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DS204

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Pentair aquatics smart UV 40w.
Mine is almost 4 feet long.
Holy cow! Those didn't seem to be readily available in Canada here, but I read and heard good things about those (mostly from BRS TV). Went with the black version of AquaUV which I am hoping is more resilient to fading and such. I am just waiting on a gate valve from an online order before I can plumb mine. Hoping it clears up the water like they say it would! How do you like yours? Looks like you're having some success with algae reduction.
 
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Dj City

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Aqua UV is also very good. It it extremely important to get the right size for your tank and even more important to get the flow right.
As long as you have sizing, flow and proper installation correct....
You good!
 

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Aqua UV is also very good. It it extremely important to get the right size for your tank and even more important to get the flow right.
As long as you have sizing, flow and proper installation correct....
You good!
Cheers, thanks! Went with the 25w which is rated for up to 150g. My tank is 147g with sump and refugium mod, so I'm thinking I should be good. Going to try and tune it to 400gph using a flow sensor for parasite control.

How many gallons is your pentair rated for? Your setup is 180g right?
 
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Dj City

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My system is approximately 190 gal total volume give or take 10 gallons.
My UV is rated for up to a 260 gallon tank. I have a flow chart in this thread a page back or two.
 
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Detailed Update and Plan of Action...

The dinos were knocked back but as expected, they were not defeated (yet).

I am taking an aggressive multi pronged approach to this problem.
U.V.
3 day blackout
Diatomaceous earth filter
Dr Tim's Dino recipe
Dr Tim's waste away gel

The quartz sleeve for my UV arrived yesterday and I put the UV back into temporary service (no blackout).
I have the feed pump in the tank and the return in the tank creating a closed loop. Pump is a Jeabo DCP15000. Pump is about a 1/2 inch above the sandbed. PVC pipe goes from pump to top of tank (about 25 inches) through 2 90° elbows forming a "U" and down about 6ft. to the UV.
The UV is laying horizontally on the floor in front of the tank. Water goes through the UV then back up about 6ft of PVC pipe then through 2 90° elbows forming a "U" to return water to the tank.
I am flowing 1019 gph through the UV according to apex flow meter. The UV calls for between 943 - 1574 gph to deal with algae, bacteria and dinos.
I use a Tunze 6105 on full blast to blow the rocks, sand and all surfaces. I put the pump right up to the rocks and make the biggest mess I can getting everything in the water column so it can go through the UV.

I have 4 Marineland Magnum polishing internal filters. Each rated for up to 97 gal tank / 290 gph. These filters will run Diatomaceous earth powder to mechanically filter dinos out.

I will be using Dr Tim's Dino recipe. This should wipe dinos out along with the other methods I am employing. The treatment consists of a 3 day blackout while dosing Dr Tim's Refresh then dosing Dr Tim's Waste Away liquid.
Once treatment is finished, Dr Tim's Waste Away gel will be employed.

This approach should kill dinos and keep em dead!

I'm not sure if I want to do the diatom filters before or after Dr. Tim's.
Maybe both.

Anyone have thoughts or suggestions on my approach?
 
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Detailed Update and Plan of Action...

The dinos were knocked back but as expected, they were not defeated (yet).

I am taking an aggressive multi pronged approach to this problem.
U.V.
3 day blackout
Diatomaceous earth filter
Dr Tim's Dino recipe
Dr Tim's waste away gel

The quartz sleeve for my UV arrived yesterday and I put the UV back into temporary service (no blackout).
I have the feed pump in the tank and the return in the tank creating a closed loop. Pump is a Jeabo DCP15000. Pump is about a 1/2 inch above the sandbed. PVC pipe goes from pump to top of tank (about 25 inches) through 2 90° elbows forming a "U" and down about 6ft. to the UV.
The UV is laying horizontally on the floor in front of the tank. Water goes through the UV then back up about 6ft of PVC pipe then through 2 90° elbows forming a "U" to return water to the tank.
I am flowing 1019 gph through the UV according to apex flow meter. The UV calls for between 943 - 1574 gph to deal with algae, bacteria and dinos.
I use a Tunze 6105 on full blast to blow the rocks, sand and all surfaces. I put the pump right up to the rocks and make the biggest mess I can getting everything in the water column so it can go through the UV.

I have 3 Marineland Magnum polishing internal filters. Each rated for up to 97 gal tank / 290 gph. These filters will run Diatomaceous earth powder to mechanically filter dinos out.

I will be using Dr Tim's Dino recipe. This should wipe dinos out along with the other methods I am employing. The treatment consists of a 3 day blackout while dosing Dr Tim's Refresh then dosing Dr Tim's Waste Away liquid.
Once treatment is finished, Dr Tim's Waste Away gel will be employed.

This approach should kill dinos and keep em dead!

I'm not sure if I want to do the diatom filters before or after Dr. Tim's.
Maybe both.

Anyone have thoughts or suggestions on my approach?
Good luck to you, I hope you finally eradicate the dinos. I’ve fortunately never had them (Knocks on wood) so I can’t offer any advice but it seems like you have a solid plan in place.
 
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Dj City

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My UV set up.
It's not pretty but it's effective.
20200604_130808.jpg
 
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Current parameters
Nitrates...............0 - 5ppm (Closer to 5ppm)
Phos....................0.04 - 0.08
Alk.......................8.6 (Trident)
Cal.......................406 (Trident)
Mag....................1357 (Trident)
Ph.......................7.79 (Apex probe) 7:30am
Salt.....................35.5 (Apex probe)
ORP....................353 (Apex probe)
Temp..................77.8 (Apex probe)
Nitrate test is API reagent via Reefbot
Phos test is Red Sea reagent via Reefbot.

I have run my lights on regular schedule for the past 4 days with the UV running. I will observe the tank for the next few days to see what's happening with the dinos. Yesterday tank looked good but dinos are present on overflow and powerheads. They are thin and light amount but still present.
Problem is that I can't KEEP the UV in operation like this even if it's effective. I can't have a giant return pump in my display. Running it from the sump to the sump is a waste. (See BRS UV videos)

I believe the approach I am taking is a good approach based on theory, past experiences and experiences of others.
I currently have UV running which should be reducing dinos population when I blow the rocks and sand and clean the glass to get the dinos into the water column. I plan to pull the UV in a few days and start treatment.

TREATMENT PLAN
1... Employ UV Sterilizer in closed loop
2... Remove UV to start Dr. Tim's Dino recipe
3... 3 day blackout dosing Dr. Tim's Refresh
4... Continue with Dr Tim's Waste Away liquid.
5... Use Dr. Tim's Waste Away gel in sump.

I am trying to decide when to use the heavy mechanical filtration (DE filters). Before treatment, after treatment or before and after. I will not use during because it filters down to 1 micron. I don't want Dr. Tim's bacteria getting filtered out.

This is not my 1st fight with dinos. Last battle I had was a 5 year battle on my old 110 gallon reef. DInos won.

The war I lost...
I raised nitrates and phosphates. (No good)
I used UV but did not know I was using it improperly. (No good)
Blackouts (knock them back but not good enough on its own)
Vibrant dosing. (No good)
MB7 dosing. (No good)
Peroxide dosing. (No good)
Sea cucumbers. (No good)
Stupidly high flow. (No good)
Leaving sand alone. (No good)
Surface siphoning sandbed. (No good)
Deep disturbing sandbed with heavy mechanical filtration using 5 micron socks changed every day. (Better but no good)
Feeding tank. (No good)
Starving tank. (No good)
Increase pods. (No good)
Beefed up fuge chaeto. (No good)
Decrease light intensity. (No good)
Increase light intensity. (No good)
Change light fixtures. (No good)
Sacred Indian dino dance. (No good)
9mm. (No good)
.45 ACP. (No good)
12ga. (No good)
Photon torpedo straight from the Starship Enterprise. (No good)
 
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The UV plumbed the way I had it really did what it was supposed to do.
The dinos are not gone but they have been knocked back greatly.

Today I removed the UV and wrapped the tank (blackout).
Today is day 1 of Dr. Tim's Refresh. I'm going to follow this regiment and see where it ends up. I have not put the DE filters to use yet. I am till debating on that.
 
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Dj City

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Ugggh..
We had a power outage yesterday. The power outage caused me to open the stand and canopy to allow air flow.
It also allowed a good amount of light into the tank for a few hours. This throws off the Dr. Tim's regiment.

I ended the blackout today. Regular light schedule resumes. Dosing of Waste away starts today.
I also installed the 4 DE filters today. I figure that if I have dead and dying dinos, the DE filters might help to catch them and remove them from the tank. I cleaned the glass and stirred the top layer of sand. I did not blow off the rocks. They did not look like they needed to be blown off.

I am fully prepared to do this whole thing over again when this regiment is complete according to Dr. Tim's recipe.
 
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I am cautiously encouraged.
I've had the lights on for 4 days now and no crazy re-emergence of dinos.
Granted, it's only been 4 days of light but usually 4 days of light is enough to begin to see dinos re-populate.
Sand is still white(ish). Rocks are looking good. No dinos so far on pumps or plumbing. Glass is clear. Sump and display smell way better.

I will continue the Dr Tim's regiment and keep an eye on things but this is looking better for now.

I have 2 days to go on the waste away treatment.
I still plan on doing the entire treatment again just as a knock em out the box measure but I probably will wait about a week or so before starting again. That should give me time to really observe the tank for dinos.
 
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Happy Father's Day...

I think I'm still dealing with dinos but it's much slower than it was before.
I will do the Dr. Tim's regiment again later this week or next week.

The UV really seemed to help too so I would like to have it employed after the Dr. Tim's regiment.

I think what I would like to do is figure out a way to permanently install the UV sterilizer.
This is a challenge because I want it closed loop in the display. I can't have a giant pump in my display! I don't want PVC pipes visible in the display. I don't want a powerful suction that fish can get caught in and I don't want a powerful water stream in the tank that will upset the sand.

Anyone have any ideas?
 
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Dj City

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I need to update!

I "think" I have beat dinos. I sure hope I did. The tank has been on regular lighting schedule since I finished 1 round of Dr. Tim's dino treatment and I have not really seen dinos since. I see what I HOPE is a little brown film algae but if it's dinos, I know what to do and already have the Dr. Tim's products.
As I think on it, I'm going to do another treatment next week just off of G.P.

I also added the 3 stripe Damsels. About a week after that, I added the Maroon clownfish and the loin fish.
The maroon clown and the cinnamon clown are NOT friends but they mostly stay on their respective sides of the tank.

The lionfish...
He might be a problem! He keeps going after the 2 damsels i had in the tank. They keep out of his way but every now and again, he hunts them.
 
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Dj City

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I got some coral!

Rasta Zoas
Gold Ring Zoas
Nevana Zoas
Season Greetings Monti
Maze Brain coral
Figi Frogspawn

Pics to come.
 
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Also...

I got a 275gal container for continuous water change. (As long as I can get it clean enough to use with a reef tank)

I rinsed it, filled it, put a jeabo 150000 pump in it to circulate the water.
Drained it, filled out back up and added 3 bottles of bleach. Let that circulate got 24 hours. Drained it again, refilled it and added a gallon of citric acid that has been circulating since yesterday.
Tomorrow I plan on draining the container and rinsing again.

Here's a thread about it...
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

  • I currently have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 70 37.8%
  • Not currently, but I have had feather dusters in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 62 33.5%
  • I have not had feather dusters, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 25 13.5%
  • I have no plans to have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 28 15.1%
  • Other.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
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