I have a 50 gallon cube, sump, sand, ATS, radion LED, Protein skimmer, my aquascape is fairly easy to remove in sections. My troubles with Dinos coincided with overzealous Iron supplementation and low nutrients. I lost many corals and anemones to the infestation. I am not sure if my approach has been described previously.
I have a theory (I think others believe the same as well) that dinos sequester iron and iron creates a bloom. I tried elevated temperatures, silica, nitrate and po4 supplementation, blackout, bacteria supplementation and those approaches were not helpful at all. Going with the theory that my strain of dinos thrive on iron, my approach involved removing only the dinos (with the sequestered iron) and nothing else and trying to not replenish any iron source.
I bought a Marineland Magnum Polishing Internal Filter, followed the instructions and charged it with diatomaceous earth. I siphoned out the dino infested sand into a 5 gallon bucket and “polished” the water with the “charged” marineland filter. I then returned the same polished water and sand back into my system. Dinos were caked on the filter and washed off in the backyard. Rocks were hosed down with a high pressure garden hose. I repeated the same process (just sand, not the rocks) about 3 or 4 times over a period of about a month, each time I noticed far fewer dinos than the previous. It has been about a month since I have finished the process. I understand that I have not eliminated them, however, there are so few spots left, that I have to look hard to see them. I also understand that the silica, nitrate, po4 supplementation could have caught up and helped with the dinos, however, the filter was very efficacious with immediate results. I hope this helps.
I have a theory (I think others believe the same as well) that dinos sequester iron and iron creates a bloom. I tried elevated temperatures, silica, nitrate and po4 supplementation, blackout, bacteria supplementation and those approaches were not helpful at all. Going with the theory that my strain of dinos thrive on iron, my approach involved removing only the dinos (with the sequestered iron) and nothing else and trying to not replenish any iron source.
I bought a Marineland Magnum Polishing Internal Filter, followed the instructions and charged it with diatomaceous earth. I siphoned out the dino infested sand into a 5 gallon bucket and “polished” the water with the “charged” marineland filter. I then returned the same polished water and sand back into my system. Dinos were caked on the filter and washed off in the backyard. Rocks were hosed down with a high pressure garden hose. I repeated the same process (just sand, not the rocks) about 3 or 4 times over a period of about a month, each time I noticed far fewer dinos than the previous. It has been about a month since I have finished the process. I understand that I have not eliminated them, however, there are so few spots left, that I have to look hard to see them. I also understand that the silica, nitrate, po4 supplementation could have caught up and helped with the dinos, however, the filter was very efficacious with immediate results. I hope this helps.
