Help!!

[DesertReefBoy]

Hey guys! I am struggling with dinos. I have a 90 gallon mixed reef with a 20 gal sump. With rock displacement I’m guessing I have around 80 gallons. My tank is 3-4 years old and I run triton method. I have a well established refugium with a billion pods! The Dino’s aren’t crazy bad but I have seen how they can get.
A little back story. I removed all my sand from my tank so I can crank the flow up due to wanting to go SPS dominate. I removed it all in one shot (dumb dumb dumb) I also removed 15-20% of my LR (also dumb). I expected my tank to have a mini cycle. Yup it did. Killed almost all my fish and SPS. lost three tangs, anthias, wrasse and a hawkfish. I learned my lesson patience is a virtue!
Now things have resettled. My blue hippo tang, fire fish and 6 blue green chromis survived. My no3 really low so I added 7 anthias. After a week or so I got a spike of no3 (up to 8ppm) and po4 hovers around 0.05ppm. My large refugium was getting thick with algae so I threw some out and it stripped my no3 to 0. I run rowa because I don’t want my po4 to get crazy high. Seems like the food I feed (LRS and hikari) we’re increasing my po4 above 0.1 ppm. I started dosing potassium nitrate and have been trying to keep my no3 around 5ppm. It goes up and down and hasn’t been very stable. I run my fuge light 12/12 opposite of my DT.
I have had turf algae for a while now and then a few weeks ago starting getting a weird green algae. It was like something I haven’t seen before. I stopped dosing nitrates and of course my no3 drops to 0. Po4 stayed around 0.05 with rowa. The green stuff was taking over and covering montis. I tried to get my no3 back up and dosed a larger then normal amount of potassium nitrate and it shot my no3 up to 8. A few days later I started noticing dinos.
I have been trying to dose potassium nitrate every morning but it seems my no3 raises after I dose but then drops pretty significantly. I have been blowing the rocks off every day I can and it seems to be slowing the spread but we are still heading in the wrong direction. I have also noticed small patches of red slime. I am assuming this is Cyano but I am not sure since I have never had it before.
I don’t want a quick fix I want to fix the problem and need help to do it so I don’t loose my SPS. Any help would be greatly appreciative! Thank you!!!

 

[DesertReefBoy]

Update;
I got home this morning from work and before the lights come on I plan on blowing the rocks off with a power head. I usually do this at night but was on shift at the station. I also plan on doing the Dino test to confirm I have dinos. While looking at my tank with a flash light this morning I noticed my ORA Red Planet frag has stringy algae stuck to it. I’m guess this is dinos but will run the test in a few minutes to make sure I am not dealing with Cyano. Dr Tim’s eco balance bacteria arrived yesterday and I plan on adding this to the tank today. Hoping some good bacteria will help outcompete the bad stuff.

 

[Jason mack]

Do you have a filter sock in ....I'm in the same position as you sort off ...using a Turkey baister I blow through my sand 2 a day and swap out the filter socks every day after ...this is helping ...there is always dinos and cynos in every tank almost only the are kept at bay by other algea out competing them ...

 

[saintsreturn]

Good luck! Unfortunately you lost me with all the dosing so i wont be of any help. Someone will be by soon.

Again, good luck!

 

[DesertReefBoy]

Do you have a filter sock in ....I'm in the same position as you sort off ...using a Turkey baister I blow through my sand 2 a day and swap out the filter socks every day after ...this is helping ...there is always dinos and cynos in every tank almost only the are kept at bay by other algea out competing them ...

I have 1 micron filter socks and have been debating on putting them on my tank.

 

[Jason mack]

I have 1 micron filter socks and have been debating on putting them on my tank.

I would....I know you have no sand now but try and blow your rocks off a few times a day then

 

[DesertReefBoy]

I would....I know you have no sand now but try and blow your rocks off a few times a day then

I will put them on in a few minutes and blow things off. Do you change them every day?

 

[DesertReefBoy]

Good luck! Unfortunately you lost me with all the dosing so i wont be of any help. Someone will be by soon.

Again, good luck!

What can I clear up with the dosing that has you lost?

 

[Jason mack]

I will put them on in a few minutes and blow things off. Do you change them every day?

Yes ..then I wash them in vinegar and soak them in bleach for a couple of hrs ..rinse with rodi water and leave too dry

 

[DesertReefBoy]

Ok so I did the first test! 100 ml tank water with some strands/bubbles I found in the tank. The lights are off so there isn’t a lot to choose from. I might have to redo this test tonight when there are more strands in the tank.

Picture 1 is water/algae

Picture 2 is water/algae with 5 ml 3% hydrogen peroxide

The second picture was taken 4 minutes after the hydrogen peroxide was added. There are a few bubbles but nothing like the photo in the other thread.

@mcarroll

 

[DesertReefBoy]

This is the second test. I took a syringe and pulled up as much of the suspected algae as I could and put 100 ml into a Nalgene bottle. See pic below

I shook the bottle up hard for a few minutes and then poured it into a coffee filter.

Here is the result after 5 minutes

Here is the result after 15 minutes

I’m guessing this is good news since I’m not seeing any clumping. I am going to redo the test tonight when the stringy algae is at its peak. I’ll post results this evening.

 

[DesertReefBoy]

I left for a few hours to run some erronds and when I came back this is what I am seeing.

 

[Jason mack]

There are so many different strains of dinos , need too get a positive I'd on which strain it is ....first time I had dinos I got rid with peroxide dosing ...this time its had no effect and I've now stopped

 

[DesertReefBoy]

There are so many different strains of dinos , need too get a positive I'd on which strain it is ....first time I had dinos I got rid with peroxide dosing ...this time its had no effect and I've now stopped

I need to buy a microscope. It would get used a lot. Just not in the budget until after Christmas:/

 

[Jason mack]

I need to buy a microscope. It would get used a lot. Just not in the budget until after Christmas:/

Do you not have a LFS near you who has one ...take a sample there too look

 

[DesertReefBoy]

Do you not have a LFS near you who has one ...take a sample there too look

Called the LFS and they don’t have one. So far none of my friends on FB have a microscope either. Lol. Does anyone want to let me send them a sample and ID this crap?

 

[DesertReefBoy]

Alright I took another sample and shook it up hard for about a minute. I then filtered it through a coffee filter and let it sit for 20 minutes. This is the finding.

I am assuming since it slowly reconnected it is positive ID for some Dino