Has anyone tried this method? I am upping my nutrients and will try other things first over the next couple of weeks. I will try this method in about 3 weeks if I cannot get rid of Dinos.
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Hey everyonesorry about confusing the type, I thought I correctly followed our comment thread back. Oops.
I wouldn't try to hammer the blackouts. Dinos can survive blackouts longer term than a lot of the things you'd want to keep alive and supporting. But yes, blasting surfaces, and some cells still will go into water at night. Wait and see what comes back before you jump straight in to doing more blackouts.
This is very underrated. It's cheap, effective and exports exclusively dinos.
And giving credit where it is due... I got this tip from you!
I have improved upon it though:
Cut a sheet into roughly 4" X 8" pieces (or larger)
Punch a hole near one or both ends and thread a zip tie through
Using the zip tie(s), fasten the sheet to one of the 100s of suction cups we all accumulate and never use
Stick it to the glass, near the top, in heavy flow
Remove and spray rinse each night
Makes it easy to export dinos and helps keep the snot off of your corals
So I have purchased the Aqua UV 25 watt for my 50 gal system. I was advised by an Aqua UV rep that the lowest flow rate should be 400gph and that’s the flow rate used for fish disease. Would 400gph at 25watts be enough to eliminate ostreopsis while maintaining my nutrients (.03 phos and 5-10 nitrates)? I could splurge and get a 57watt UV sterilizer, but was advised to not go below 1000something gph which isn’t feasible with my 50 gallon system...
@taricha and @ScottB I'm starting to think I'm fighting multiple things including ostreopsis, red cyano, and possibly chrysophytes or maybe lyngbya. I do see some good snotty strings but I can't really say that the dinos are dominant in my tank. There is also a good crop of hair algae on my rocks now but that doesn't bother me. Makes me think I'm between a rock and a hard place with nutrients. I'm going to try to keep raising them but tank almost looks worse from everything. Still haven't pulled the trigger on a UV FWIW.
I think you're right on the UV. I'll most likely pick one up used so it may take a few days/weeks. If that knocks the dinos out then I can go pretty hard on the others and bring things into balance.I see your dilemma there. My tendency would be to treat dinos first, then come back to the cyano and algae after they are knocked back. But that creates a Catch 22 as the algae consumes the nutrient.
What do others think about the order of operation in this situation?
Is it OK to hit the algae with fluconazole so that it stops consuming all the PO4 and NO3?
@drawman without the UV to kill ostreopsis, you're really fighting with a hand (or two) behind your back. Eventually the dino tide will turn, but it will be a long, ugly, slog.
Very nice scope pics. My guess is ostreopsis but I will let others chime in.
I think the consensus thus far is raise NO3 to 10, PO4 to .1 and use UV. I'm in the same boat raising nutrients but haven't pulled the trigger on UV. I've also strongly debated getting live rock.It does appear to be Ostreopsis as well. Without going through 410 pages is there a good place to start with treatment for Ostreopsis?
Also, I found this ID online and it seemed really useful. Please delete this if not allowed.
(1) Amphidinium cf. carterae, (2) Bysmatrum caponii, (3) Cabra cf. aremonica, (4) Coolia monotis, (5) Durinskia capensis, (6) Gambierdiscus caribaeus, (7) Ostreopsis heptagona, (8) Plagiodinium belizeanum, (9) Prorocentrum concavum, (10) Prorocentrum foraminosum, (11) Prorocentrum hoffmanianum, (12) Prorocentrum lima, (13) Prorocentrum rhathymum, (14) Prorocentrum sculptile, (15) Prorocentrum cf. sipadanensis, (16) Prorocentrum sp., (17) Sinophysis ebriola, (18) Sinophysis microcephala, (19) Sinophysis stenosoma, (20) ?Togula sp. Scale bars = 10 µm.
Credit - https://www.researchgate.net/figure...e-northern-Yucatan-Peninsula-1_fig6_261172042
I think the consensus thus far is raise NO3 to 10, PO4 to .1 and use UV. I'm in the same boat raising nutrients but haven't pulled the trigger on UV. I've also strongly debated getting live rock.
Just tested myself today and I'm at a little above 5ppm NO3 and .06ppm PO4. I have refresh and waste away getting delivered tomorrow so I'm debating doing a treatment over the weekend.I have been manually raising since Monday and removing as much as I can daily. Seems to be helping