GoVols: Red Sea S-400

[GoVols]

I've never heard of dinos killing aiptasia, but I can't say it isn't possible.

What you are seeing is the main reason I never recommend Chemiclean. It can have some impressive short term results but I feel it does more harm than good in the long run. We need to try to encourage microbial/algae growth to outcompete the cyano and dinos. Chemiclean is an antibiotic that eliminates much of the good and bad. I don't know of anyone who has used Chemiclean once (including myself) and hasn't had more problems within 3 or 4 months.

Not sure what Stability would do to help. If there are reefers in your area who's tanks don't have pests you are trying to avoid, see if you can get a piece of live rock from them. Even if you have to give them a piece of rock to stick in their sump for a month. Heck, even some tank water could help. I'm also a big fan of adding phytoplankton, copepods (if you don't already have a healthy population), amphipods and rotifers. Blue legged hermit crabs are very safe imo and hermits eat cyano.

Really sorry you are having these problems!

Steven,
I did the same combo for cyano in 2017, with no bad results, but my Ps and Ns were perfection at that time line, but I do agree that CC is an antibiotic no matter what Boyd’s statements are.

I checked the overflow, this afternoon and can’t find any aiptasia in there, but there are sure some Dino’s in the overflow box, and that is a super low light space.

I’ll strive to take your advice moving forward and it seems kinda similar to the way that @Fudsey (Kieth) handled his last batch of Dino’s.

FWIW
Have not preformed a water change since the Dino’s came into play.
just tested Ps and Ns

Ps 1.6, but could careless while dealing with this strain.
Ns 25 ppm, which is cut in half before we brought in the pond sized Siporax.
Gonna have to keep an eye on that to makes sure the nitrates stay elevated.

And... the diatoms have receded as well.

Steven,
Thanks for taking the time, at some point she’s going to get dialed back in, with stability.

 

[jsker]

Has your woodworking business been good?

Busy, It 's funny you should ask. I am doing work in September at the concealing center again.

If you would like to post a link in here, then please feel free.

I would love too, but that would not be fare to the sponsor members and a conflict with my duties

I had a good roll, and should have never stopped water changes last fall.

I know what you mean, I need to do some thank maintenance tomorrow that I have been putting off. I will also be fixing my camera to take some tank shots, which I have not done in some time.

Angelia I got busy doing a downstairs remodel and tossed the weekly water changes.

How is the remodel turning out?

Luz and I have been working on the house slowly. Next is the windows, bathrooms and finish the kitchen so I can put in tank #2. I have planned a custom 110 gallon three sided exposed tank right off the master. I wanted to put a big tank in between the master and living room, that got vetoed by Luz;Hilarious;Hilarious. Luz would not let me cut a hole in the wall.

 

[jsker]

I've never heard of dinos killing aiptasia, but I can't say it isn't possible.

What you are seeing is the main reason I never recommend Chemiclean. It can have some impressive short term results but I feel it does more harm than good in the long run. We need to try to encourage microbial/algae growth to outcompete the cyano and dinos. Chemiclean is an antibiotic that eliminates much of the good and bad. I don't know of anyone who has used Chemiclean once (including myself) and hasn't had more problems within 3 or 4 months.

Not sure what Stability would do to help. If there are reefers in your area who's tanks don't have pests you are trying to avoid, see if you can get a piece of live rock from them. Even if you have to give them a piece of rock to stick in their sump for a month. Heck, even some tank water could help. I'm also a big fan of adding phytoplankton, copepods (if you don't already have a healthy population), amphipods and rotifers. Blue legged hermit crabs are very safe imo and hermits eat cyano.

Really sorry you are having these problems!

I was not a Vibrant fan, but after we chatted. The Vibrant really is making a difference on turning around my system, plus keeping up with maintenance as you recommend.

I used the red slim remover also. I would treat for 48 hrs, do my weekly 3 day auto water change. I did this tree weeks in a row.

 

[RichtheReefer21]

I wanted to put a big tank in between the master and living room, that got vetoed by Luz;Hilarious;Hilarious. Luz would not let me cut a hole in the wall.

 

[jsker]

Life would get interesting if I did ;Hilarious

 

[PanchoG]

Alright, guys

Let's do an update and want to call @Brew12 in on this one... ;Writing

Sold the AP700 on the MTRC forum.

Meanwhile still in a struggle with dinos, after talking to the Aquatic Critter may try Seachem Stability with carbon, because that product wiped out their last dino strain.

This is the crazy part:
We did the H202 with Chemiclean, but the dinos were lying underneath the cyano.

We've been staring at aiptasia for way over a year, but it has been totally wiped out???

My guess is that dinos smoothed all the aiptasia??????????

I have no idea what is going on there Freddie. Congratulations on your battle vs. the aiptasia?;Hilarious

- Sr. we dropped the bombs.
-Good job sarge.
- Ehhh... we nuked the wrong enemy Sr....
- ;Dead

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Life would get interesting if I did ;Hilarious

I said heyyyy babe. Come take a walk on the willlld side.

Do, do do, do, do, do do, do dooo

 

[GoVols]

Labor Day weekend update:

I started dosing Vibrant last weekend, the dinos are fading away, but my birdsnest is a total loss.

Still holding off with a water change.

The last time we tested nitrates we were down from 50 ppm to 25 ppm.
Today nitrates came in at 10 ppm.

As @drawman stated, The Sipraox media is no just joke and removed one basket of the pond sized media. Most likely more sections will need to be removed as well.
Bought some ESV B-Ionoic Nitrate awhile back and may need to use it for a while until we find the right amount of Siporax to keep in the sump.

I bought the acid from Amazon for the Alkatronic a while back for $40 instead of $110.
Mixed 2.5 gallons last Saturday evening, recalibrated ph probe, pump C and pump A

Came in a tad higher than the Hanna checker, used baseline calibration and it nailed to the Hanna. Crosschecked today and they're still dead on to each other.

Duncans are not opening up as much during this stretch of dinos, but seem to be more active over the last few days.

Noticed today that the Tunze media inside the main stage of the cal reactor has really lowered a fair amount.

Diatoms have remained gone after changing out everything in the RO/DI unit or the Siporax quit leaching silicates.

Guess I'll be watching nitrates super close to prevent them bottoming out with the Siporax media

All fish and other corals are doing great. I'd like to bring in a small Royal Urchin.

Hope you guys are having a great Labor Day weekend, personally heading to Heather's home to visit the grandchildren and to catch game 7... Islanders vs Flyers this evening.

 

[GoVols]

Welp,
Let's keep this thing going.

Switched to LRS fish frenzy because the fish like it more than the reef frenzy.

After removing the "one" Siporax container in between the skimmer and overflow, nitrates have risen to 20ppm. Not going to put it back in at this point because the remaining Siporax may colonize more bacteria.

Reduced the Kessil A360Xs settings to a max intensity of 50% from 70% in hopes of cutting off more light to feed the dino and went up in color spectrum to see just a tad of MH shimmer.

That new setting must be very close to the sweet spot. The two acro colonies and all montis have really jumped in their growth rates.

Phosphates came in at .11ppm, time to refire the gfo reactor, but forgot that we ran out of Rowaphos... ;Oldman

Getting some more this week. We'll perform the next water change (after months) this Friday.

Duncans, hammers and all fish are doing very well.

#honestinreefing

Lol
Once the dinos ran there coarse on returns, and the main overflow crating, then baby aiptasia have just started to come back into play... ;Sour

Dinos are receding, but we still have a long way to go.

Hope them buggers don't take hold of the acros, been there in 2015 with a mainly acro driven reef (same tank pushing 10 t5s). Lost about 80% of all acros during that time frame. The only acro that I kept was a frag of the green one.

To end things...

Super happy with this Kessil A360x / t5 hybrid, including no light escape... ;Facepalm

 

[GoVols]

Welp,
Been working 12 to 14 hours days with no end in sight... ;Dead

Dinos seem to be breaking down so we're taking @Brew12 's advice.

Just went to the Aquatic Critter picked up 100 electric blue hermits, a 1" sized pincushion urchin, and a tiny Snowflake Clownfish for the girls...

Most things I just match temp and let those go free, but when it comes to an urchin I only buy from the Aquatic Critter.

Then, perform a very slow acclimation process so that it is fully observed and acclimated before letting one go loose. If they start to drop their needles (pins) it is bad news...

When it comes to snails I only buy are these / Banded Trochus Snail

https://www.liveaquaria.com/product/564/banded-trochus-snail?pcatid=564&c=497+526+564

But they're out of stock... ;Blackeye

lol
Got to keep the tradition going:



Question:
Are the 1" Astraea Turbo Snails able to flip themselves over if they land on their backside?

 

[GoVols]

GoVols... week whatever??? / dino update

Caught those Banded Trochus Snails on LiveAquaria at half off as of today, $100 for fifty snails, but they were DOA. Might still use Divers Den Wisconson but the LA location is off the list.

The ole cleaner shrimp died from the lack of iodine / No new saltwater trace elements and halted dosing the Red Sea Colors program as well.

Lost the WWC's Lobo brain due to two dinos, so that counts for two corals.

Theses hermits and urchin have done great over the past week. Clearly have cleaned out a vast amount of dinos.

Dinos still breaking down, kinda in a diatom state, you can wave your hand over them, and they drift off like dust.

Not out of the woods, still have a few areas were their structures are like cobwebs with a small amount of bubbles.

Raised up the temp to low 80's yesterday
https://reefbuilders.com/2020/05/11/dinoflagellate-aquarium-treatment/#

If we're not in the final stretch going with @Fudsey 's pods with phytoplankton.

Tossed in a small amount of Brightwell Purit to capture die-off toxins, but cut back the GFO reactor to a tiny stream.

Nitrates held at 20ppm so put back in the basket of Siporax that was pulled out when we hit 10ppm.

The micro Snowflake clownfish and all other fish are doing well. He's on the picky side, but no loss in mass and still active.

The two 5# Co2 tanks lasted from two February's back until this week.

We're hitting over one dKH per day in intake.

Guess studying while messing with the backpressure has paid off.

Wound up putting in another needle valve just after the Sicce .5 feed pump and before the main reactor...

Guys,
We've held a lot of patience while regretting adding the old live rock straight in the main display.

But it's just another thing to learn from.

Freddie...

 

[drawman]

GoVols... week whatever??? / dino update

Caught those Banded Trochus Snails on LiveAquaria at half off as of today, $100 for fifty snails, but they were DOA. Might still use Divers Den Wisconson but the LA location is off the list.

The ole cleaner shrimp died from the lack of iodine / No new saltwater trace elements and halted dosing the Red Sea Colors program as well.

Lost the WWC's Lobo brain due to two dinos, so that counts for two corals.

Theses hermits and urchin have done great over the past week. Clearly have cleaned out a vast amount of dinos.

Dinos still breaking down, kinda in a diatom state, you can wave your hand over them, and they drift off like dust.

Not out of the woods, still have a few areas were their structures are like cobwebs with a small amount of bubbles.

Raised up the temp to low 80's yesterday
https://reefbuilders.com/2020/05/11/dinoflagellate-aquarium-treatment/#

If we're not in the final stretch going with @Fudsey 's pods with phytoplankton.

Tossed in a small amount of Brightwell Purit to capture die-off toxins, but cut back the GFO reactor to a tiny stream.

Nitrates held at 20ppm so put back in the basket of Siporax that was pulled out when we hit 10ppm.

The micro Snowflake clownfish and all other fish are doing well. He's on the picky side, but no loss in mass and still active.

The two 5# Co2 tanks lasted from two February's back until this week.

We're hitting over one dKH per day in intake.

Guess studying while messing with the backpressure has paid off.

Wound up putting in another needle valve just after the Sicce .5 feed pump and before the main reactor...

Guys,
We've held a lot of patience while regretting adding the old live rock straight in the main display.

But it's just another thing to learn from.

Freddie...

Dinos suuuucccckkk Freddie glad you're making headway. Good luck!

 

[RichtheReefer21]

50 dead snails? That musta been a delightful bag opening... sorry about the lobo bud. Just keep swimming.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Question:
Are the 1" Astraea Turbo Snails able to flip themselves over if they land on their backside?

These are a species that is reported NOT to be able to flip over. I have read this from multiple sources, but never owned them myself. I find Cerith and Trochus to be the best mix to cover almost everything (for tanks without sand anyways). Problem is my hermits eat the Trochus. I will also note I had some general Turbo snails that destroyed hair algae.

 

[GoVols]

Dinos suuuucccckkk Freddie glad you're making headway. Good luck!

Yeah, Tim
They are some tough monsters to get rid of.

Still catching a lot of them in the 225-micron filter sock with the skimmer's collection cup too.

If I knew for sure that a UV sterilizer would knock out this strain, I would pull the trigger.

The high temp article did not pan out, it just sped up their metabolism rate.
Slowly lowing the reef temp back to about 77 degrees. (lol) Got to admit the chiller is still good to go.

Phosphates were at .04 ppm, but when I used that Purit for 24 hours forgot to push the GFO back at full simmer mode, they came in at .09 this evening. No change with nitrates, guess it will take a while for the one basket of Siporax to kick back in.

Not going to try anymore Purit. It takes forever to rinse clean and its fines are just too small that could open the door for HLLE to sent in.

Crossed checked the Alkatronic this evening and it's still dead on.

Is your residency going well?

50 dead snails? That musta been a delightful bag opening... sorry about the lobo bud. Just keep swimming.

Rich,
It was worse than getting a whiff of old and funky skimmer thick skimmate.
Was counting on those to hit all the glass. Crabs and urchin are still doing their part.

Losing that lobo kind of freaked me out. The old birdsnest colony was no surprise, since they have a bunch of branching that interweave, like a dino magnet.

Guess we're getting close to pulling the trigger on some pods with AlgaeBarn's OceanMagik phytoplankton.

These are a species that is reported NOT to be able to flip over. I have read this from multiple sources, but never owned them myself. I find Cerith and Trochus to be the best mix to cover almost everything (for tanks without sand anyways). Problem is my hermits eat the Trochus. I will also note I had some general Turbo snails that destroyed hair algae.

Brain,
Thanks so much.

You've always had a good eye on these types of things.

Read that Cerith likes a good sand bed to dive into.

Earlier I said these were those electric blues hermits, but they are those dwarf blue legs.

These hermits are like cannibals but did not want to pay the price for those low aggressive Scarlet Reef Hermit Crabs.

Guys,
Thanks for all your support!

 

[SPR1968]

I can't remember if you've tried it already Freddie, (and I’m not re reading 152 pages! Lol) but have you tried a simple 3 day blackout on the dino’s?

It can depend on the strain, but I had them years ago when I set the S650 up and it cleared them out in one go, combined with increased flow in the affected areas.

This was the reason in the big tank I got nitrates up quickly when I stared it, and added about 30 fish on day one to try and avoid this potential issue.

 

[ScottR]

Dinos are my biggest enemy. I feel your pain. I too always lose birdsnest in my Dino battles. I guess birdsnest is a tree and the dinos pretend to be leaves. But have you heard about raising your temp up a little? I’ve never tried but some people swear that raising it a degree or two can kill dinos.

 

[GoVols]

Dinos are my biggest enemy. I feel your pain. I too always lose birdsnest in my Dino battles. I guess birdsnest is a tree and the dinos pretend to be leaves. But have you heard about raising your temp up a little? I’ve never tried but some people swear that raising it a degree or two can kill dinos.

Scott,
The high temp did not pan out for this strain.

Lol... Those birdsnest even catch the strands of dinos when they come off from other areas of a reef.

Besides the four sides of the glass, it looks pretty promising.


Yesterday afternoon we went all-in

@SPR1968
Shaun,

I dialed all the A360s back in intensity, but have not done a total three-day blackout.

I tried doing that in 2015 with the ole snotty greenish strain, but they always came back.

We'll find out how those pods with phytoplankton pan out.

Once they get settled in we'll fire up the UV sterilizer.

Figure since the A100 rolls at 57% it should be able to push the UV too.

 

[ScottR]

Scott,
The high temp did not pan out for this strain.

Lol... Those birdsnest even catch the strands of dinos when they come off from other areas of a reef.

Besides the four sides of the glass, it looks pretty promising.


Yesterday afternoon we went all-in

@SPR1968
Shaun,

I dialed all the A360s back in intensity, but have not done a total three-day blackout.

I tried doing that in 2015 with the ole snotty greenish strain, but they always came back.

We'll find out how those pods with phytoplankton pan out.

Once they get settled in we'll fire up the UV sterilizer.

Figure since the A100 rolls at 57% it should be able to push the UV too.

Wow. Going in at all fronts. UV and phyto with pods. Good luck Freddie!

 

[drawman]

Yeah, Tim
They are some tough monsters to get rid of.

Still catching a lot of them in the 225-micron filter sock with the skimmer's collection cup too.

If I knew for sure that a UV sterilizer would knock out this strain, I would pull the trigger.

The high temp article did not pan out, it just sped up their metabolism rate.
Slowly lowing the reef temp back to about 77 degrees. (lol) Got to admit the chiller is still good to go.

Phosphates were at .04 ppm, but when I used that Purit for 24 hours forgot to push the GFO back at full simmer mode, they came in at .09 this evening. No change with nitrates, guess it will take a while for the one basket of Siporax to kick back in.

Not going to try anymore Purit. It takes forever to rinse clean and its fines are just too small that could open the door for HLLE to sent in.

Crossed checked the Alkatronic this evening and it's still dead on.

Is your residency going well?




Rich,
It was worse than getting a whiff of old and funky skimmer thick skimmate.
Was counting on those to hit all the glass. Crabs and urchin are still doing their part.

Losing that lobo kind of freaked me out. The old birdsnest colony was no surprise, since they have a bunch of branching that interweave, like a dino magnet.

Guess we're getting close to pulling the trigger on some pods with AlgaeBarn's OceanMagik phytoplankton.



Brain,
Thanks so much.

You've always had a good eye on these types of things.

Read that Cerith likes a good sand bed to dive into.

Earlier I said these were those electric blues hermits, but they are those dwarf blue legs.

These hermits are like cannibals but did not want to pay the price for those low aggressive Scarlet Reef Hermit Crabs.

Guys,
Thanks for all your support!

Residency is going great Freddie!

Scott,
The high temp did not pan out for this strain.

Lol... Those birdsnest even catch the strands of dinos when they come off from other areas of a reef.

Besides the four sides of the glass, it looks pretty promising.


Yesterday afternoon we went all-in

@SPR1968
Shaun,

I dialed all the A360s back in intensity, but have not done a total three-day blackout.

I tried doing that in 2015 with the ole snotty greenish strain, but they always came back.

We'll find out how those pods with phytoplankton pan out.

Once they get settled in we'll fire up the UV sterilizer.

Figure since the A100 rolls at 57% it should be able to push the UV too.

I know the AquaUV helped out with the strain I had (ostreopsis). It works best when you run the UV in and out of your display and run it 24/7.