Dino Wars

[Keko21]

I posted the start of this battle before but just as a recap- I dosed reefroids which spiked my phosphate to .08 (usually runs at around .02) and caused my corals to slime like crazy. I did a water change which dropped my NO3 to zero. I noticed within 12 hours and cut my skimmer. NO3 came back to 7ppm within 24 hours. Too late apparently as the dinos already took hold.

After getting an affirmative ID at WWC as well as conferring with many of you here, I decided to start with a 3 day blackout while simultaneously dosing Dr. Tim’s Re-Fresh. After 3 days the blue lights came back on and I started dosing Dr. Tim’s Waste Away.

There was definitely an improvement, but my dinos were not dead and have started to make a come back. Also I did loose my small dime sized BTA after dosing the waste away . All other corals, inverts and fish were unaffected.

Rather than finish two more days of waste away, when there is clearly living dinos in my tank, I reverted back to step 1. Hopefully I can take advantage of their weakened state.

As of today I’ve started another 3 day black out, and using re-fresh like before (45ml for 90 gallons). In addition, I have added 9ml of hydrogen peroxide for some extra kick. I reached out to Dr. Tims and they advised dosing H2O2 with their products should not be an issue. My skimmer is off until I go home for lunch, and gets turned off for a few hours after each dosing.

I’ll provide and update in 3 days when the blankets come off.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Best of luck with getting rid of them!!

 

[vetteguy53081]

I posted the start of this battle before but just as a recap- I dosed reefroids which spiked my phosphate to .08 (usually runs at around .02) and caused my corals to slime like crazy. I did a water change which dropped my NO3 to zero. I noticed within 12 hours and cut my skimmer. NO3 came back to 7ppm within 24 hours. Too late apparently as the dinos already took hold.

After getting an affirmative ID at WWC as well as conferring with many of you here, I decided to start with a 3 day blackout while simultaneously dosing Dr. Tim’s Re-Fresh. After 3 days the blue lights came back on and I started dosing Dr. Tim’s Waste Away.

There was definitely an improvement, but my dinos were not dead and have started to make a come back. Also I did loose my small dime sized BTA after dosing the waste away . All other corals, inverts and fish were unaffected.

Rather than finish two more days of waste away, when there is clearly living dinos in my tank, I reverted back to step 1. Hopefully I can take advantage of their weakened state.

As of today I’ve started another 3 day black out, and using re-fresh like before (45ml for 90 gallons). In addition, I have added 9ml of hydrogen peroxide for some extra kick. I reached out to Dr. Tims and they advised dosing H2O2 with their products should not be an issue. My skimmer is off until I go home for lunch, and gets turned off for a few hours after each dosing.

I’ll provide and update in 3 days when the blankets come off.

Low to no NO3 will help them thrive and with dino, 3 days not enough
Prepare by starting by blowing this stuff loose with a turkey baster and siphon up loose particles. Turn lights off (at least white and run blue at 10-15% IF you have light dependant corals) for 5 days and at night dose 1ml of 3% hydrogen peroxide per 10 gallons for all 5 nights. If you dont have light dependent coral- turn all lights off. During the day dose 1ml of liquid bacteria (such as micro bacter 7 or XLM) per 10 gallons. Clean filters daily and DO NOT FEED CORAL FOODS OR ADD NOPOX

 

[Keko21]

Low to no NO3 will help them thrive and with dino, 3 days not enough
Prepare by starting by blowing this stuff loose with a turkey baster and siphon up loose particles. Turn lights off (at least white and run blue at 10-15% IF you have light dependant corals) for 5 days and at night dose 1ml of 3% hydrogen peroxide per 10 gallons for all 5 nights. If you dont have light dependent coral- turn all lights off. During the day dose 1ml of liquid bacteria (such as micro bacter 7 or XLM) per 10 gallons. Clean filters daily and DO NOT FEED CORAL FOODS OR ADD NOPOX

Thats the plan!

 

[Steven Garland]

I am starting my battle as well. Ordered some sponge power,gonna pick up some more pods and phyto from TSA tomorrow.

I'm not worried about diatoms,honestly. Acro's are fine,color and PE are grest but the tank looks like trash.

 

[Keko21]

Update: Blackout Day 2

NO3: 2ppm - a little lower than I am comfortable with. Turning the skimmer off for 24 hours.

Phos: .04- perfect.

All inhabitants are ok.

Dinos have definitely receded, but i can still see some clumps in the sand. Not sure if they are alive or dead, but this is pretty much what it looked like on the last black out.

 

[ggNoRe]

Keep us updated. Any before pics?

 

[Keko21]

Keep us updated. Any before pics?

 

[ggNoRe]

Mine is very similar

 

[Keko21]

Day “4” update: Round two of blackout is done. Every inhabitant seems healthy and happy- (one firefish is flashing but i think its the H2O2). No sign of dinos ….so far.
Lights are back on at 30% blue only. Last time i saw them regrowing within an hour of the lights on so we will see.

Dosed the part 2 “Waste Away” of Dr. Tims along with H2O2 and plan to continue this for the next 4-5 days.

Don’t know when I will be considered “safe” lol.

Pickle also approves of the clean sand!

 

[Keko21]

Yup about 3 hours later they were rearing their stupid slimy heads again. Again a little bit weaker, but that said i had my blue lights only at 30%.

looks like black out #3 is around the corner, unless anyone has any other suggestions?

maybe silica dosing and grow diatoms to compete?

 

[ggNoRe]

I think the next step would be silica dosing along with adding some carbon with a liquid bacteria. But be careful with the latter it creates a bacteria bloom which can deplete the oxygen from the system.

 

[Keko21]

Finally, found a legit description of exactly which dino I am dealing with! Amphidinium! Stays in the sand, and does not appear on the rocks- looks exactly like what I have under the microscope. Silica dosing it is! Just ordered some Brightwell Spongexcel which will be here Thursday. Let's grow some diatoms!

New playbook:
1. Going to stop h202 and blackouts.
2. Going to finish my regimen of waste away for the next 3 days.
3. Run activated carbon with weakly changes
4. Add SpongeExcel per : https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/d...tling-altogether.293318/page-125#post-4401491
5. Double dose of Ocean Magik Daily
6. Keeping my blue lights at 40% and no whites.

 

[thedon986]

Best of luck, amphidinium pushed me into shutting down earlier this year and am restarting now with all maricultured rock and sand. Those steps are a great plan to follow, hope they work for you. Know that even with those steps these may hang around for a very long time.

 

[Keko21]

Best of luck, amphidinium pushed me into shutting down earlier this year and am restarting now with all maricultured rock and sand. Those steps are a great plan to follow, hope they work for you. Know that even with those steps these may hang around for a very long time.

honestly just happy I know what it is. Also lucky that it's only a sand dweller and shouldn't mess with my corals.

 

[TokenReefer]

Not to throw you for a loop but say the dino's are beaten, the sand is bare again, what's the plan to stop them from coming back? Are you introducing anything to fill that niche? Are you ok with algae doing so?

 

[Keko21]

Not to throw you for a loop but say the dino's are beaten, the sand is bare again, what's the plan to stop them from coming back? Are you introducing anything to fill that niche? Are you ok with algae doing so?

Well if they are truly beaten, (i.e. starved out by the diatoms) I would hope they are in fact eradicated. My guess is that I can't clear out the diatoms just at the first sight of no dinos. I think I am going to have to let the diatoms go for at least a week or more after seeing no sign of dinos before I even stop dosing Si. Other than that, just making sure I don't tank my nutrients again.
If this is successful, and they do come back later, I still think the algae is the most natural, and least harmful way to manage.

 

[TokenReefer]

Well if they are truly beaten, (i.e. starved out by the diatoms) I would hope they are in fact eradicated. My guess is that I can't clear out the diatoms just at the first sight of no dinos. I think I am going to have to let the diatoms go for at least a week or more after seeing no sign of dinos before I even stop dosing Si. Other than that, just making sure I don't tank my nutrients again.
If this is successful, and they do come back later, I still think the algae is the most natural, and least harmful way to manage.

Ok. The diatoms will fill the niche. Now this is where my understanding of the "process" breaks down as I don't quite grasp how the system transitions beyond diatoms. Algae is my suspect but is this stated anywhere that you know of? Perhaps I missed it in the dino threads, but tbh the dino threads are thousands of posts long and lots of junk to parse through in between good info (imho)

 

[Keko21]

Ok. The diatoms will fill the niche. Now this is where my understanding of the "process" breaks down as I don't quite grasp how the system transitions beyond diatoms. Algae is my suspect but is this stated anywhere that you know of? Perhaps I missed it in the dino threads, but tbh the dino threads are thousands of posts long and lots of junk to parse through in between good info (imho)

The same way it does when you set up a new tank and go through the ugly phase. When the Si is all eaten up they die.
1. Dinos appear
2. Grow diatoms with Si to outcompete the dinos for food.
3. Dinos starve and die
4. Stop dosing Si
5. Diatoms starve and die
6. Fish worship you as a benevolent god

 

[TokenReefer]

Haha I hope number 6 is right. There's just a gap for me between 5 and 6. Diatoms starve and then _______ take it's place (in the absence or presence of x,y,z) is my (age old) question. Keep us posted though if you would because it would help shine some light.