New and feel like I’ve bitten off too much.

[olonmv]

I see a little cyano, diatoms and turf algae. The stuff on the rocks: brush with a Firm toothbrush or auto detail brush.
Reduce white light intensity and Check your phosphate and nitrate for elevated levels.
Add the following snails:

3 turbo
3 astrea
3 Trochus
3 Cerith
4 Nassarius
6-8 blue leg hermits.

Also add a pouch of chemipure Elite will will keep Phos and nitrates in check

Are you using RODI water or tap water from the faucet ?
Is tank at or near a window?

I currently have 5 nassarius 5 trocus. I’ve read bad things about hermits hunting down snails so I steer away from them, even though I like em. And was told trocus have to be constantly righted or they’ll die. I have a half bag of chemi-pure in chamber 3, I use RO buddy with di. I believe having Phosphates and nitrates at zero got me into this predicament. The algae on the rocks really doesn’t bother me, gives color to bland dead rock I used and keeps my lawnmower fat. I just want that nasty cyano/dinos to go away. Maybe I’m just being over anal but makes feel like I’m doing something wrong when I see pink slime on what’s supposed to be white.

 

[fishlover1478]

do you have a tds meter? I would check your freshwater that you are using to mix saltwater

 

[vetteguy53081]

I currently have 5 nassarius 5 trocus. I’ve read bad things about hermits hunting down snails so I steer away from them, even though I like em. And was told trocus have to be constantly righted or they’ll die. I have a half bag of chemi-pure in chamber 3, I use RO buddy with di. I believe having Phosphates and nitrates at zero got me into this predicament. The algae on the rocks really doesn’t bother me, gives color to bland dead rock I used and keeps my lawnmower fat. I just want that nasty cyano/dinos to go away. Maybe I’m just being over anal but makes feel like I’m doing something wrong when I see pink slime on what’s supposed to be white.

These are the little Mini blue leg- not the large carribean type
Here is cyano/Dino formula:
First- Check phosphates and nitrates to assure theyre not elevated.
Here is full program:
Prepare by starting with a water change and blow this stuff loose with a turkey baster and siphon up loose particles.
Turn lights off (at least white and run blue at 10-15%) for 5 days and at night dose 1ml of hydrogen peroxide per 10 gallons for all 5 nights. If you dont have light dependent coral- turn all lights off.
During the day dose 1ml of liquid bacteria (such as bacter 7) per 10 gallons.
Clean filters daily and DO NOT FEED CORAL FOODS OR ADD NOPOX as it is food for dinos.
Day 5,, you can start with blue lights - ramping up and work your white lights up slowly

 

[olonmv]

do you have a tds meter? I would check your freshwater that you are using to mix saltwater

I don’t have one and plan on ordering one here in a few days. I know it’s cliche to say but my system is new, I’ve only pulled less than 30 gallons of RO/di water from it. The di resin is still a very dark color. I though diatoms were the tds hungry ones?

 

[IvanW]

Ivan, Should I hold off on any water changes as well? I’m almost 2 weeks into no water change and worried that a water changes will only make the dinos/cyano happy.

Keep up with water changes, the norm was 25% per month a little more a little less is no big deal. Blow the rocks off with a turkey baster or a small pump. It is a fairly long slow process. Don’t give up. Dinos will burn themselves out.
Look up some of my past threads I promise it will give you hope. Just an FYI,a lot of my information comes from some of the “Gurus “ in this hobby Sanjay Joshi,the late Bob Fenner and so on with whom I had the opportunity to sit and talk with personally.

 

[olonmv]

These are the little Mini blue leg- not the large carribean type
Here is cyano/Dino formula:
First- Check phosphates and nitrates to assure theyre not elevated.
Here is full program:
Prepare by starting with a water change and blow this stuff loose with a turkey baster and siphon up loose particles.
Turn lights off (at least white and run blue at 10-15%) for 5 days and at night dose 1ml of hydrogen peroxide per 10 gallons for all 5 nights. If you dont have light dependent coral- turn all lights off.
During the day dose 1ml of liquid bacteria (such as bacter 7) per 10 gallons.
Clean filters daily and DO NOT FEED CORAL FOODS OR ADD NOPOX as it is food for dinos.
Day 5,, you can start with blue lights - ramping up and work your white lights up slowly

I’ll check out the mini blue legged ones for sure, I love hermit crabs. Here are my corals:

Montipora (not sure which one but it’s a beginner one)
Candy cane (1 head)
Dunkan (1 head)
Small colony of zoas (bout 17 polyps)
3 paly polyps
GSP
Hammer coral (1 head)
Also have a rockflower anemone (caught him walkin the skreets on my First blackout round)
Other inhabitants are fish n snails and a cleaner shrimp.

did a blackout with dark towels for a couple days. Didn’t dose H202 but ran a UV, and after 2 days it made a dramatic difference but I was told it was dinoflagellates (stringy with a bunch of bubbles during day gone at night) those seem at bay but now it’s cyanos time to shine. I so badly want to do a water change but I’ve been told that dinos love water changes. Is water changing then doing program the best course for me, consider my livestock?

 

[vetteguy53081]

I’ll check out the mini blue legged ones for sure, I love hermit crabs. Here are my corals:

Montipora (not sure which one but it’s a beginner one)
Candy cane (1 head)
Dunkan (1 head)
Small colony of zoas (bout 17 polyps)
3 paly polyps
GSP
Hammer coral (1 head)
Also have a rockflower anemone (caught him walkin the skreets on my First blackout round)
Other inhabitants are fish n snails and a cleaner shrimp.

did a blackout with dark towels for a couple days. Didn’t dose H202 but ran a UV, and after 2 days it made a dramatic difference but I was told it was dinoflagellates (stringy with a bunch of bubbles during day gone at night) those seem at bay but now it’s cyanos time to shine. I so badly want to do a water change but I’ve been told that dinos love water changes. Is water changing then doing program the best course for me, consider my livestock?

Blackout: 5-7 days most effective with All lights off. Towels not necessary as residual light will do nothing. You can run blues at 15% to keep corals happy although blackout wont hurt them

 

[olonmv]

Ok, so here goes. This is gonna be my mode of operation to tackle this.
I’m thinking a
1. A 5 gallon water change, 38%. Too much? Blow off rocks and change filter.
2. 5 day blackout (while running uv sterilizer) it’s a 9w green killing machine, flow set specifically to kill algae and minimal bacteria.
3. Dose about 1.2 ml daily of H202 for a couple of weeks.
4. Keep an eye on the regular stuff, parameters and water levels.

does that sound about right?

Can my fish be fed during the black out? And when I did a lil 2 day lights out, my rockflower was cruisin the hood looking for light, do I need to worry about him stinging the other corals in the tank?

once the 5 days are up, do I re-acclimate the corals with the AB+ So that I don’t shock them, if that’s even a thing, feels like a thing though.

 

[olonmv]

These are the little Mini blue leg- not the large carribean type
Here is cyano/Dino formula:
First- Check phosphates and nitrates to assure theyre not elevated.
Here is full program:
Prepare by starting with a water change and blow this stuff loose with a turkey baster and siphon up loose particles.
Turn lights off (at least white and run blue at 10-15%) for 5 days and at night dose 1ml of hydrogen peroxide per 10 gallons for all 5 nights. If you dont have light dependent coral- turn all lights off.
During the day dose 1ml of liquid bacteria (such as bacter 7) per 10 gallons.
Clean filters daily and DO NOT FEED CORAL FOODS OR ADD NOPOX as it is food for dinos.
Day 5,, you can start with blue lights - ramping up and work your white lights up slowly

Sorry for blowing up y’all’s phones. Goin vetteguys method as I’ve been through the threads and seems to be the one with the highest turn-out rate and when I did a 2 day blackout without dosing it really helped. shutting off the uv during the duration and I have stability by seachem to use for my bacteria, will that be ok? Can fish be fed pellets or pemysis during the 5 days or will they be ok without eating for the duration? Also, I have an evo 13.5 and figure volume of water at about 12 gallons. That would be 1.2 ml’s on the dosing right? Ok, I promise I’m shutting up now and just looking for a push on the back. Thanks for alllllllll of the wonderful advice and inspiring words, everyone!!!!!!! Hope the rest of everyone’s days is great!!!!

 

[vetteguy53081]

Sorry for blowing up y’all’s phones. Goin vetteguys method as I’ve been through the threads and seems to be the one with the highest turn-out rate and when I did a 2 day blackout without dosing it really helped. shutting off the uv during the duration and I have stability by seachem to use for my bacteria, will that be ok? Can fish be fed pellets or pemysis during the 5 days or will they be ok without eating for the duration? Also, I have an evo 13.5 and figure volume of water at about 12 gallons. That would be 1.2 ml’s on the dosing right? Ok, I promise I’m shutting up now and just looking for a push on the back. Thanks for alllllllll of the wonderful advice and inspiring words, everyone!!!!!!! Hope the rest of everyone’s days is great!!!!

It works and is pretty simple