Ready for 72h black out to beat dinos. Few questions before I start

[marcosnano]

Can we back up for a second?

What species of dinos are you dealing with? Microscope pictures would help immensely.

Not sure, I don't have a microscope.

It's mostly on sandbed, and some rocks and come corals. It mostly bothers zoas which are not open most of the time because of it.

 

[Budman93]

Not sure, I don't have a microscope.

It's mostly on sandbed, and some rocks and come corals. It mostly bothers zoas which are not open most of the time because of it.

Try to get the flow to stir the sand bed. Not like maxed out but enough to create small dunes after a day or two. Doing so doesnt allow the dinos to settle on the sand and keeps them in the water column I'd guess it helps the UV work better. That and daily changing of the filter floss. Another thing I did was add pods and then feed them phyto every day/every other day. Pods can actually eat some kinds of dinos and regardless will help reset your biome. Im not sure what exactly was the most important piece for me but I did like 8 different things and the last thing i did before they finally went away was the flow/bacteria dosing/ and pods/phyto.

The lights out/uv didnt seem to work on its own and theyd just come back a couple days later.

 

[legionofdoon]

Not the extreme the "special blend". MB 7 did nothing for me. I did use waste away as well the first time but not the second.

 

[legionofdoon]

MICROBE-LIFT SBH16 Special Blend Aquarium and Fish Tank Cleaner for Freshwater and Saltwater, 16 Ounces https://a.co/d/bZ3eaO5

 

[legionofdoon]

I think the idea is the “good” bacteria outcompeting the Dino’s for whatever nutrients are there. I don’t know if that will work or not, it was just an idea. I’m not an expert on bacteria by any stretch. I can’t, however, see that it could hurt. But once again, not an expert.

The reason why the purple non sulfur bacteria works better is that they are photosynthetic like dinos. They also like the same habitat, surface and just below surface of sand. They reproduce faster than dinos and use basically the same resources.

 

[marcosnano]

MICROBE-LIFT SBH16 Special Blend Aquarium and Fish Tank Cleaner for Freshwater and Saltwater, 16 Ounces https://a.co/d/bZ3eaO5

Cool, just ordered one.

So, I will most likely perform 3 day black out of my DT and I will remove all of my corals in QT during that time. QT will have similar light intensity. All of my corals are on plugs and that wont be a problem.

For 3 days I will be adding special blend and waste away daily.

For 3 days I will blow sand from time to time and blow algae from rocks. I will feed fish too.

UV keep running, flow should be running slower then usual, in order for UV to kill all of those dinos going thru water.

I will hydrogen peroxide my zoa corals to kill all algae on it.

Day 4th in the morning I will return corals back to DT.

Does this plan sounds right?

 

[a.t.t.r]

Day 4th in the morning I will return the dinos back to DT.

Does this plan sounds right?

Fixed your typo

 

[marcosnano]

Fixed your typo

lol.

yeah, that could be a problem.

so, corals had to stay in DT?

 

[a.t.t.r]

lol.

yeah, that could be a problem.

so, corals had to stay in DT?

I would a few days of no light will not hurt them unless they are already half dead.

 

[marcosnano]

I would a few days of no light will not hurt them unless they are already half dead.

I have some expensive corals I really don't want to risk them 3 days without light.

Can I dip corals before returning them into DT? What would be a safest dip for corlas and same time effective for killing dinos on them?

 

[a.t.t.r]

I have some expensive corals I really don't want to risk them 3 days without light.

Can I dip corals before returning them into DT? What would be a safest dip for corlas and same time effective for killing dinos on them?

I wouldn’t. Also to be fair you will never kill all of the Dino’s anyways.


Btw guess what lives inside your corals…

 

[Troylee]

I wouldn’t turn your light off or dose anything algae related etc…. Use some silicates to introduce diatoms and dose h202 at night.. 1ml per 10 gallons

 

[marcosnano]

I wouldn’t turn your light off or dose anything algae related etc…. Use some silicates to introduce diatoms and dose h202 at night.. 1ml per 10 gallons

So, diatoms infestation will beat dinos? So what happens when I want to remove diatoms and when I lower phosphates again, I will have dinos outbreak again?

 

[a.t.t.r]

So, diatoms infestation will beat dinos? So what happens when I want to remove diatoms and when I lower phosphates again, I will have dinos outbreak again?

No the idea is that you get a balance of micro fauna and flora that will not allow the Dino’s to take hold again. Don’t try and solve the algae issues just take care of the tank and wait them out.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hello reefers,

I'm dealing with a worsening dino issue, despite various attempts like increasing no4 and po4, manual blasting, and UV.

A year ago, a 5-day blackout in a QT tank helped. Now, I'm unsure whether to temporarily move corals to a QT tank with lights, heater, and air stone or leave them in the blacked-out tank?

Concerned about reintroducing dinos to the DT if corals are brought back from QT. Any advice?

Is a hydrogen peroxide dip necessary, and is it harmful to fish and inverts?

Thank you!

Its biological deficiencies that are causing the dino structure. Its important though to identify the type of dino for most effective battle.
No light is first key followed by the addition of bacteria to overcome the bad bacteria allowing them to thrive
Prepare by starting by blowing this stuff loose with a turkey baster and siphon up loose particles. Turn lights off (at least white and run blue at 10% IF you have light dependant corals such as SPS) for 5 days and at night dose 1ml of 3% hydrogen peroxide per 10 gallons for all 5 nights which works as an oxidizer. If you dont have light dependent coral- turn all lights off. During the day dose 1ml of liquid bacteria (such as micro bacter 7 or XLM) per 10 gallons. Clean filters daily and DO NOT FEED AMINO OR ADD NOPOX which is food for dinos, however you can feed coral, food which will help no3 and po4 to increase. If increasing nutrients, try to keep no3 to about 5 until you are done battling these cells.
Doing a daily siphoning will help greatly But . . . . . Siphoning will reduce nutrients , so siphon the water into/through a filter sock and save the water and return it back to tank. Obviously clean the filter sock each time.
You can feed fish as normal and if doing blackout, ambient light in room will work for them

 

[marcosnano]

Its biological deficiencies that are causing the dino structure. Its important though to identify the type of dino for most effective battle.
No light is first key followed by the addition of bacteria to overcome the bad bacteria allowing them to thrive
Prepare by starting by blowing this stuff loose with a turkey baster and siphon up loose particles. Turn lights off (at least white and run blue at 10% IF you have light dependant corals such as SPS) for 5 days and at night dose 1ml of 3% hydrogen peroxide per 10 gallons for all 5 nights which works as an oxidizer. If you dont have light dependent coral- turn all lights off. During the day dose 1ml of liquid bacteria (such as micro bacter 7 or XLM) per 10 gallons. Clean filters daily and DO NOT FEED AMINO OR ADD NOPOX which is food for dinos, however you can feed coral, food which will help no3 and po4 to increase. If increasing nutrients, try to keep no3 to about 5 until you are done battling these cells.
Doing a daily siphoning will help greatly But . . . . . Siphoning will reduce nutrients , so siphon the water into/through a filter sock and save the water and return it back to tank. Obviously clean the filter sock each time.
You can feed fish as normal and if doing blackout, ambient light in room will work for them

Thanks vette! I will try adding hydrogen peroxide too.

My main question is can I take corals out of tank to the QT while I'm doing this, and will i introduce dinos back to DT once I return the corals?

 

[Troylee]

Thanks vette! I will try adding hydrogen peroxide too.

My main question is can I take corals out of tank to the QT while I'm doing this, and will i introduce dinos back to DT once I return the corals?

You can take them out if you want it’s not gonna change anything.. I moved all my corals from a Dino infested tank to a new tank when I upgraded and there was zero issues.. to answer your question above the diatoms will outcompete the Dino’s and when you quit dosing the silicates the diatoms will die off since they don’t have a food source.

 

[yanetterer]

Can we back up for a second?

What species of dinos are you dealing with? Microscope pictures would help immensely.

This needs repeating.

For not much more than the price of a bottle of Dino-X, PNS Probio, or a Dr. Tim’s regimen you can buy a cheap microscope that can identify what type you are dealing with to better tailor the treatment.

You’ll probably end up spending just as much buying multiple products until you find out what works.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thanks vette! I will try adding hydrogen peroxide too.

My main question is can I take corals out of tank to the QT while I'm doing this, and will i introduce dinos back to DT once I return the corals?

No need to take corals out but if you choose- should not be an issue

 

[legionofdoon]

Don't bother with the waste away. It'll compete with the special blend. Lights out also don't do. PNS bacteria is photosynthetic so lights out will not allow them to reproduce as fast. If using H2O2 watch your shrimp they don't like it. Order some pods. They are great for all kinds of reasons. I did a week of lights out and it did nothing also stirring up the sand made mine worse.