Confirmed ostreopsis and UV steralizer is doing nothing to help

The Opinionated Reefer

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I have confirmed ostreopsis in my tank and UV seems to be doing nothing to help.

I have had a TMC vecon 600 on the return pump the entire time and also recently added a 24 Green Killing machine to the display. So there is nearly 50w of UV running on this reefer 350 and if anything the dinos have got worse.

Phosphates are high around 0.35 and nitrates were near zero, So i assume this imbalance is partly to blame. I have started dosing nitrates and brought them up to 5ppm and it seems to only have made dino's worse.

I was really banking on the UV working, what am I meant to do now?
 

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Efficient effect of uv is gained with low flow through the uv app. You need long dwell time for the uv . Return pump is too fasy IMO.
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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it doesn't go into the substrate, pull up the mats and burn them, that UV only catches their diurnal modes and very little of them

pull your sandbed, clean out the tank first of all visible dinos, then install the uv in the clean condition to catch any regrowths. you need to help it. put the sandbed back after the system runs two months w no UV and no dinos. consult a rip clean thread to be able to remove the sand without causing a recycle.
 
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I have come home from work and the tank is 10x worse after I did what was recommended, I lowered the lighting and started dosing nitrates all it did was make the tank 10 x worse. Also been dosing hydrogen peroxide in the tank for a week and no effect only got worse.

I am starting to think everything that is said about dinos is just hearsay and horse ****. Nobody really knows how to deal with this ****!
 
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it doesn't go into the substrate, pull up the mats and burn them, that UV only catches their diurnal modes and very little of them

pull your sandbed, clean out the tank first of all visible dinos, then install the uv in the clean condition to catch any regrowths. you need to help it. put the sandbed back after the system runs two months w no UV and no dinos. consult a rip clean thread to be able to remove the sand without causing a recycle.
Im not pulling my sand bed, that's not really beating it, is it? That's like saying I beat AEFW by binning all my Acros.
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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no I can't agree to that, since we beat that by only pulling the sandbed even without uv in my rip clean threads. UV is what we add to go the extra mile, but the physical handling works majority of the time. in a large tank it makes sense why pulling the sandbed is a lot of work, you have to choose the point of intervention based on dinos commanding all your tank resources/smothering corals etc.

when ready to intervene, usually the dead last option, we have lots of those on file already plus outcomes to track.
 
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taricha

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if you have a confirmed ostreopsis ID, then doing lights-out can encourage more cells to take to the water, and get hit by UV.
Any visible brown you can simply remove by sucking out is even better than killing in-tank. Manual export is always a good idea to go along with whatever else is being done.
 

saltyhog

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Flow rate through the UV is critical. I've also noted GKM units to not be effective for dinos (likely related to the higher fixed flow rates). Don't go by manufacturer's recommendations for sizing or flow.....they don't consider dinos at all in making them. I've had good success with UV's sized about 1 watt for every 3 gallons of tank volume and flow 1-3x tank volume per hour. I usually start at the middle of that flow range and usually see marked improvement in a few days at most.

Also repeat slides often. Sometimes there are two types of dinos present and when one is impacted the other type takes over the territory occupied by the first. LCA, SCA are not susceptible to UV and Prorocentrum very often isn't.

Finally, installing the UV with a dedicated pump IN the display is tremendously more effective than plumbing it from the sump.
 

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I have come home from work and the tank is 10x worse after I did what was recommended, I lowered the lighting and started dosing nitrates all it did was make the tank 10 x worse. Also been dosing hydrogen peroxide in the tank for a week and no effect only got worse.

I am starting to think everything that is said about dinos is just hearsay and horse ****. Nobody really knows how to deal with this ****!
We know exactly how to prevent it for the most part

90 percent of Dino infestations happen in sterile tanks because people listen to the alarmist in the hobby that scared everyone into using dry rock and sand. I’d much rather have the pests that everyone is terrified of than have Dino’s. That’s just me! In my opinion a newbie or someone who isn’t a serious reefer shouldn’t even attempt to do a dry rock and sand sterile tank.

I had two attempts with that trash and both ended in Dino and breakdown along with stress because of missed expectations and lost money.

I’ve started a new ocean rock tank and don’t remember enjoying an aquarium this much since I was a kid. By now I’m almost positive both my dry rock sterile tanks were starting to show the first signs of trouble.

You want advice. Do the rip clean like Brandon has advised and add a little ocean rock when you put it all back together. Don’t be scared of GHA, worms, or a little aptasia. Those are all easy to deal with in comparison to dinos.

And chill out dude. Don’t have a meltdown and start flinging turds at the people trying to help you. It’s unbecoming
 

GatorGreg

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No more messing about, I have picked up and installed a deltec Professional UV.
Just throwing money and equipment at it probably isn’t going to help. I realize you have a big tank. But nothing else is working for you

Did you read the thread that Brandon showed you? The success stories. The success stories that were solved with actual effort. Not just buying every gadget and elixir you can think of.
 
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GatorGreg

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Im not pulling my sand bed, that's not really beating it, is it? That's like saying I beat AEFW by binning all my Acros.
Then don’t. Keep spending thousands of dollars on gadgets and be miserable and cussing on reef 2 reef lol. Maybe get a million watt UV.

I promise the corporations that own those companies appreciate you not actually doing anything to fix it besides buying gadgets.
 
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The Opinionated Reefer

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Just to update the naysayers in this thread, The deltec Professional UV worked, and within 2 days of installing it, the dinos were 95% gone. I brushed everything off the rocks and it got zapped by the UV and never came back. The tank is looking pristine.

No rip clean, no pulling the sand bed, no dosing pods, no dosing silicates, no dosing phyto. NONE OF THAT BS!

I just installed a decent-quality UV sterilizer in a display to display with the correct flow rate and boom they were gone within 3 days!
 

Cthulukelele

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I have confirmed ostreopsis in my tank and UV seems to be doing nothing to help.

I have had a TMC vecon 600 on the return pump the entire time and also recently added a 24 Green Killing machine to the display. So there is nearly 50w of UV running on this reefer 350 and if anything the dinos have got worse.

Phosphates are high around 0.35 and nitrates were near zero, So i assume this imbalance is partly to blame. I have started dosing nitrates and brought them up to 5ppm and it seems to only have made dino's worse.

I was really banking on the UV working, what am I meant to do now?
I never confirmed my type of dino, but running 350ish gph pump through 57w of UV on 170ish gallons of total water my minor Dino problem went away overnight. I'd echo the "slow the flow" people
 
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So 2 UV's didn't work so you're going to do the same experiment again?

How do you expect the result to be any different? I'm interested - honestly.
Because the other two UV's were cheap crap. You need an oversized and powerful UV sterilizer for it to do anything worthwhile.

I had a TMC Vecton 600 on the return line, it's crap and the also the flow was to fast for dinos and I had a green killing machine in the display again a totally worthless piece of crap. I installed a Deletc 20w UV which is the equivalent of a normal 40w and ran it on a pump with a flow of about 500 LPH in a display to display loop. The pump is a Sicce Syncra 05 pump to be exact.

Dinos have gone even from my sand bed!
 

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