UV sizing help for Dino’s on 70 gallon.

[swilliams2207]

I’ve been battling what I thought was diatoms in my sand bed for a few months now. I had very high silicates (Triton confirmed) and switched to a DI resin in my RO system that had a silicate remover in it. After a week or so since the switch I saw a reduction in diatoms in my sand but now definitely have Dino’s on sand/rocks/ corals etc. Not sure if it was Dino’s all along or if high silicates were keeping them at bay? I’ve had them once before in my last tank and was able to get rid of them with the green killing machine UV. It was a 10g.

I’ve been paranoid about bottoming out nutrients ever since so I probably test every week or so. My last recent reading for P04 was 0.04 a few days before this all started. Nutrients have been pretty consistent with the exception of a 0 reading several weeks ago. May have been at 0 for a few weeks without me realizing but I dosed to bring it back up.

Not sure what kind of Dino’s these are but I’m currently using an 8W Aqua Ultraviolet UV running at roughly 250GPH 24/7. This has been running full time for 6 months or so.

My question is is this enough or too much? I don’t want to throw money at the problem senselessly but I’m considering getting an oversized UV if that will help. I’m using a basic 250 GPH sicce pump so don’t have a means of really dialing it in further.

Any recs?

PS: Nutrient management/testing is arguably one of the most frustrating aspects of this hobby…wish the trident would handle this.

 

[Matt1997]

I was battling a pretty bad Dino outbreak on my newest acro tank. 120 gallon tank with 30 gallon sump.

I bought the cheapest 9w UV sterilizer off Amazon and dosed phosphates until consistent 0.05 reading and the Dino’s disappeared within a week. I would use a turkey baster and clear them off the rock and coral daily.
The name of the unit:

Sun JUP01 Aqua Green Algae Killing UV Sterilizer in Tank Filter Machine (JUP 01KIT with 2X Spare Filters and 1x Replace Bulb)​

Don’t fall for the scam that you need the $600 unit to get the job done.

 

[vtecintegra]

UV is only good if they go into the water at night. First step is to ID them with a microscope. The ones I had did not, so my 57 watt UV had no effect. I removed the sand which was nasty with Dinos, and got NO3/PO4 up to get other microbes going. Took months, but the Dinos ended up losing and are no longer visible.

 

[swilliams2207]

UV is only good if they go into the water at night. First step is to ID them with a microscope. The ones I had did not, so my 57 watt UV had no effect. I removed the sand which was nasty with Dinos, and got NO3/PO4 up to get other microbes going. Took months, but the Dinos ended up losing and are no longer visible.

Yeah I've gone down this route before but the "cheap" microscope I bought didn't allow me to see a thing. I've been dosing bacteria and also NO/PO. Also been basting sand/rocks to stir them up. It's def not an infestation at this point some I'm wondering if the UV is keeping it somewhat contained.