Dinoflagellates – Are You Tired Of Battling Altogether?

[Kender]

Hi, sorry for being ignorant, but what is water glass¿

 

[DarkReefer]

Hi, sorry for being ignorant, but what is water glass¿

Sodium Silicate

 

[DarkReefer]

Did a water change yesterday as it'd been a good while and did some tests today.
Salinity back to 1.025, phosphates up to 0.212, alk at 7.7.

Alk is starting to concern me a little as I like to have this at 8.5-9ish (Not for any particular reason except for it being a nice medium range for it to be in).
At what point is it worth carbonate dosing again to get this back up? I know this is something that we try and steer away from whilst trying to get rid of dinos, hence no dosing for the last 3 weeks or so.

 

[taricha]

At what point is it worth carbonate dosing again to get this back up? I know this is something that we try and steer away from whilst trying to get rid of dinos, hence no dosing for the last 3 weeks or so.

I see no reason not to bring alk back to the level that your system normally runs. kalk seems pretty low risk to me. (there's a seachem 2-part that has Fe+ other traces, so I'd avoid products like that for now.)

 

[bvanfish]

So is the salifert silicate test not worth it? I was about to buy it since I’m unsure if my spongeexcel is really doing anything. I have been dosing very cautiously

 

[taricha]

So is the salifert silicate test not worth it? I was about to buy it since I’m unsure if my spongeexcel is really doing anything. I have been dosing very cautiously

Several people (me included) found salifert Si to be unable to measure Si a few years ago. I don't know if they've worked out the kinks.
Hanna and Hach make Si kits that work great.

 

[mbonus]

Wow wish I found this thread sooner!

I think I'm now on the other side of a month-long Dino battle.

Mine is a smaller tank at 32 gallons. Been up for 12 years. Fairly certain it was dinos, because all my snails died.

First thing I did was a 5-day blackout with the skimmer off. While that was going on, I dosed phyto, and continued to feed the tank frozen food.

After that, I purchased a marineland polisher and ran it with DE powder. I changed the polisher out every 48 hours with a new cartridge packed with clean DE.

I noticed improvement after about 10 days, and now at 30 days, I'm back to my normal routine of half skimming half filtering.

Hopefully I'm on the other side of it, it was a PITA.

 

[Bitcoin Reefer]

If anyone has seen @vetteguy53081 recommendation, I'll copy paste my reply from another thread:

After doing 3 days of carbon dosing from another thread, I decided to change my mind and switched to Vetteguy's H202 method since I was worried that carbon dosing method would be counter productive to my low phos/nitrate:

Day 1-5 MB7 During day, H202 at night, 10% Blue channels only, 9 hrs.
Day 6-7 MB7 During day, no more H202, 20% blue channels, 2% other channels, 9 hrs.
Day 8-9 MB7 During day, no more H202, 25% blue channels, 5% other channels, 9 hrs.

Dino on sand is completely gone to my eyes and on rocks looks much better. Let's cross our fingers, hoping it doesn't come back after I ramp lights back up.

A couple of things I also did. Super power feeding every day 4-5 pellet feedings as much as they'd eat + 1 frozen cube + 3 nice squirts of phyto (white cap not alive kind) (To raise my nitrates and phosphates which had been hovering around 0) and added half bottle of tigger pods from LFS. I blew off rocks and vacuumed sand when I started carbon dosing, and then again when I Started h202. I think I blew off rocks one more time during. So 2 vacuums and 3 rock blows in the last 12 days.

My nitrates and phosphates started to rise within 2-3 days of quiting carbon dosing + power feeding. Here are the stats in spreadsheet attached.

So far looking GOOD!

edit: dosage is 1m/10 gallons for both H202 & MB7

 

[Bitcoin Reefer]

If anyone has seen @vetteguy53081 recommendation, I'll copy paste my reply from another thread:

After doing 3 days of carbon dosing from another thread, I decided to change my mind and switched to Vetteguy's H202 method since I was worried that carbon dosing method would be counter productive to my low phos/nitrate:

Day 1-5 MB7 During day, H202 at night, 10% Blue channels only, 9 hrs.
Day 6-7 MB7 During day, no more H202, 20% blue channels, 2% other channels, 9 hrs.
Day 8-9 MB7 During day, no more H202, 25% blue channels, 5% other channels, 9 hrs.

Dino on sand is completely gone to my eyes and on rocks looks much better. Let's cross our fingers, hoping it doesn't come back after I ramp lights back up.

A couple of things I also did. Super power feeding every day 4-5 pellet feedings as much as they'd eat + 1 frozen cube + 3 nice squirts of phyto (white cap not alive kind) (To raise my nitrates and phosphates which had been hovering around 0) and added half bottle of tigger pods from LFS. I blew off rocks and vacuumed sand when I started carbon dosing, and then again when I Started h202. I think I blew off rocks one more time during. So 2 vacuums and 3 rock blows in the last 12 days.

My nitrates and phosphates started to rise within 2-3 days of quiting carbon dosing + power feeding. Here are the stats in spreadsheet attached.

So far looking GOOD!

edit: dosage is 1m/10 gallons for both H202 & MB7

Turned lights up a little more today. Sand still looks perfect. Rocks got even better. Kind of blown away. H202 method. Top pic right side aquarium. Bottom pic left side.

 

[DarkReefer]

Turned lights up a little more today. Sand still looks perfect. Rocks got even better. Kind of blown away. H202 method. Top pic right side aquarium. Bottom pic left side.

What did you use to dose the hydrogen peroxide? What % was it etc?
This is an amazing result in just a few days.
Been running UV non stop for the last 1-2 weeks or so and whilst I feel like things have improved a bit, I don't know if it's improving enough. MB7 has been dosed at night for me for the last week-ish with the UV/Skimmer turned off for 3.5-4 hours and turned back on just before I goto bed.

Again, I feel there's been some improvement but definitely not as much as I'd have hoped spending $600+ on a UV.

Googling reef safe hydrogen peroxide I see images of polyplabs medic which I do have on hand but I can't find anything on their website that states it is that. (there is a thread that Randy says it does contain peroxide salts but thats about it so I'm not sure how useful it may/may not be).

 

[vetteguy53081]

What did you use to dose the hydrogen peroxide? What % was it etc?
This is an amazing result in just a few days.
Been running UV non stop for the last 1-2 weeks or so and whilst I feel like things have improved a bit, I don't know if it's improving enough. MB7 has been dosed at night for me for the last week-ish with the UV/Skimmer turned off for 3.5-4 hours and turned back on just before I goto bed.

Again, I feel there's been some improvement but definitely not as much as I'd have hoped spending $600+ on a UV.

MB 7 during the day - not night

Prepare by starting with a water change and blow this stuff loose with a turkey baster and siphon up loose particles. Turn lights off (at least white and run blue at 10-15% IF you have light dependant corals) for 5 days and at night dose 1ml of 3% hydrogen peroxide per 10 gallons for all 5 nights. If you dont have light dependent coral- turn all lights off. During the day dose 1ml of liquid bacteria (such as micro bacter 7 or XLM) per 10 gallons. Clean filters daily and DO NOT FEED CORAL FOODS OR ADD NOPOX

 

[Bitcoin Reefer]

What did you use to dose the hydrogen peroxide? What % was it etc?
This is an amazing result in just a few days.
Been running UV non stop for the last 1-2 weeks or so and whilst I feel like things have improved a bit, I don't know if it's improving enough. MB7 has been dosed at night for me for the last week-ish with the UV/Skimmer turned off for 3.5-4 hours and turned back on just before I goto bed.

Again, I feel there's been some improvement but definitely not as much as I'd have hoped spending $600+ on a UV.

Googling reef safe hydrogen peroxide I see images of polyplabs medic which I do have on hand but I can't find anything on their website that states it is that. (there is a thread that Randy says it does contain peroxide salts but thats about it so I'm not sure how useful it may/may not be).

I’ll edit my above post with more info so it’s all in same spot.
*Edit apparently I can't edit old post again? Weird. Does it max the amount of times you can edit or something lol?

 

[Bitcoin Reefer]

MB 7 during the day - not night

Prepare by starting with a water change and blow this stuff loose with a turkey baster and siphon up loose particles. Turn lights off (at least white and run blue at 10-15% IF you have light dependant corals) for 5 days and at night dose 1ml of 3% hydrogen peroxide per 10 gallons for all 5 nights. If you dont have light dependent coral- turn all lights off. During the day dose 1ml of liquid bacteria (such as micro bacter 7 or XLM) per 10 gallons. Clean filters daily and DO NOT FEED CORAL FOODS OR ADD NOPOX

Oh also Vette beat me t it

 

[DarkReefer]

MB 7 during the day - not night

Prepare by starting with a water change and blow this stuff loose with a turkey baster and siphon up loose particles. Turn lights off (at least white and run blue at 10-15% IF you have light dependant corals) for 5 days and at night dose 1ml of 3% hydrogen peroxide per 10 gallons for all 5 nights. If you dont have light dependent coral- turn all lights off. During the day dose 1ml of liquid bacteria (such as micro bacter 7 or XLM) per 10 gallons. Clean filters daily and DO NOT FEED CORAL FOODS OR ADD NOPOX

Thanks mate, I'll give this a crack. Looks like I can get the stuff from the chemist. Seems worth a shot.
I did a water change on the weekend and did suck up a bunch along with brushing off the rockwork etc.

Is it okay to run UV or should I turn this off as well completely or is it okay to run during certain times?
If I'm going to dose MB7 during the day I suspect I'll be leaving my UV/Skimmer off during the day at the least.

 

[DarkReefer]

Oh also Vette beat me t it

You've had no ill effects to corals/fish by dosing this stuff ?
(Missus just said she's going to be livid if I hurt/kill the fish by doing this)...

 

[vetteguy53081]

You've had no ill effects to corals/fish by dosing this stuff ?
(Missus just said she's going to be livid if I hurt/kill the fish by doing this)...

No and numerous persons reporting was very easy and effective

 

[Bitcoin Reefer]

Thanks mate, I'll give this a crack. Looks like I can get the stuff from the chemist. Seems worth a shot.
I did a water change on the weekend and did suck up a bunch along with brushing off the rockwork etc.

Is it okay to run UV or should I turn this off as well completely or is it okay to run during certain times?
If I'm going to dose MB7 during the day I suspect I'll be leaving my UV/Skimmer off during the day at the least.

I ran no skimmer, carbon, or UV personally. Not sure if that is the right way to go or not, but it seems to be working for me. I mostly had skimmer off so I can increase my phosphates. What are your phosphate and nitrates?

 

[DarkReefer]

I ran no skimmer, carbon, or UV personally. Not sure if that is the right way to go or not, but it seems to be working for me. I mostly had skimmer off so I can increase my phosphates. What are your phosphate and nitrates?

Phosphates when I tested on the weekend were 0.212, nitrates about 25.

 

[DarkReefer]

Also been running only blues and uv on the tank a few weeks. Just put acclimation mode on for 30 days with starting intensity at 10%. Will get the h202 tomorrow and start it tomorrow night.

 

[ELChingonsReef]

Has anyone noticed dinos appearing after dosing trace elements. This is the second time in a year I end up with dinos. This time I have dinos and cyano together. So it's something I'm doing wrong. The first time I got dinos was July 2022 I was in Dallas Texas on a vacation and I noticed my PH was super high. 8.6 at first I thought that was a good thing. When I got back home I did a water test. My alkalinity was 6.6ppm calcium 500 . Corals looked a little bleached sps corals. I had the raidons on acclamation mode the acclamation mode ended while I was away. Nitrates were at 3ppm phosphate was zero. .at the time I was dosing amino’s and red sea trace colors. So now fast forward to today. I added a 3rd xr15 put lights on acclamation mode again started dosing amino’s and trace . As the intensity of the lights rise I get more algae. Alkalinity drops Nitrates drop phosphate drops corals have a growth spert. And I have dinos again. I have a mixed reef with 30 acropora frags and a bunch of acans and torches. I can't seem to find a lighting balance for both. I screw myself over messing with lights aminos and I end up with dinos.