gabelex14
Community Member
My tank is about 8 months old. 75 gallons plus a 20 long sump. My nuisance algae ugly face was minimal. Started with live rock which helped I think. This is my first reef tank so the leaning curve has been big. At about 5 months I started to really learn about the ionic balance in my tank because I was struggling with salinity. It was too low so everything was off.
About two months ago I got everything in the right direction due to ICP tests guidance. (Not correct just tending positive). I've been dosing Isol8 MT, Flouride, and sulfur. These were my major elements that were lacking. I had a short battle with cyano which I won. Did a water change.... Dino's.... both nitrate and phosphate bottomed out. I had been battling low phosphate but not nitrate.
This is obviously when my Dino battle began. I started by dosing brightwell phosphate product. As of today my PO4 has been hovering around .06. Shortly after I started dosing brightwell nitrate product. Nitrate levels have been steady around 10ppm. This has been about a week of these levels. My next move has been to start dosing silicate to create a more diverse ecosystem of algae. My hope is that diatoms will show up which I've read are much easier to deal with.
The status of my corals is mixed. I have a Blueberry Stylo colony that is completely unbothered. A PC rainbow frag that is showing very minimal distress along with an Oregon Tort. I have two birds nest colonies that are not happy. Dino's are frequently growing on their tips and are showing obvious annoyance. Tips are showing faded colors and polys are not extended. My chalice corals are most unbothered as well along with my Favia frags. Unfortunately my torches have had complete bailout and loss, I've made the choice to move to an SPS dominant system because of this.
Mechanically I'm running cups with filter floss, oddly enough the floss is showing a grayish brown color when I pull it every other day or so.
I plan on documenting for the foreseeable future what I do on a daily basis in the hopes that 1. I beat Dino's and then 2. People can follow a rookies journey in beating them and learn something. I'll add pictures as I go along.
I'm open to help and suggestions. Wish me luck!
About two months ago I got everything in the right direction due to ICP tests guidance. (Not correct just tending positive). I've been dosing Isol8 MT, Flouride, and sulfur. These were my major elements that were lacking. I had a short battle with cyano which I won. Did a water change.... Dino's.... both nitrate and phosphate bottomed out. I had been battling low phosphate but not nitrate.
This is obviously when my Dino battle began. I started by dosing brightwell phosphate product. As of today my PO4 has been hovering around .06. Shortly after I started dosing brightwell nitrate product. Nitrate levels have been steady around 10ppm. This has been about a week of these levels. My next move has been to start dosing silicate to create a more diverse ecosystem of algae. My hope is that diatoms will show up which I've read are much easier to deal with.
The status of my corals is mixed. I have a Blueberry Stylo colony that is completely unbothered. A PC rainbow frag that is showing very minimal distress along with an Oregon Tort. I have two birds nest colonies that are not happy. Dino's are frequently growing on their tips and are showing obvious annoyance. Tips are showing faded colors and polys are not extended. My chalice corals are most unbothered as well along with my Favia frags. Unfortunately my torches have had complete bailout and loss, I've made the choice to move to an SPS dominant system because of this.
Mechanically I'm running cups with filter floss, oddly enough the floss is showing a grayish brown color when I pull it every other day or so.
I plan on documenting for the foreseeable future what I do on a daily basis in the hopes that 1. I beat Dino's and then 2. People can follow a rookies journey in beating them and learn something. I'll add pictures as I go along.
I'm open to help and suggestions. Wish me luck!
