Many ways to skin a reef, this is mine. (54 Litre/14 Gallon)

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Kicking off with some of the stickers I have collect from around the world, feel free to tag any of them you may notice More to follow.....

Thanks all who contributed.

@Comic_Reef

@JC Reef

@Hudsonvalleyreefguy

@inland_reef

@BahamaLlamaCoral

@HoosierDaddy

@lynn.reef.nerd

@Nano man

@Blue Carbon Reefing

@HollaAtChaReefBoy

@prfishgirl

@rileysreef4928

@Koral Craze

@Hardy_Reef

@FARMBOYREEF

 

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@What the frag

@OVER9K_REEF

@bonnie.klassen1

@banasophia

@Mike Lemming

@murphys_aquatics

@calikidcorals

@melev

 

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Back to business, this is what I established a few days ago when I took a sample from the tank and put it on a slide viewing through my microscope, be sure to check out 0:45 & 1:10 for what I believe is Paramecium.



Below is 2 days later, another sample



Then just some crazy little creatures




L-Strain Rotifers from my culture


Enjoy.

 

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Since discovering the dino’s for now I’v decided no more waterchanges, I have hooked up a 10w RuWal/D-D Uv steriliser, using an Eheim compact 600 litre pump running at roughly 400lph, this is directly on the DT as I do not have a sump. It has been 3 days now and I have kept lights off, however not covered the tank in total darkness. I have also taken my nano air skimmer offline for now to try help dirty up the water, although it more or less skims dry when on. For filtration I’ve only ever run a tiny HOB with filter floss, which I currently have granulated activated carbon in now with passive flow and rinse/change every other day for fresh to help reduce toxins from the Ostreopsis. I have added some filter floss in direct line with the powerhead (poor mans Uv) to catch all the stringy dino’s and rinse in RO each night. Although I will do no further water changes as such, unless advised, then I will target remove detritus build up to help export the waste. When I look back now over the last few months, I wish I hadn’t poured the filtered tankwater back into the tank as it for sure was full of dino’s going by the dust looking film reforming a slime looking appearance when sat idle in a bucket. Likewise I even used skimmate to see if that would raise nutrients, which no doubt had dino cells present ;Nailbiting(Lesson learned)
I’m thinking when I turn my light on I will slightly lower the intensity and configure the channels to blues and a little Uv, for now turn the other spectrums off to help keep algae at bay. I will also perhaps reduce light photoperiod from 12hr to 9. I’m keeping an eye on Alk, Cal & Mag simply as I now know consumption reduces with these dino’s taking over which answers why my Alk has crept up, currently at 12dKh. I will knock the dosing back a little from 10ml daily to help prevent it going too high causing further issues.

Any thoughts please do chime in.

FTS 8/5/2020 (8th May)

 

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I dont have a tank thread. Yet.

How is the tank buddy?

 

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Tested Alk today as I already know it’s a little on the high side since dino’s appeared, it’s 13.3dKh dang. It crept up once again as over the last 3 days I’ve had lights out so minimal growth from corals and clams etc. I chose to cease all dosing for now until I know it’s being consumed at previous set amounts, I will monitor it and see how fast it drops before I consider turning back on. I also removed all detritus which had built up in areas of less flow, around my big acan. With this detritus I took samples of and could not find many Ostreopsis anymore yay. I rinsed out the filter floss once again, not much build up so quick progress being made. I’ve slightly pushed the temp up although not quite near 82°F yet, which I think will be last ditch attempt if that time comes. The tank is visually looking much better already in this little time, happy to be heading out of these horrible dino’s. With my lights, as they’re radion, I had them running AB+ at 30 intensity over 12 hours, which considering they’ve been turned off for three days I have set them to come on tomorrow only at 15% intensity and will reduce the photoperiod to 10 hours. I have kept the programme on AB+ meaning I’ve got the blues and Uv max, whites 15% red & green 20% all on 15% intensity. Lastly I turkey basted all the rocks before I went to bed to make sure any remaining dino’s were more likely to become free swimming enabling the Uv yo zap them. Here is a picture of the tank from yesterday

 

[brandon429]

I cannot see any invasion, excellent job of taking command!! and the slight temp boost was a keen detail to try, it’s not harmful seasonal variation to try and dinos have hated + temps in work threads, I won’t forget that temp detail next time someone has a rough strain. Your corals look great! really getting age on them


those reef stickers are real art, you are collecting art from amazing reefers that was great H.A.

 

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Today I dusted off the Salifert test kit for No3 and the Hanna ULR also. I was not looking forward to chasing numbers if I found them to be near 0 as they had been for a long time. Below is how things developed, No3 25ppm which is at least above 0 so not really bothered which number as again I have not been into chasing the numbers.

Next was Po4, which is the one test I detest. Check vials are clean, test them in checker for 0 reading, check. Then mix powder and test..... ZZZZZzzzzz it sends me asleep ha ha. Anyhow I like to test 3 times using same samples just to get an average and not go from first reading incase there was an error. These things can happen right Anyhow as you can see below I initially go 35ppb and then 46ppb then 37ppb so I settled at 40ppb or 0.12ppm. Again to my surprise my results where somewhere above 0.00 so I cannot grumble. Oh lord, thank you for making my life that little more simple. No need to order chemicals to help raise Po4 and No3, all I used was 5-10 drops of Florida Aqua farm Roti Rich (I have that to feed my newly created roti and copepod cultures). It was just an experiment prior to trying to use flake, pellet & frozen foods to help raise nutrients that little needed.

Took this opportunity to take some quick snaps of some corals and the clams, enjoy.

As you can see here, I still have the Uv and floss in play to make sure the dinos are knocked back as best as can be. I will decide as and when I will remove these depending on progress since turning the lights back on today. I will slowly raise the temp up to 82ºF during transition of removing the Uv for a short period of time, unless I see negative signs arise.

My frag rack holds the only sps that I have in my tank, and they have taken a beating by the dinos, they were literally covered in brown slime. Let's see if they recover

Thanks for checking in and joining me on this war path with dinos.

 

[brandon429]

What you’ve done with that reef over the years is amazing the corals have clearly added mass, clam is really healthy, it looks exactly like a healthy natural reef does in the wild

 

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What you’ve done with that reef over the years is amazing the corals have clearly added mass, clam is really healthy, it looks exactly like a healthy natural reef does in the wild

Hey thanks man, now I can also say I have seen both sides to the coin, to a degree. What I mean is when you and I first ever spoke, and I had never keep a saltwater tank I remember following your advice and taking the hands on approach. I enjoyed the learning curve, and will for sure use what you taught me in any future reef tanks. Import and export, corals can handle exposure to air, sand rinsed in tap and then ro until cloudiness has gone totally. Skip cycle using rock that has life forms on, bacteria is not always an easy kill especially those in biofilm state (so rocks are ok exposed to air and wont cause a cycle. Ammonia is never 0, merely 0.xx ppm, if the tank/rock smells like the ocean its go to go. Not forgetting the tricks with h2o2 on algae, easy kill. Not just to await the testing being carried out by @Humblefish for treating fish parasites with h2o2. I remember all those who wanted to call you out Brandon and said h2o2 is a no go.
The other side of the coin is, set tank up, let things run their course which may be months, nutrients rise and absorb only to release back into the system via algae growth, who like algae Then add potions, chase numbers etc etc. you get the gist. Basically the reef ends up controlling the hobbyist until they give up, no thanks.

I will forever believe in the hands on approach, simply as this recent development of events only came from siting back and not doing my husbandry on the tank. Respect @brandon429

 

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Enjoying being able to look at my tank once again as I used to, prior to me letting it slip and not keeping up with the hands on approach. My cuc have begun to devour the spots of hair algae here and there, reducing each day. No visual signs of the dino outbreak which had smothered the rocks, thanks to siphoning it off, Uv setriliser and poor mans Uv (filter floss in high flow area, rinsed daily). Right now I just need to keep an eye on the coral flesh recession which had took some damage, so is going to be an ongoing visual inspection. Over the coming days I plan to remove the floss, granular activated carbon and now have my air driven skimmer on a 12 hour cycle with on being midnight to midday. Going forward I will keep the skimmer at this setting so it doesn't keep nutrients bottomed out, and then I can decide if I want to go back to running it 24/7 and upping feeding which no doubt the fish will appreciate As with anything, finding a balance is best. I'm glad I have not had to remove the rocks and attack with h2o2, however knowing I have that in my kitbag is the ultimate back up reset. Once we're out of lockdown, I think I will add a pair of pipefish. I miss my pipefish tbh. I have recently, as in last week began culturing copepods as well as rotifers, of which will help rebuild the food web in my tank, and plan to begin adding these in a few weeks by which I will have removed the Uv by then. Overall I cannot jinx myself and call success in my battle with dinos, however it's looking that way this far. May I tank this moment to once again thank interaction from @taricha via pm in verifying my thinking/plan of action and @brandon429 for always for having my back. Finally, I had fun while playing with my microscope finding all kinds of life. Although visible to the eye, check out this bristleworm

 

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One for the crowd, so much style in this photo. This was when Than came to the UK 2019.

 

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Did todays Alk test using salifert test kit, has dropped from 13.3dKh tested on Tuesday to 10.7dKh. 2.6dKh drop in 2 days, I would suggest that is a good indicator that my elements are back to usual consumption so I will resume my dosing by turning the doser back on today. Another sign that the dinos are going