apb03
Well-Known Member
It's finally over, Dinos are gone and my sand is clean. I had tried many things over the past 3 months in my fight against Dinos, and through all of it, I finally found a solution thanks to many posts on this forum and constant research. I figured it would be good to document what I did so that others searching for a solution may find some useful techniques here.
At the time of the breakout, my tank was about 6 months old and started with dry rock and sand. I never had a nutrient deficiency and made sure I always had higher nutrients. This eventually led to a Cyano outbreak which I ended up treating with Chemiclean. Afterward, the Dinos took over. No matter how bad my Dinos got, my nutrients remained on the high side. In fact, they went even higher the longer I left the Dinos alone. This is the exact opposite of most of the observations I found documented here. No amount of water changes seemed to affect my nutrient levels.
Lesson learned. Don't use Chemiclean on an immature tank. High Nutrients won't always avoid Dinos. While nutrient exhaustion may be a contributing factor for Dinos, it was not in my case. I tested frequently and I am 100% certain nutrients never bottomed out at any point. At the height of my Dino outbreak, I was at 45ppm Nitrate and .35ppm Phosphate.
This is what my sand looked like
This is the type of Dinos I had. Either Porocentrum or Amphidinium. Honestly didn't matter but good to share:
I tried:
- Good husbandry and waiting it out
- Aggressive siphoning using a 1-micron filter hooked up to a pump using a canister daily
- Hydrogen Peroxide (1ml per 10 gal at lights out) and MB7 in the same quantity in the morning
- Increased Flow
- Silicate dosing
- No water changes
- 55w Lifegard UV plumbed with a dedicated pump in the sump (not the 100% effective method, but tried it first)
- Nutrient reduction using Chemi-Pure Blue
- Bacteria dosing
- Pods and Phyto
Everything above was tried and the problem only worsened or stayed the same. Maybe if I kept it going for months it would have turned around, but if I didn't see improvement in a couple of weeks, even a little bit, I moved on. Each item I tried was attempted one at a time. After failing miserably, I decided to go on an all-out attack.
It came down to 4 Tools:
1. UV in a closed loop with the pump directly in my display and the output back in the display. This is ugly and something I avoided, but is absolutely necessary. Even for Amphidinum.
2. Two Marineland Magnum Polishing filters in my display charged with Diatom powder (6 tablespoons of powder in a bucket cycling with the filter for 24hrs before adding to the display). I placed them right below my wave pumps.
3. Sand mixing. I used a Sicce Syncra 1.0 with two 1/2in nipples. I call it the Dino Cannon.
4. 3-Day Total blackout. I used black plastic garbage bags.
Steps:
1. During the 3-day blackout, blast the sand and rocks aggressively using the Dino cannon 2-3 times a day UV on at 300-500gph in my case. Get everything in the water column.
2. On Day 4, turn on lights with acclimation mode, add the two Marineland canisters charged with DE, and keep blasting the sand 2-3 times a day. UV remains on.
3. Perform a large water change on Days 6 and 7, and remove the DE filters.
*Note* Turn off dosing and monitor your parameters closely since your consumption will drop off.
I'm keeping the UV running with the closed loop for another 2 weeks to ensure the dinos stay down.
Observations:
I lost about 2/3 of my Acropora during this battle. I don't think the above steps did them in, but rather all the instability I created beforehand, also the Dinos certainly didn't help.
After my Dinos were gone and I did the water changes, something odd happened. My Phosphates dropped from .35 to .05. I can't explain this drop, but I'm curious to hear what others think.
Here's what my sand looks like now.
I've since resumed my dosing and I am adding 10ml per day of Vinegar to help draw down my nitrates and introduce some bacteria. Currently at 19ppm Nitrate and .09 Phosphate.
Anyway, that's about it. Maybe I got lucky, but this is what worked for me. I hope this helps others, and I'd love to hear feedback on how other folks won their battle with Dinos.
At the time of the breakout, my tank was about 6 months old and started with dry rock and sand. I never had a nutrient deficiency and made sure I always had higher nutrients. This eventually led to a Cyano outbreak which I ended up treating with Chemiclean. Afterward, the Dinos took over. No matter how bad my Dinos got, my nutrients remained on the high side. In fact, they went even higher the longer I left the Dinos alone. This is the exact opposite of most of the observations I found documented here. No amount of water changes seemed to affect my nutrient levels.
Lesson learned. Don't use Chemiclean on an immature tank. High Nutrients won't always avoid Dinos. While nutrient exhaustion may be a contributing factor for Dinos, it was not in my case. I tested frequently and I am 100% certain nutrients never bottomed out at any point. At the height of my Dino outbreak, I was at 45ppm Nitrate and .35ppm Phosphate.
This is what my sand looked like
This is the type of Dinos I had. Either Porocentrum or Amphidinium. Honestly didn't matter but good to share:
I tried:
- Good husbandry and waiting it out
- Aggressive siphoning using a 1-micron filter hooked up to a pump using a canister daily
- Hydrogen Peroxide (1ml per 10 gal at lights out) and MB7 in the same quantity in the morning
- Increased Flow
- Silicate dosing
- No water changes
- 55w Lifegard UV plumbed with a dedicated pump in the sump (not the 100% effective method, but tried it first)
- Nutrient reduction using Chemi-Pure Blue
- Bacteria dosing
- Pods and Phyto
Everything above was tried and the problem only worsened or stayed the same. Maybe if I kept it going for months it would have turned around, but if I didn't see improvement in a couple of weeks, even a little bit, I moved on. Each item I tried was attempted one at a time. After failing miserably, I decided to go on an all-out attack.
It came down to 4 Tools:
1. UV in a closed loop with the pump directly in my display and the output back in the display. This is ugly and something I avoided, but is absolutely necessary. Even for Amphidinum.
2. Two Marineland Magnum Polishing filters in my display charged with Diatom powder (6 tablespoons of powder in a bucket cycling with the filter for 24hrs before adding to the display). I placed them right below my wave pumps.
3. Sand mixing. I used a Sicce Syncra 1.0 with two 1/2in nipples. I call it the Dino Cannon.
4. 3-Day Total blackout. I used black plastic garbage bags.
Steps:
1. During the 3-day blackout, blast the sand and rocks aggressively using the Dino cannon 2-3 times a day UV on at 300-500gph in my case. Get everything in the water column.
2. On Day 4, turn on lights with acclimation mode, add the two Marineland canisters charged with DE, and keep blasting the sand 2-3 times a day. UV remains on.
3. Perform a large water change on Days 6 and 7, and remove the DE filters.
*Note* Turn off dosing and monitor your parameters closely since your consumption will drop off.
I'm keeping the UV running with the closed loop for another 2 weeks to ensure the dinos stay down.
Observations:
I lost about 2/3 of my Acropora during this battle. I don't think the above steps did them in, but rather all the instability I created beforehand, also the Dinos certainly didn't help.
After my Dinos were gone and I did the water changes, something odd happened. My Phosphates dropped from .35 to .05. I can't explain this drop, but I'm curious to hear what others think.
Here's what my sand looks like now.
I've since resumed my dosing and I am adding 10ml per day of Vinegar to help draw down my nitrates and introduce some bacteria. Currently at 19ppm Nitrate and .09 Phosphate.
Anyway, that's about it. Maybe I got lucky, but this is what worked for me. I hope this helps others, and I'd love to hear feedback on how other folks won their battle with Dinos.
