I would generally group the methods in these buckets:

a) keep nutrient up (NO3 and PO4) and dose silicates to encourage competition. And wait for diatoms and cyano to suppress them.
b) Rip the sand bed out. Add it back little at a time several months later.
c) The Elegance Coral method (H2O2 and bacteria)
d) Drive yourself crazy vacuuming the sand for the rest of your life method.
e) The "it is just a phase" method.
f) The Add diversity method. Add old live rock. Add pods. Add media or sand from another system. Add mud to sump.

The Elegance method seems very popular, but if you read enough of the thread, anecdotally it is a 50/50 flip of the coin as to whether it works or not. And it is fairly intense intrusion into the biome.

Personally a fan of "a" and "f" at least for the long term.

<begin rant> I won't start a system without a ton of old live rock or aged marine pure block. Hitchhikers can be managed. Every hitchhiker has a predator except for dinos. Dinos need to be outcompeted with a nice wide variety of bacterial film, film algae, coralline algae, microfauna, etc. <end rant>

Good luck.

This may be a stupid question but where would I add the pods? In the display or in my chaeto in the sump? Any particular type of copepods? Thanks

 

[ReeferBean]

I was wrong, lol. Microscope pic shows dinos

Me too apparently. I'm late to the party... carry on.

Feed more to get your nitrates up is my recommendation.

 

[rkpetersen]

Instead of feeding to get nitrate up, you can actually dose sodium nitrate. If you buy reagent grade sodium nitrate, the formula is:

[Target nitrate level (ppm) - Current nitrate level (if not zero)] x Tank volume (liters) / 0.73 = Total sodium nitrate dose (mg)

For increasing phosphate, I use SeaChem Flourish Phosphorus. A few ml, check the level again, add more as needed. I use this approach in part because rechecking the phosphorus level with the Hanna checker is fast, accurate, and cheap. I have some reagent grade sodium phosphate too but haven't used it yet. It's trickier because you have to know which of the many forms of the salt you're using, or the dosage calculation won't come out right.

 

[rkpetersen]

This may be a stupid question but where would I add the pods? In the display or in my chaeto in the sump? Any particular type of copepods? Thanks

You can add them anywhere, or both locations, and more than once.
Tisbe pods are the ones that eat detritus. Theoretically, they might compete with dinos.

 

[rkpetersen]

Ive also got a 5 micron sock on order. I will vacuum using it for a week or 2 to see if this helps. If I go insane..ill stop

5 micron should work well. Even at 1 micron, the water goes through quickly. When you pull the sock up out of the bucket, you can see all the dinos collected. Back rinse it with RODI water and it's ready to use again.

 

[Willbiker]

Can anyone tell me what the ideal nitrate and phosphate levels should be for the dino war? After 3 days if over feeding, my phosphate has climbed from 0.08 to 0.12 but my nitrate has not budged from 0....it won't rise.

I am running carbon in a reactor, should I stop this as I think I have LC Amphidinium which apparently isn't toxic.

Thanks

 

[SMSREEF]

Can anyone tell me what the ideal nitrate and phosphate levels should be for the dino war? After 3 days if over feeding, my phosphate has climbed from 0.08 to 0.12 but my nitrate has not budged from 0....it won't rise.

I am running carbon in a reactor, should I stop this as I think I have LC Amphidinium which apparently isn't toxic.

Thanks

Goal Nitrate 10, phosphate 0.1

 

[Willbiker]

Goal Nitrate 10, phosphate 0.1

Thanks. My nitrate is climbing. Is there an amount I shouldn't go above?

Also I have removed my skimmer cup, should I leave it in?

 

[Ludders]

no leave that off, it will help raise the nitrates

 

[SMSREEF]

Thanks. My nitrate is climbing. Is there an amount I shouldn't go above?

Also I have removed my skimmer cup, should I leave it in?

I would shoot for 10. It took dosing for me to get there, so I didn’t go over, I would just decrease dosing if you are above 10.

There are plenty of tanks that do well with a higher nitrate level.

Which test kit are you using for nitrate? What is the actual level of nitrate today?

 

[Willbiker]

I would shoot for 10. It took dosing for me to get there, so I didn’t go over, I would just decrease dosing if you are above 10.

There are plenty of tanks that do well with a higher nitrate level.

Which test kit are you using for nitrate? What is the actual level of nitrate today?

Whats the max I should let my phosphate get to? Its already at 0.12.

Nitrate is 0. I have an api kit which heard was crap. So I grabbed my nt labs kit for my pond and that also reads 0 so I'm sure I'm on 0. Ive ordered some neonitro.

I'm just concerned about my rising phosphate. At what point should I turn my gfo back on to controll it. Thanks

 

[SMSREEF]

Get the nitrate to 10 and I bet the phosphate goes down without any GFO.

many organisms that compete with Dino’s need both phosphate and nitrate. Without nitrate, they can’t grow and use the phosphate.

 

[Willbiker]

I've turned my flow right up and soon will have a 5 micron sock. Without thinking, I ordered copepods and phytoplankton....but a 5 micron sock will catch them wont they? :S

Am I better putting my 100 or 200 micron sock in to stop the pods and plankton being caught or is it better to leave the 5 micron in to catch the dino?

 

[Ludders]

You could turn off your return pump for a little while to let the copepods grab hold of some rock, phytoplankton should also settle or be consumed by the coral.

 

[ScottB]

Get the nitrate to 10 and I bet the phosphate goes down without any GFO.

many organisms that compete with Dino’s need both phosphate and nitrate. Without nitrate, they can’t grow and use the phosphate.

^+1 when you get nitrate in there, PO4 will drop.

Anything below say .18 or so should keep you out of trouble.

 

[Willbiker]

Hi Again! Question...

I moved a dish of dino covered sand a couple of weeks ago into my QT tank to help with the Quarantining of a small chalk goby. He has been in there sifting but the DINO has completely gone. I decided to just visually QT this fish instead of using cupramine. I QT some fish before this goby and did 80% water change so there is still come cupramine in the water. probably under 0.1. Do you think its this which has killed the dino or the sifting from the Goby turning the sand over?

Will mild curpamine kill dino?

 

[moz71]

Hi Again! Question...

I moved a dish of dino covered sand a couple of weeks ago into my QT tank to help with the Quarantining of a small chalk goby. He has been in there sifting but the DINO has completely gone. I decided to just visually QT this fish instead of using cupramine. I QT some fish before this goby and did 80% water change so there is still come cupramine in the water. probably under 0.1. Do you think its this which has killed the dino or the sifting from the Goby turning the sand over?

Will mild curpamine kill dino?

Hard to say exactly. The goby will definitely keep the sand clean but Dino’s would be seen on glass pumps etc. remember every tank is different. There is Dino’s in every tank it just what makes them proliferate is the key. I would not assume the cuprimine did it. Basically impossible to tell why not a plague in you QT