Frustrated with Dino’s

[jacobcoral]

About five days ago, I added the UV sterilizer, hoping it would fix my Dino problem. My nutrient levels are intact and have been since the start of a tank so I’m not sure what kind of diners they are as I don’t have a microscope to figure it out. I’m getting really annoyed and about ready to restart so this is my last post to see if anyone can help me. I have a decent size cleanup, crew, and all the equipment you need for a reef tank.

I’m honestly at a loss as to why I still have dinos and don’t really know what to do about it. I just put my levels for my water chemistry down below. I have a decent amount of Coral that are doing fine until they get absolutely covered by Dino. I’ve done a lot of manual removal and brushing of the rocks. I have siphoned in the sand bed numerous times. I also have a very uncontrollable amount of green hair algae and I’m about ready to pull the rocks out and just dip them in hydrogen peroxide and reset. I’m about a one and a half year experience refer. This is the second time this tank has been set up. It’s only about a month and a half old. It was started with Liv sand and Liv rock and was instant cycled
I know things take time and be patient, but I’ve done a lot of precautionary things and nothing seems to dilute the problem so I’m not sure what to do. Anything helps please take the time to read this and help me out as I am at a loss.
11/19

Alk 9.2

Nitrate 5.4

Phos .08

 

[Coral Kai]

the UV helps...i like to turn off my lights for a day if I can see Dino's proliferating

 

[jacobcoral]

the UV helps...i like to turn off my lights for a day if I can see Dino's proliferating

What does that mean? I feel like the UV has done nothing for my dinos.

 

[Coral Kai]

i would give the UV time to work.... also turning off your lights for a full 24 hours will help

 

[Coral Kai]

your LED lights

 

[BryanM]

Can we get pics under white light please? Can't really tell anything with blues.

 

[jacobcoral]

i would give the UV time to work.... also turning off your lights for a full 24 hours will helthansk for

i would give the UV time to work.... also turning off your lights for a full 24 hours will help

Thanks for the response, can you explain why that will help? Should I turn my uv back to 24/7

 

[jacobcoral]

Can we get pics under white light please? Can't really tell anything with blues.

 

[FishLvR]

I have been running my uv as well at 391 gph as suggested. What happens in my tank is the dinos die off, then hair algae immediately takes the dinos place. Then I kill the hair algae and dinos reappear. This has happened three times now. I am currently in the hair algae phase. Under the scope I can see dying dinos very few alive, but hair algae. When dinos are in control there is no hair algae on the slide. It's crazy. So adding nitrates and phosphates kills out the dinos, because hair algae, probably dorment in the rocks, reappears when nitrates are elevated. This weekend I am going to do a water change to get nitrates back down and phosphates as well. See if that knocks the hair algae back a bit. Corals are pretty much fubar at this point so I guess it doesn't matter.

Looking for a lawnmower blenny locally. Not having much luck. Might add more CUC. I don't really care anymore. The hobby is no longer fun.

 

[jacobcoral]

I have been running my uv as well at 391 gph as suggested. What happens in my tank is the dinos die off, then hair algae immediately takes the dinos place. Then I kill the hair algae and dinos reappear. This has happened three times now. I am currently in the hair algae phase. Under the scope I can see dying dinos very few alive, but hair algae. When dinos are in control there is no hair algae on the slide. It's crazy. So adding nitrates and phosphates kills out the dinos, because hair algae, probably dorment in the rocks, reappears when nitrates are elevated. This weekend I am going to do a water change to get nitrates back down and phosphates as well. See if that knocks the hair algae back a bit. Corals are pretty much fubar at this point so I guess it doesn't matter.

Looking for a lawnmower blenny locally. Not having much luck. Might add more CUC. I don't really care anymore. The hobby is no longer fun.

I know I can get past it. I just don’t know how to fix it so I might just reset. I don’t know how effective lawnmower bunnies actually are but I’m hoping that when I add one, it does eat majority of the green hair algae. I’m just trying to get information from anybody. I know it is a touchy subject because most people get it either solved or they don’t.

 

[mmorrison55]

This thing works to reduce the uglies on the sand.

https://3dreefing.com/products/sand-bed-uv-sweeper
I don’t know if it’s a long term solution, but after 3-4 treat,ents my sandbed shows no signs of Dino’s.

 

[jacobcoral]

This thing works to reduce the uglies on the sand.

https://3dreefing.com/products/sand-bed-uv-sweeper
I don’t know if it’s a long term solution, but after 3-4 treat,ents my sandbed shows no signs of Dino’s.

Thank you

 

[mmorrison55]

Just follow their instructions.

https://3dreefing.com/pages/uv-sweeper-instructions
Good luck!

 

[Subsea]

I know I can get past it. I just don’t know how to fix it so I might just reset. I don’t know how effective lawnmower bunnies actually are but I’m hoping that when I add one, it does eat majority of the green hair algae. I’m just trying to get information from anybody. I know it is a touchy subject because most people get it either solved or they don’t.

Consider dosing silicates to encourange diatoms

 

[jacobcoral]

Consider dosing silicates to encourange diatoms

Silicates? What will that do, will it effect anything else

 

[Subsea]

Silicates? What will that do, will it effect anything else

I dose silicates for my sponges and so does @Randy Holmes-Farley.
Most desirable algae requires silicates. Opportunistic undesirables like dinoflagellets have evolved other feeding strategies.
However, in the case of gha, you need janitors.

 

[jacobcoral]

Most desirable algae requires silicates. Opportunistic undesirables like dinoflagellets have evolved other feeding strategies. However, in the case of gha, you need janitors.

I’m not so worried about the green hair algae. I think the lawnmower bunny I’m going to add is going to get rid of it very fast as my tank is only 13.5 gallons. But do you think a silicate remover in the filter would do just fine? Or do you recommend dosing something?

 

[jacobcoral]

I’m not so worried about the green hair algae. I think the lawnmower blenny I’m going to add is going to get rid of it very fast as my tank is only 13.5 gallons. But do you think a silicate remover in the filter would do just fine? Or do you recommend dosing something?

 

[FishLvR]

Consider dosing silicates to encourange diatoms

This only works on specific species. So people really need to know which strain they have.

 

[jacobcoral]

This only works on specific species. So people really need to know which strain they have.

I don’t think I have the one that’s most common because it would have went away with the UV sterilizer. I don’t remember the name of it. But I definitely have one of the more difficult ones to get rid of as I have nutrients in my tank still, and was never bottomed out.