I used a UV for ostreopsis for 2-3 months continuous and took it off line for about a month and now the ostreopsis is back. Now Im wondering if the UV will be a permanent piece of equipment in my tank.
Dinoflagellates – Are You Tired Of Battling Altogether?
- Thread starter mcarroll
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Jolanta
Active Member
:'( how is your nutrients?
Once I felt confident that my ostreopsis wasn't going to bloom again, I moved my UV from my display to my sump and I run it 24/7. I don't see a reason to take it offline. My tank looks the best it ever has, fish and coral are happy... Can't see why to remove it. I've read some folks see dinos return when taking them offline.
Jolanta
Active Member
The problem is that the unit is huge, and my tank is small and it dont look really esteticaly pleasent
But I prefer ugly unit hanging that ugly and sick tank I think it wont fit in the furniture under my cube.
The problem is that the unit is huge, and my tank is small and it dont look really esteticaly pleasent
Maybe you could mount it vertically on the side of your stand or something? Get creative with it!
Jolanta
Active Member
The bad think is that it needs to be hang horizontally. But maybe with time I will get used to it.
Which one did you get? In my research, I thought I found that most could be mounted either horizontally or vertically.
Jolanta
Active Member
Jebao 55w
I'm pretty sure that can be mounted but horizontally and vertically. I'd double check, but I'm pretty sure. I think it's important that the water flows in from the bottom to eliminate any air pockets.
Jolanta
Active Member
In the istructions it says mount horizontally
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I'm surprised nobody answered this. I'll say yes. Its frustrating but getting worse before better is a common occurrence. Keep maintaining nutrients. Eventually, green algae will thrive. If dinos aren't visible let the tank restabilize without nutrient additions. If dinos return, ID them. Could be different dinos. I experienced this and going a month without water changes or dosing the big 3 helped. It starved out the hair algae and the new dino bailed out. Dont try to add anything to help clear up any algae growth.
RedneckReefer68
Well-Known Member
I had a couple stragglers the day before yesterday, but I couldn't find any yesterday. I even turkey basted the rocks and frag plugs
OP
OP
mcarroll
10K Club member
What are you NO3 and PO4 levels now? (How about compared to before?)
Right! The display with the dino's may be the one with the highest-nutrient demand – thus it might be the only one that is (or was) P- or N-limited.
RedneckReefer68
Well-Known Member
@ mcarroll my p04 is .2 as of last night and nitrate was 10 a couple days ago. P04 was at .08
Beardo
Well-Known Member
I have a 57 watt unit on a 50g cube and mounted it horizontally behind the tank. This keeps it out of the way and pretty well hidden. It is currently set up with a separate pump pulling from and discharging to the tank but will be replumbing so it will be tied into my return line.In the istructions it says mount horizontally
The minimum time I would keep it in service for Ostreopsis is 6 months, just to deal with any cysts that become active. I don't see any issues with only running at night since the dinos enter the water column then, though cycling the unit may have more detrimental effects on bulb life than running continuously.
I personally run mine 24/7.
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UV could be a long-lasting intervention (for the reasons of cyst formation and rebloom as mentioned by beardo), but it should not need to be permanent.
When we say dino cells form cysts, we're talking about small part of the population - single digit percent. So when they decide it's safe to emerge (based on conditions - nutrients, temp, not time) it's in much smaller numbers than the original. That rebloom shouldn't happen too many times. And more often, if the nutrients are kept available, there will really be negligible number of cells that will encyst in the first place.
UV is a great tool but all it does is reduce dino cell numbers (important!).
It does nothing to address the community ecosystem of the tank. So until other organisms establish themselves in the niche that dinos occupied, there is nothing preventing a relapse or outbreak by a different strain. That's why UV is not our primary focus.
I've run UV on big tanks and nano systems, as part of fighting dino outbreaks in each. Pulled UV offline for months without re-emergence. I've even dumped multiple doses of several live strains from an outbreak in one tank into my display (no UV) once the display was dino free and no dinos got a foothold in the display.
If you're uncomfortable with UV, you can run it intermittently - the first successful UV treatments were running only at night anyway because that's when dinos are most active in the water. As the outbreak subsides, you could scale down the UV time to every other day, only on weekends, etc.
Anyway, never letting the tank starve of P (and N) again is a permanent intervention - UV need not be.
When we say dino cells form cysts, we're talking about small part of the population - single digit percent. So when they decide it's safe to emerge (based on conditions - nutrients, temp, not time) it's in much smaller numbers than the original. That rebloom shouldn't happen too many times. And more often, if the nutrients are kept available, there will really be negligible number of cells that will encyst in the first place.
UV is a great tool but all it does is reduce dino cell numbers (important!).
It does nothing to address the community ecosystem of the tank. So until other organisms establish themselves in the niche that dinos occupied, there is nothing preventing a relapse or outbreak by a different strain. That's why UV is not our primary focus.
I've run UV on big tanks and nano systems, as part of fighting dino outbreaks in each. Pulled UV offline for months without re-emergence. I've even dumped multiple doses of several live strains from an outbreak in one tank into my display (no UV) once the display was dino free and no dinos got a foothold in the display.
If you're uncomfortable with UV, you can run it intermittently - the first successful UV treatments were running only at night anyway because that's when dinos are most active in the water. As the outbreak subsides, you could scale down the UV time to every other day, only on weekends, etc.
Anyway, never letting the tank starve of P (and N) again is a permanent intervention - UV need not be.
Is it strange that after dosing P & N to battle ostreopsis i have NEVER had a hair algae bloom? Only other algae i would get in my tank is green algae. Ive read so many other reefers growing hair but never in mine.
wonder why??
wonder why??
I saw a few bits and pieces pop up here and there but never saw any take hold, that being said, I have a kole tang, magnificent foxface, 2 variegated urchins, snails, etc. I think I would have more hair algae if it weren't for those guys.
What about you? How's your herbivorous community?
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