Dinos and water imbalance

[jf3017]

We recently started getting Dinos. I am fairly new to reefing and wasn’t testing for phosphate and nitrate. When I tested with Hannah it came back at Phosphate 0.90 and Nitrate 75. However I thing it is higher as this is the max reading on the tester.

I was told to add 5ml of NoPox daily and Microbactor7. Also running GFO anda skimmer.

2 weeks have passed and there is no sign of results dropping.

We’ve done 5 gallon water changes every 3 days, sucked up all the debris in the dump. Scraped off and diced out a lot of Dinos on the rock formations.

Any ideas?

Started Dec 2023

55 gallons on top
13 gallons in sump

68 gallons Total

Fish INVENTORY:
One 3 inch Lamarck Lyretail Angel Fish
One 4inch Blue Tang
One 6in Blotched Foxface
One 1.5 inch Clown Fish
One 3 inch Yellow tang


Water Parameters:
Alkalinity - 8.1
Calcium - 433
Magnesium - 1410
Phosphate 0.90+ (it’s as high as the Hannah reader goes)
Nitrate 75+ (it’s as high as the Hannah reader goes))

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

No offense but are you sure you did the test correctly? They are a bit tricky, did you watch any youtube videos? If you are getting max readings on both it could be a test error. Do you have another test kit to double check those results?

 

[jf3017]

No offense but are you sure you did the test correctly? They are a bit tricky, did you watch any youtube videos? If you are getting max readings on both it could be a test error. Do you have another test kit to double check those results?

I’ve tested multiple times during the past 2 weeks.

This exact way:

 

[Euphyllia97]

How sure are you that you are dealing with dinos? Did you ID with a microscope?

 

[Uncle99]

The nopox takes months to lower nitrates, it feeds the bacteria which feeds on N and P and then those consumers are pulled out by skimming and filters and discarded.

Water changes lowers nitrate and phosphate immediately, so do two, 25% water changes and retest.

You have some big eaters in there with the corresponding big poop, so you may need to advance water changes to keep it in check.

 

[jf3017]

How sure are you that you are dealing with dinos? Did you ID with a microscope?

I didn’t test with microscope but they look just like this photo, with little bubbles

The nopox takes months to lower nitrates, it feeds the bacteria which feeds on N and P and then those consumers are pulled out by skimming and filters and discarded.

Water changes lowers nitrate and phosphate immediately, so do two, 25% water changes and retest.

You have some big eaters in there with the corresponding big poop, so you may need to advance water changes to keep it in check.

how many days apart do you recommend the 25% water change?

 

[Uncle99]

I didn’t test with microscope but they look just like this photo, with little bubbles

how many days apart do you recommend the 25% water change?

one a day, then test again, right after.

If the test is working nitrate should drop by say 30-40%. It’s a good idea to test for nitrates in your RODI first to ensure, it’s not a contributor.

A just want some time in between so we don’t unnecessarily drop temp.