How long to win the battle when using UV for dinos ?

[KonradTO]

Not yet, really.

I started the blackout yesterday, for three days. I’m still dosing silicates, Neonitro, Neophos, plancton and Microbacter 7, in hopes it will grow enough competing microbiology.

I’m also running a UV, as was recommended.

@gbru316 did you cover the tank during the blackout or just let it be without any light ? I covered the tank with a dark bed sheet but I’m afraid it’s cruel for the fish. When I fed this morning they were all hiding as if it was night.

I would like to remove the bed sheet tomorrow, after 24 hours but I’m afraid it will make the whole process ineffective. But keep the lights off for another 48 hours.

What do you think ?

Cover the tank as much as you can. I used aluminium foil. Forget about fish for 3 days, no need to feed. They go in "stasis" when you do the blackout

 

[KonradTO]

Anyway if you do the blackout before the dinos recede I am not sure it will be effective. Good luck!

 

[Idech]

Anyway if you do the blackout before the dinos recede I am not sure it will be effective. Good luck!

They were probably receding a bit, but I can’t tell for certain. I dosed the tank for 2-3 weeks before doing the blackout and made sure I had enough nitrates, hoping phosphates are okay too. Now I hope for the best. This hobby is about learning, so we’ll see if I did the right thing.

Yesterday nitrates had risen about 2 ppm to 11.8 ppm so I did not dose any. PH was 7.8 (7.9 the day before) so a little lower. I fed the fish twice the first day, once yesterday and I will feed them again at the end of the day.

Blackout is ending tonight at 9 pm. With a bonus of natural darkness until the morning.

I’ll post a picture tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

 

[KonradTO]

They were probably receding a bit, but I can’t tell for certain. I dosed the tank for 2-3 weeks before doing the blackout and made sure I had enough nitrates, hoping phosphates are okay too. Now I hope for the best. This hobby is about learning, so we’ll see if I did the right thing.

Yesterday nitrates had risen about 2 ppm to 11.8 ppm so I did not dose any. PH was 7.8 (7.9 the day before) so a little lower. I fed the fish twice the first day, once yesterday and I will feed them again at the end of the day.

Blackout is ending tonight at 9 pm. With a bonus of natural darkness until the morning.

I’ll post a picture tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

Good luck! No one probably understood yet what is driving dinos in the home aquaria and how to make them recede so it's hit or miss anyway.
Keep us updated!

 

[Idech]

I’m afraid to jinx it but so far, so good. I think my tank was too clean. Powerful skimmer on 24/7 and no phyto dosing wasn’t helping. Inexperience and fear of nitrates drove me to this.

This morning I saw white tiny almost microscopic creatures on the glass. The same I had in my nano tank, which didn’t have a skimmer and never had a single speck of dino.

I’m cutting down to dosing Microbacter 7 weekly instead of everyday. I will continue dosing sodium silicates for a while and use Neonitro and Neophos if needed. I’ve turned the UV off.

I’m dosing phyto daily but I’m running out. I have to buy more, and get copepods as well.

I will keep the skimmer off for another 1-2 weeks and put a timer on it. I’ll have it on for a few hours a day, maybe half a day. I have to research this.

All fish, shrimp, inverts and corals look fine, almost like nothing happened. Only the big GSP is retracted.

Pics from this adternoon.

 

[KonradTO]

Nice tank! Happy that your corals did fine. Just be careful because live phyto might drive your nitrates down, differently from dead ones. I personally would start slowly and increase day by day. Good luck!

 

[Idech]

Update about 2 weeks after blackout : I can see brown spots spread across the tank on the sand. They look more like diatoms than dinos and they they seem to be growing too much.

I don’t have the heart to check under the microscope, in fear of being disappointed. I’m still dosing 1,0 ml silicate daily. Live phyto 2-3 times a week and Microbacter 7 once a week. Daily calcium and magnesium is also required.

I can’t say corals are really improved but they are not worse. I will eventually have an ICP test done. When I stabilize my parameters.

 

[KonradTO]

Update about 2 weeks after blackout : I can see brown spots spread across the tank on the sand. They look more like diatoms than dinos and they they seem to be growing too much.

I don’t have the heart to check under the microscope, in fear of being disappointed. I’m still dosing 1,0 ml silicate daily. Live phyto 2-3 times a week and Microbacter 7 once a week. Daily calcium and magnesium is also required.

I can’t say corals are really improved but they are not worse. I will eventually have an ICP test done. When I stabilize my parameters.

Have a look under the microscope man. If it's dinos they are definitely slower so you can remove those bits and repeat with the blackout, and finally win the war. Otherwise it's a good sign and you can very slowly decrease silicate dosing. If its dinos maybe try also to slowly increase silicate dosing to 2ml maybe? When I did at some point I definitely could tell I had a diatom outbreak because the glass and the skimmer were covered with them.

 

[Idech]

Have a look under the microscope man. If it's dinos they are definitely slower so you can remove those bits and repeat with the blackout, and finally win the war. Otherwise it's a good sign and you can very slowly decrease silicate dosing. If its dinos maybe try also to slowly increase silicate dosing to 2ml maybe? When I did at some point I definitely could tell I had a diatom outbreak because the glass and the skimmer were covered with them.

Hum, okay then. I meant to write « they don’t seem to be growing too much ». They don’t spread quickly.

I’ll check it today and update.

 

[KonradTO]

Hum, okay then. I meant to write « they don’t seem to be growing too much ». They don’t spread quickly.

I’ll check it today and update.

Yes I imagined from the context. Even if its dinos It's good news, they slowed down because there is not enough of them reproducing for limiting in nutients other organisms, which now can compete for resources (or at least that's my understanding on how this works).

 

[Idech]

I haven’t tested yet but my conch snail is eating big patches of it entirely, so I would think they are mostly diatoms.

I will continue dosing daily for a little while then probably include it in my Sunday dosing schedule.

 

[Idech]

Those dinos sure are stubborn… 1 month after not seeing any, I let my guard down and stopped dosing silicate. I also dosed less phyto and Microbacter 7. Yesterday after a 5 gallons WC I did not dose silicates and bacteria like I did the time before. This morning I had a patch of dinos.

So I dosed silicates, phyto, Microbacter 7, a bit of Neonitro and Neophos.

The war isn’t over…

 

[KonradTO]

Those dinos sure are stubborn… 1 month after not seeing any, I let my guard down and stopped dosing silicate. I also dosed less phyto and Microbacter 7. Yesterday after a 5 gallons WC I did not dose silicates and bacteria like I did the time before. This morning I had a patch of dinos.

So I dosed silicates, phyto, Microbacter 7, a bit of Neonitro and Neophos.

The war isn’t over…

Same happened to me. I had a wavemaker that blew some sand around and got some dinos again. I have uv and silicate back to regime, after a blackout tank is clean again. We have the method now, we cannot fail

 

[Idech]

Same happened to me. I had a wavemaker that blew some sand around and got some dinos again. I have uv and silicate back to regime, after a blackout tank is clean again. We have the method now, we cannot fail

I hope so ! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Reef Puncher]

That’s the post I saw and that’s exactly what I started doing last night !

I’m hoping it will work !

i know its an old thread, but i just ordered my UV sterilizer. what happened with yours? did you keep running? did it work? how long did you keep running it? did you ever stop running it?

 

[Idech]

i know its an old thread, but i just ordered my UV sterilizer. what happened with yours? did you keep running? did it work? how long did you keep running it? did you ever stop running it?

I had a tank upgrade and bought the same UV, but a bigger size.

Before when I had the 15 watts UV it worked very well for one specific type of dino, the first time I had them. Then I had them again 3 times, but they were prorocentrum and those don’t respond to UV so I had to dose silicate.

So yes, it’s a good UV, you won’t regret it. Just make sure to clean the sleeve tube or whatever it’s called once in a while.

 

[Reef Puncher]

I had a tank upgrade and bought the same UV, but a bigger size.

Before when I had the 15 watts UV it worked very well for one specific type of dino, the first time I had them. Then I had them again 3 times, but they were prorocentrum and those don’t respond to UV so I had to dose silicate.

So yes, it’s a good UV, you won’t regret it. Just make sure to clean the sleeve tube or whatever it’s called once in a while.

ah ok thanks. dang i wonder if i really need to buy a microscope to identify the type of dino. ill try just the UV first. and then if that doesnt work ill get a microscope.

 

[Idech]

ah ok thanks. dang i wonder if i really need to buy a microscope to identify the type of dino. ill try just the UV first. and then if that doesnt work ill get a microscope.

Yes, that’s what I did too.

 

[jmichaelh7]

ah ok thanks. dang i wonder if i really need to buy a microscope to identify the type of dino. ill try just the UV first. and then if that doesnt work ill get a microscope.

Took me about 2 weeks to be done ! But plumbing the pump straight in and out of the display is key

 

[alexanderthefishlover]

+1 this, when I had dinos I was blowing them off the glass/rock/corals twice a day. Running blue lights only, internal UV sterilizer, dosing H2O2 every night (but MUCH less than you currently are, just 1ml per 10 gallons)

Hi did the 1 ml per 10 gallons affect or kill fish inverts or Corals??? coralline algae? Did you dose it nightly? and for how long