My battle with algae & dinos (coolia monotis): A diary of the journey

[zalick]

Has the UV wiped them out yet? I think I have Coolia too. My nutrients bottomed out and stayed that way for months, which must've allowed the dinos to take over. They mainly grow on hair algae and seagrass.

Not yet.... With a mag 12 powering my 114w uv and a sicce 5 powering 57w my temps were climbing. I turned off the 114w until I got a new DC pump. During that time my sicce 5 died and I didn't notice. So two weeks with no uv and the dinos made a comback.

My nutrient levels as of yesterday:
P - .02
N - 2.

I've got the UVs back online and dosing N and P again

 

[zalick]

Has the UV wiped them out yet? I think I have Coolia too. My nutrients bottomed out and stayed that way for months, which must've allowed the dinos to take over. They mainly grow on hair algae and seagrass.

I just did my first dose of dinosX. Fingers crossed.

 

[ThePurple12]

I just did my first dose of dinos. Fingers crossed.

You mean hydrogen peroxide?

 

[zalick]

You mean hydrogen peroxide?

Whoops. Autocorrect. First dose of DinoX.

I also vacuumed as much dinos as I could through a filter sock. So it all looks pretty good already.

 

[zalick]

5th dose of dinoX went in last night. I did a 3 day blackout to start. Today is day 2 of lights being back on.

So far minimal dinos appearing on sand and tank etc. Not sure if it's all the UV, the dinoX or both but something is working!

 

[zalick]

I'm now on day 8 of nightly dinoX dosing.

The dinos are almost completely gone, or should I say they haven't returned after my vaccuming. This is the best the tank has been re dinos in a couple years. Why didn't I try DinoX sooner?!? My all natural, organic, vegan, gluten free method basically cost me a couple years of absolute misery and almost forced me out of the hobby after 23 years. ;Wideyed

I can't definitively say it's DinoX that made the difference because I added the 57w UV to the the DT at the same time but my hunch is that DinoX was the difference maker one way or the other.

The only potential negative I've seen from the DinoX is that my pod population appears to have undergone an extinction event. It was thriving and now I can't see any at night. Fair trade from getting rid of dinos. The pods will come back.

An interesting observation is my ORP dropping with first dose and slowly climbing. I don't really pay attention to ORP other than as an indicator of something if there is a dramatic change from the norm.

 

[ThePurple12]

Congratulations! I would actually lean towards the UV being the thing that cleared up the dinos. From what I've heard, they basically have a 100% success rate unless you have Amphidinium, which stays on the substrate.

 

[zalick]

Congratulations! I would actually lean towards the UV being the thing that cleared up the dinos. From what I've heard, they basically have a 100% success rate unless you have Amphidinium, which stays on the substrate.

Thanks!

Yes, the UV definitely was working. I actually started it a week or so before and it was keeping them in check and probably reducing. The DinoX probably pushed it over the top a little quicker.

If I had continued blowing off the rocks daily, I have little doubt the UV would have finished the job.

 

[zalick]

Turns out I was dosing 2x of the dinoX. I was dosing nightly instead of every other night. I stopped dosing 2 nights ago and have been basically dino free for a few days now.

Going to start running carbon tomorrow per dinoX instructions.

A little cyano popped up. I blew it with a baster and it's gone.

 

[ThePurple12]

That's nice to hear. It may be too early to tell, but I think I just beat Coolia as well. What may have worked for me is dosing sodium nitrate and phosphate.

 

[zalick]

That's nice to hear. It may be too early to tell, but I think I just beat Coolia as well. What may have worked for me is dosing sodium nitrate and phosphate.

Great!

I've been dosing as well to keep N around 10 and P around .06. that seems to work well.

 

[Oldcoder]

I had what I believe was coolia as well on my 100 gallon tank 20 gallon sump. Finally plumped the 57 watt unit to the return and they are gone. One thing I did learn is that the Aqua UV 57 watt unit limes up real quick with low flow rates on the quartz sleeve so once a month you have to clean. I just wrap the sleeve in a vinegar soaked paper towel.
Mine gone for several months now. Carbon changed every two weeks, and Microbacter7 weekly with uv off for two hours.

 

[zalick]

I had what I believe was coolia as well on my 100 gallon tank 20 gallon sump. Finally plumped the 57 watt unit to the return and they are gone. One thing I did learn is that the Aqua UV 57 watt unit limes up real quick with low flow rates on the quartz sleeve so once a month you have to clean. I just wrap the sleeve in a vinegar soaked paper towel.
Mine gone for several months now. Carbon changed every two weeks, and Microbacter7 weekly with uv off for two hours.

Great work and thanks for adding this info.

It appears that UV is extremely effective.

Are you still running the UV and dosing MB7?

 

[Oldcoder]

Great work and thanks for adding this info.

It appears that UV is extremely effective.

Are you still running the UV and dosing MB7?

Yep never going to stop.

 

[zalick]

Yep never going to stop.

Private static Water DinoDeath(Water w, UV 57w){
If ContainsDino(w) = True then DinoDeath(w, 57w)
Else return w;
}

Been a long time and that's probably an infinite loop (and incomplete) or will through an error, buts it's the best I could do on one cup of coffee and haven't touched any code in 20yrs. ;Woot

 

[Fishtastrophy]

Turns out I was dosing 2x of the dinoX. I was dosing nightly instead of every other night. I stopped dosing 2 nights ago and have been basically dino free for a few days now.

Going to start running carbon tomorrow per dinoX instructions.

A little cyano popped up. I blew it with a baster and it's gone.

How long did you double dose for? Did you adjust your lights at all during your dosing period?

I have Coolia dinos, but initially it looked like DinoX wasn't really doing anything... how long did it take before you noticed any results?

These stupid things are awful.

Thanks!

 

[zalick]

How long did you double dose for? Did you adjust your lights at all during your dosing period?

I have Coolia dinos, but initially it looked like DinoX wasn't really doing anything... how long did it take before you noticed any results?

These stupid things are awful.

Thanks!

I dosed every day for 8 or 9 days.
I rounded down on my water estimation to be safe.

I'm not sure if the dinoX or the UV or both made the difference. But I noticed results almost overnight. Certainly within two days.

And now I'm dino free a week later.

I suspect the UV makes the biggest difference.

 

[Fishtastrophy]

I dosed every day for 8 or 9 days.
I rounded down on my water estimation to be safe.

I'm not sure if the dinoX or the UV or both made the difference. But I noticed results almost overnight. Certainly within two days.

And now I'm dino free a week later.

I suspect the UV makes the biggest difference.

Thanks! One last question! On the DinoX bottle it says to turn off UV while dosing.. sounds like you left it on?

I have a UV hooked into my main display, but it doesn't seem to be knocking them back all the way. Maybe I'll turn the lights back too (my blackout for 3 days did very little to my dinos)

Thanks again!

 

[zalick]

Thanks! One last question! On the DinoX bottle it says to turn off UV while dosing.. sounds like you left it on?

I have a UV hooked into my main display, but it doesn't seem to be knocking them back all the way. Maybe I'll turn the lights back too (my blackout for 3 days did very little to my dinos)

Thanks again!

Leave the UV on. It doesn't need to be off, that is incorrect on the instructions but they haven't updated them for some reason.

I would do periodic blackouts for a couple days at a time. Coolio enter the water column when lights are off and the UV and dinoX is more effective at that time.

During the day, blast them off the sand, rocks and glass as often as you can. This helps them get to the UV more often.

 

[Fishtastrophy]

Leave the UV on. It doesn't need to be off, that is incorrect on the instructions but they haven't updated them for some reason.

I would do periodic blackouts for a couple days at a time. Coolio enter the water column when lights are off and the UV and dinoX is more effective at that time.

During the day, blast them off the sand, rocks and glass as often as you can. This helps them get to the UV more often.

I'll give it a go! Thank you, sir!