Will dinoflagellates drop with lower nitrates?

peterhos

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Hi All

Tank is now 7 weeks old. I rushed into 3 small fish, 2 cleaner shrimp and some tiny SPS coral frags. All are doing well. Ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrates suddenly dropped to 7-10. I am doing daily manual cleaning of filter sock floss, skimmer is starting to produce watery green skimmate (dosed phytoplankton and copepods but where are the copepods?), but during the day brown stringy dinos increase. With the lower nitrates and regular maintenance will the dinos fade? Could/should I add a little extra aragonite sand to the quarter inch in already? Should I continue with a few drops of ‘good bacteria’ per day? Any obvious improvements and/or comments please. Thank you.
 
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peterhos

peterhos

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Now I am confused! In the new tank I have been trying to get nitrates down to around 10. Is 10 not a good number? Or should I ‘stick at 10’ and then get rid of dinos by … doing what?
 

Steven Garland

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About 98% of the time,dino's kick in when nutrients stay bottomed out at 0ppm.

A lot of people wonder why I dose NeoPhos/Nitro in a newer tank,but this is because after the cycle I added a CUC and thats it. After about 5 months,nutrients are still at 0ppm. So instead of fighting dino's for months,I just dosed nutrients to prevent this from happening.

Also,can you post a picture of the tank please.
 

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If you have phosphates then is most likely that you have a diatom bloom
 
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peterhos

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About 98% of the time,dino's kick in when nutrients stay bottomed out at 0ppm.

A lot of people wonder why I dose NeoPhos/Nitro in a newer tank,but this is because after the cycle I added a CUC and thats it. After about 5 months,nutrients are still at 0ppm. So instead of fighting dino's for months,I just dosed nutrients to prevent this from happening.

Also,can you post a picture of the tank please.
Will do in an hour or so when lights are on. The tank with its black background does not photograph too well.. camera emphasises the blue lights …
 
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peterhos

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If you have phosphates then is most likely that you have a diatom bloom
Ah yes. Will buy the phosphate test kit in an hour or so. Please check out my result later thank you! Can you have nil phosphates and some nitrates at the same time?
 

sixty_reefer

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Ah yes. Will buy the phosphate test kit in an hour or so. Please check out my result later thank you! Can you have nil phosphates and some nitrates at the same time?
Yes, is fairly common in new system as aragonite sand and rock will absorb phosphates wile trying to reach a balance in addition bacterial growth in the system will also use some phosphates. Definitely worth checking although your system is fairly new and it could just be diatoms feeding of silica and ammonia.
 
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peterhos

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About 98% of the time,dino's kick in when nutrients stay bottomed out at 0ppm.

A lot of people wonder why I dose NeoPhos/Nitro in a newer tank,but this is because after the cycle I added a CUC and thats it. After about 5 months,nutrients are still at 0ppm. So instead of fighting dino's for months,I just dosed nutrients to prevent this from happening.

Also,can you post a picture of the tank please.
Sorry… 2 bad pictures…
 

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peterhos

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I’d guess cyano honestly.. it tends to look like Dino’s but it’s much easier to get rid of.
Sorry dburr1014… no flashlight today… why/how is cyano easier to get rid of than dinos? Thank you all.
 

Troylee

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Sorry dburr1014… no flashlight today… why/how is cyano easier to get rid of than dinos? Thank you all.
Plenty of ways to get rid of cyano with or without chemicals.. water changes, siphoning it out, coral snow, mb7, chemiclean etc..
 

Steven Garland

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I would suggest MicroBacter7 from Brightwell or KZ Coral Snow. Coral Snow will make you water CRYSTAL CLEAR within hours,and add beneficial bacteria and fights/wipes out Cyano.

All in all both will do the same thing,but CS has rhat added benefit of making your water incredibly clear. I use it solely for that reason.
 

Troylee

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This is a good way and cheap!
 

Steven Garland

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This is a good way and cheap!

Yes this stuff is amazing. KZ coral snow without the bacteria. Works literally the same way.
 

Troylee

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Yes this stuff is amazing. KZ coral snow without the bacteria. Works literally the same way.
Yeah no doubt! But $40 for a tiny bottle vs $12 for calcium carbonate and some r.o. Water for a gallon lol… it’s the exact same thing and both work great!
 

Steven Garland

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Yeah no doubt! But $40 for a tiny bottle vs $12 for calcium carbonate and some r.o. Water for a gallon lol… it’s the exact same thing and both work great!
I think I only paid $16 on BF. Normally its $20 for 100ml. But in my defense I bought the KZ stuff before I saw Sunny's stuff and didn't even think about the DIY JediMasterBen posted 5-6yrs ago lol. Totally forgot about it.
 
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