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Poor Man's UV
I wanted to (re)post this, as recently I've seen a couple of people with massive populations of dinos who are not apparently doing any real export. And this idea seems to have been lost in the depths of a few thousand posts. I originally stole it from user nvladik.
Hang some filter floss directly in front of one or two of your powerheads. Let it blow in the flow like a flag. Ostreopsis will attach to floss more than anything else in the tank. Turns out they don't care what they attach to - just looking for a good spot with tons of flow and some light, and they actually prefer rough surfaces to slime coats etc. Rinse the filter floss out daily (or a couple times a day) in tap water until it's white again. Use gloves - the toxins in question are serious business.
(above pic shows the accumulated ostreopsis from a single lights-on cycle in a tank with barely visible dinos, then wrung out into a beaker showing what's collected is 90%+ pure ostis)
This is for those with cells that go into the water - Ostreopsis especially - but it may work with others prorocentrum, coolia, etc I didn't try when I had those. This trick will allow you to easily concentrate and export almost exclusively dinos. It's also appropriate while UV is getting set up - may suffice in some cases as "poor man's uv" , or in addition to UV.
This will export a large majority of the ostreopsis daily. It is not a cure, but it is control for you, relief for your coral and other tank inhabitants, allows you to do whatever your corals need (water changes, Ca, Alk, etc), removes urgency and anxiety, and gives you flexibility for your next move. This is how I had ostreopsis for a couple of months without losing any livestock or it being able to form stringy masses in my tank. Ostis stayed almost invisible while I had filter floss. (I actually never ran UV on my main tank.)
Additional benefits:
I wanted to (re)post this, as recently I've seen a couple of people with massive populations of dinos who are not apparently doing any real export. And this idea seems to have been lost in the depths of a few thousand posts. I originally stole it from user nvladik.
Hang some filter floss directly in front of one or two of your powerheads. Let it blow in the flow like a flag. Ostreopsis will attach to floss more than anything else in the tank. Turns out they don't care what they attach to - just looking for a good spot with tons of flow and some light, and they actually prefer rough surfaces to slime coats etc. Rinse the filter floss out daily (or a couple times a day) in tap water until it's white again. Use gloves - the toxins in question are serious business.
(above pic shows the accumulated ostreopsis from a single lights-on cycle in a tank with barely visible dinos, then wrung out into a beaker showing what's collected is 90%+ pure ostis)
This is for those with cells that go into the water - Ostreopsis especially - but it may work with others prorocentrum, coolia, etc I didn't try when I had those. This trick will allow you to easily concentrate and export almost exclusively dinos. It's also appropriate while UV is getting set up - may suffice in some cases as "poor man's uv" , or in addition to UV.
This will export a large majority of the ostreopsis daily. It is not a cure, but it is control for you, relief for your coral and other tank inhabitants, allows you to do whatever your corals need (water changes, Ca, Alk, etc), removes urgency and anxiety, and gives you flexibility for your next move. This is how I had ostreopsis for a couple of months without losing any livestock or it being able to form stringy masses in my tank. Ostis stayed almost invisible while I had filter floss. (I actually never ran UV on my main tank.)
Additional benefits:
- physical removal of the majority of dinos is an important step in advancing any other treatment plan.
- prevents stringy masses from forming on corals.
- turns brown to show you if it's working.
- can be easily wrung out into a beaker to sample what you have.
- may possibly work as a diagnostic test for whether your strain is UV targetable / is going into the water. I don't know how well types other than ostis will attach, but the stringier it is, the likelier they will attach.
- is a really easy tune-up if a small smattering of dinos re-appears.
- is very selective: removes pretty much exclusively dinos
