Where am I going wrong on my setup.

[Mattman1977]

Hey guys and gals I’ve been struggling in this hobby for the last few years. Can’t lie it’s been less then enjoyable but I never give up. So here’s the back story.

started back in December of 2017, not to long ago, wife got me a 55 gal tank and I set it up as a softie tank and all was great for a year or so then ended up with green bubble algae so tried some vibrant to treat the gba and before I knew it I had Dino blooming everywhere. Now I’m definitely not blaming vibrant for my Dino issue as I’m sure I wasn’t using it as the bottle said to. Well before I could get that under control I was forced by work to make a 900 mile move,July 2019, so I packed up samples of most of my corals and gave the rest to my LFS minus my finger leather. By far my favorite. Either way the poor coral and fish were tossed back into the tank when we got to the destination. No uniform to it just coral on plugs and a pile of live rock with plans to set up my 150 or 90 I had freshwater before the move. Well after getting a home inspection we have to get some subfloor work done before I can set up much on a permanent basis. I was bummed to say the least.

Well after that news about the subfloor I was thinking either a nano or just shutting it down until we get the floors fixed and my wife surprised me yet again with a jbj nano 24 gal aio cube with stand she got off the letgo app for $25. So that brings us to the reason I started this thread. The nano cube.

So here’s a breakdown on my nano cube setup

jbj nano 24 gal aio
Mp40
Mp10
AI hydra26
Ato
Apex
Some heater can’t remember
Weekly 3 gal water changes since no skimmer
Feed reef frenzy daily

set it up with old dry live rock that I bleach cured for a few days then dry out for a week followed by rodi soak for a week and dry for another week.

Used egg crate to elevate the rocks off the bottom and have 2.5” of special grade sand.

used a table shrimp to cycle the tank August 2019.

added a few crabs and snails after cycle for a few weeks before adding fish and snails from my 55 gal that was still just a rock pile and frag rack. Nov 2019 added my coral, mostly softie and a few lps.

so now you have an idea of what I’m working with now for the real reason of this thread. Well my Dino has returned. It’s kind of funny how it’s staying of the finger leather as it’s starting to multiply. I know it’s only a short time before it gets out of hand so I’m doing everything in my power to slow it down until I can restore balance in my tank.

Ive read both Dino threads on here twice now. Once before the move and a refresher in the last few days. I can’t say I’m not confused by some of it but do understand it’s not a easy fix.

so here’s where it gets interesting I’m mostly color blind so any test that tells you to compare colors are a joke to me. So im planning on getting a icp test done, should I do a test on my source water and tank water or just tank water? Yes I’m using rodi and yes it’s 0, have the inline tds meter. I did check my phosphate with my Hana checker and it’s 0.14. I have a cheap api test kit and wife said the nitrates look to be 0 but I don’t trust that thing. Bought it for the ammonia test.

I know the icp test will take awhile to get back and need to keep the Dino at bay until I can get a for sure game plan to get my tank balanced.

i did order a 55 watt UV Sterilizers should be here next Wednesday. Should be fun to plumb with a aio tank.

so my real question is this
Where did I go wrong with my setup?
Where did my imbalance come from?

Had a buddy tell me once that “when you have a problem keep throwing $100 bills at it until it goes away.” Guess I’m gonna give that a shot I really hate to give up on this hobby because of Dino.

any insight on where my problem is coming from would be appreciated

thanks
Matt

 

[Dbichler]

I'm not an expert on dinos but how long are your lights on and is rodi being used. Tank is still new could just be going through the normal uglies

 

[GlassMunky]

Your tank looks absolutely fine.
I wouldn’t stress over nothing.

 

[William Robinson]

Edit: I just noticed the picture of your tank, it wasnt populating for me for some reason. The tank looks fine. Slow down and let it be. ALSO a 55 watt UV sterilizer is WAY too much for that tank. You may end up heating the water so high you cook everything.
So my first question is as asked above. Are you using RO/DI water? It also would appear to me you are doing way too much too quickly. Additives/Chemicals are bandaids and should be avoided. There are creatures in the sea for NEARLY every issue whether it algae or parasites and most are available. You have to determine how much you want a fully functioning ecosystem versus how much you want a mechanical process to take care of everything. I can tell you now, you will not get enough "mechanical ecosystem" to fit in the JBJ so you have to be careful and maintain a careful balance. I owned a JBJ 28 for a few years and had to shed the stock lighting and bend over backwards to make it all balance out. As for the Dino's ive experienced those before and it sucks. If you still only have softies in the tank going lights out will help. Years ago I got dinos im guessing from a frag and ended up wrapping my tank for a few days and injecting air with a pump and airstone to make sure I had O2 exchange. I hope all works out well and if you take anything from this I would suggest balancing your ecosystem and not using chemical additives.

 

[Mattman1977]

Sorry I meant to add more pictures before I hit post. It’s definitely Dino, did the Dino shake test, and it’s worse then it appears. Can really see how many is in there when I poured water into the tank after a water change last weekend, hundreds of free floaters suspended.

weekend before last I did a 72 hour blackout to slow it down some also helped me pull some of the gha free that had a good hold. It helped some but like always came back. I know I introduced it with the corals I added as they were all in a tank with Dino. I’ll do another 72 hour black out next weekend after I hook up the UV Sterilizer.

You know I didn’t think about the heat issue from that big of a unit but I’ll just throw another $100 or two at it and put a inline cooling unit, think brs sells them, if it becomes a issue especially this summer.

When I was fighting it before I moved I was trying the bottle fixes and any other bandaid I read about and that didn’t work so I’m pretty sure it’s a lack of biodiversity and chemical imbalance and the main objective here is to ask how to get that biodiversity and balance because what I’m doing isn’t working evidently.

oh and yes I use rodi unit, spectrapure and 0 tds reading

thanks for the response and any help
Matt

 

[Cell]

I think the definition of "reefing" should include "the act of constantly battling algae".

 

[Mattman1977]

I went 55 watt uv to make sure it was strong enough to kill everything no matter the flow and still able to use it on a larger system later on. I’m also looking at adding a reef octopus light reactor, I believe that’s what there calling it, to add a remote refugium to help with biodiversity. So the thought process is to have around a 500 gph pump pushing water from the aio section down to the bottom side of the uv, out the top to the refugium and add a cooling fan if needed. But until I get enough funds it’s just the UV Sterilizer.

is it possible to get proper balance from this small of a tank. We shall find out I guess

Matt

 

[William Robinson]

Sorry I meant to add more pictures before I hit post. It’s definitely Dino, did the Dino shake test, and it’s worse then it appears. Can really see how many is in there when I poured water into the tank after a water change last weekend, hundreds of free floaters suspended.

weekend before last I did a 72 hour blackout to slow it down some also helped me pull some of the gha free that had a good hold. It helped some but like always came back. I know I introduced it with the corals I added as they were all in a tank with Dino. I’ll do another 72 hour black out next weekend after I hook up the UV Sterilizer.

You know I didn’t think about the heat issue from that big of a unit but I’ll just throw another $100 or two at it and put a inline cooling unit, think brs sells them, if it becomes a issue especially this summer.

When I was fighting it before I moved I was trying the bottle fixes and any other bandaid I read about and that didn’t work so I’m pretty sure it’s a lack of biodiversity and chemical imbalance and the main objective here is to ask how to get that biodiversity and balance because what I’m doing isn’t working evidently.

oh and yes I use rodi unit, spectrapure and 0 tds reading

thanks for the response and any help
Matt

Hey Matt,
After seeing the pictures I still want to emphasize what I am seeing is not at all terrible. I have a fallo tank at home Ive been just letting run now for a couple months before I decide what I want to do with it next and it caught Dino somehow.. I'll show you bad... lol
Anyhow, Biodiversity.... You are already past the point of creating it naturally. This is typically achieved by completing the cycle then adding AS NEEDED snails to keep the algae limited but not eliminated so not to starve them creating a whole another issue, then if bubble algae or green hair appear add one or two emerald crabs but again one at the time... If they get hungry those Zoa become very tempting... Anyhow, we are past that point. At this time if it were my tank, and I was dead set on that sterilizer you have ordered then I would only run it TOPS 2 hours each day at a HIGH... Yes HIGH flow rate... Now your asking, what about the exposer time right? Well, your system is so small that in that single hour every molecule of water will be exposed several times to a very high wattage of UV. Also this will slow the rate of thermal exchange. It is my opinion still though that you do not run that sterilizer, yet.... Monitor the issue over the next 7 days. Change nothing.. For a reef the changes you have done have been significant and very quickly and its no wonder you are having issues. Please dont take that as disrespect as its not meant that way. I think you should slow down and do as little as possible for the next few weeks. You can always message me directly if you like as well.

 

[William Robinson]

I think the definition of "reefing" should include "the act of constantly battling algae".

FOR. REAL.... You know out of my tanks ( I have 2 SPS Dominate, 2 Mixed, and 1 predator) I have found the my tank with the LEAST amount of issues is a 40g drilled breeder with 20g sump, duel socks, eshopps skimmer, Refugium (with chaeto and filled with pulsing xenia, 11 watt exposed bulb UV sterilizer running 4 hours per day and a filter sponge block.... Absolutely NO issues... (insert face palm emoji here, darn work computer wont allow those lol)

 

[Cell]

You know those perfectly clean, algae free display tanks you see and wonder how they do it? The battle is happening in the sump or refugium.

 

[William Robinson]

You know those perfectly clean, algae free display tanks you see and wonder how they do it? The battle is happening in the sump or refugium.

Absolutely, the sump in that tank i mentioned above has gone through dinos, hair, you name it. There is a very large emerald in there and a few bristle worms that nightmares are made of... lol

 

[William Robinson]

I went 55 watt uv to make sure it was strong enough to kill everything no matter the flow and still able to use it on a larger system later on. I’m also looking at adding a reef octopus light reactor, I believe that’s what there calling it, to add a remote refugium to help with biodiversity. So the thought process is to have around a 500 gph pump pushing water from the aio section down to the bottom side of the uv, out the top to the refugium and add a cooling fan if needed. But until I get enough funds it’s just the UV Sterilizer.

is it possible to get proper balance from this small of a tank. We shall find out I guess

Matt

Sorry, not to get too far off topic here but Matt I think you're fine bud. Just limit your reaction. Too much can be far worse than leaving the stability of a mediocre situation and allowing it to slowly improve with baby steps.

 

[Mattman1977]

I had plans to only run the uv for a hour or so a night a few hours after lights out. I can even break it up and run it for a hour after lights out then again a few hours later if the heat becomes a issue.

I’ll definitely slow down some and let the tank settle some but the Dino in the last few days have spread to the point where the finger leather stopped opening up. My 55 was completely over ran with it and started losing corals over it and I guess I’m just being proactive and getting carried away.

Matt

 

[GlassMunky]

Sorry I meant to add more pictures before I hit post. It’s definitely Dino, did the Dino shake test, and it’s worse then it appears. Can really see how many is in there when I poured water into the tank after a water change last weekend, hundreds of free floaters suspended.

weekend before last I did a 72 hour blackout to slow it down some also helped me pull some of the gha free that had a good hold. It helped some but like always came back. I know I introduced it with the corals I added as they were all in a tank with Dino. I’ll do another 72 hour black out next weekend after I hook up the UV Sterilizer.

You know I didn’t think about the heat issue from that big of a unit but I’ll just throw another $100 or two at it and put a inline cooling unit, think brs sells them, if it becomes a issue especially this summer.

When I was fighting it before I moved I was trying the bottle fixes and any other bandaid I read about and that didn’t work so I’m pretty sure it’s a lack of biodiversity and chemical imbalance and the main objective here is to ask how to get that biodiversity and balance because what I’m doing isn’t working evidently.

oh and yes I use rodi unit, spectrapure and 0 tds reading

thanks for the response and any help
Matt

I still think you’re freaking out over nothing....
These things come and go and your tank is still new. Just keep good husbandry practices going and things will clear up in time.

When I setup my Coral QT tank, I had Dino’s for a little bit and after the tank matured a bit and a few water changes and some clean up crew and now the tank is spotless and I have to add extra food just for the clean up crew.

IMO way to many people freak out at the slightest bit of algae in their tanks for no reason. Algae is natural and everywhere on a real reef.

 

[Salt & Peper]

Matt I sadly can't help you with this or even tell you if the advice that has been given is true. But.... People read the post before you give advice. You loose all credibility when you ask questions the op has already given imo. Best of luck matt!

 

[Mattman1977]

IMO way to many people freak out at the slightest bit of algae in their tanks for no reason. Algae is natural and everywhere on a real reef.

algae I can deal with. I have gha here and there all over my tank including the back wall that’s almost covered in it. Actually planned on adding macro algae to the dt but haven’t found the correct one yet. Cyno doesn’t bother me. Easy to deal with and none of those really effect the health of the tank like Dino can. I don’t believe Dino to be algae even though it’s always classified as algae. Dino move under a microscope unlike algae so that’s my reasoning.
I’m fine with having a remote ugly spot and guess that’s why I’m looking at a algae reactor.

Matt

 

[Jamesrup0411]

I went 55 watt uv to make sure it was strong enough to kill everything no matter the flow and still able to use it on a larger system later on. I’m also looking at adding a reef octopus light reactor, I believe that’s what there calling it, to add a remote refugium to help with biodiversity. So the thought process is to have around a 500 gph pump pushing water from the aio section down to the bottom side of the uv, out the top to the refugium and add a cooling fan if needed. But until I get enough funds it’s just the UV Sterilizer.

is it possible to get proper balance from this small of a tank. We shall find out I guess

Matt

Most recommendations are 3 watts per gallon

 

[Jamesrup0411]

Most recommendations are 3 watts per gallon

Sorry 1 watt per 3 gallons