Long blackout against dinos and GHA.

[Saralay]

Hi everyone.

I have been battling dinos for quite some time, as many others over here, and nothing seems to work against them. On top of that, there is GHA everywhere too. What is not covered by one is covered by the other. The nutrients are relatively high, so it is not a problem of 0 nutrients.

So, I was thinking of doing a "soft reset"

My plan is as follow:

-Take all the corals to an smaller tank. I don't have so many for this to be a problem.

-Do a 30 days blackout. Not fully covered, just lights out. If the algae and Dinos are not out by day 20 I'll cover it completely. I'll add a lot of active carbon for the possible toxicity of the dinos dying.

-At day 30 I'll add some different bacteria strains, phyto, pods, and some live rocks if I can get my hands on it.

-Turn on the light, and glue the corals again.

-Add 3 or 4 urchins and a lot of snails to devour the possible GHA before it grows big enough for nothing to eat it.

-Now my tank is beautiful forever!

Do you think this will work?

Thanks.

 

[Lavey29]

So how does this bandaid fix the underlying issues causing your dinos and GHA?

Did you ID dinos with microscope

 

[Saralay]

So how does this bandaid fix the underlying issues causing your dinos and GHA?

Did you ID dinos with microscope

The bacteria, phyto, live rock and pods fix the dinos problem, adding biodiversity to compete against them.

The urchins and snails fix the GHA problem, eating it before it grows big, because once it is big nothing eats it.

The dinos are Prorocentrum. I have tried everything recommended here against them, UV+Short blackout, adding silicates, adding bacterias, adding pods, siffoning them daily... Nothing works. My idea is that something of this might work once they don't have a strong hold on the tank thanks to the long blackout.

 

[Lavey29]

The bacteria, phyto, live rock and pods fix the dinos problem, adding biodiversity to compete against them.

The urchins and snails fix the GHA problem, eating it before it grows big, because once it is big nothing eats it.

The dinos are Prorocentrum. I have tried everything recommended here against them, UV+Short blackout, adding silicates, adding bacterias, adding pods, siffoning them daily... Nothing works. My idea is that something of this might work once they don't have a strong hold on the tank thanks to the long blackout.

And you haven't tried the list of things you mention above previously? Do you do daily manual removal of GHA? Do you do weekly water changes and siphon your sand? Did you cut out white light and run blue and UV only 6 hours a day?

How old is the tank? What are the current parameters?

 

[leighton.bingham]

With Dino’s it basically nuked my entire tank trying to do a black out and all the other things. In the end it was silicates that helped and only one fish survived.

If it’s the right strain of Dino’s I’d say does silicates. Before you do a black out because black outs didn't work for me.

 

[bubbgee]

With Prorocentrum, I've been reading a lot of success on Mack's dino FB page about this product.

Sand Bed UV Sweeper

Introducing the UV Sweeper – the ultimate tool for maintaining a pristine sand bed. This innovative device will effectively help control dinoflagellates and diatoms while preserving the delicate organisms beneath the surface. The UV Sweeper is at the core of a process to help shift the...

3dreefing.com

I was thinking of getting one for rock surfaces with dinos.

 

[Saralay]

And you haven't tried the list of things you mention above previously? Do you do daily manual removal of GHA? Do you do weekly water changes and siphon your sand? Did you cut out white light and run blue and UV only 6 hours a day?

How old is the tank? What are the current parameters?

I tried all of that.

I change 10% water weekly, siphoning the sand.

I tried too not doing any water changes and not cleaning the sand, nothing changed.

Nitrates are and 20 and phosfate are at 0.1

The tank is around 2 year old.

Currently I run only blues 9 hours a day, UV 24 hours.

Frankly I'm not super worried about the GHA, killing it is just a desirable side effect of killing the dinos. I'm beyond tired of normally battling the dinos. I want them gone by any means necessary.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Isn't it somewhat contradictory to have both dino's and gha? IDK I'm honestly asking.

I think its a lot of effort for 30 days, but if the nutrients are still in the water, then algae will start to grow again the moment you turn the lights on. You need to control the parameters, not the lights.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Isn't it somewhat contradictory to have both dino's and gha? IDK I'm honestly asking.

I think its a lot of effort for 30 days, but if the nutrients are still in the water, then algae will start to grow again the moment you turn the lights on. You need to control the parameters, not the lights.

Yeah, cause gha is caused by high nutrients and dinos is low, correct?

 

[Saralay]

With Dino’s it basically nuked my entire tank trying to do a black out and all the other things. In the end it was silicates that helped and only one fish survived.

If it’s the right strain of Dino’s I’d say does silicates. Before you do a black out because black outs didn't work for me.

Did you add active carbon? and how long it took for the silicates to work? Been dosing it for two months with no result.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Yeah, cause gha is caused by high nutrients and dinos is low, correct?

Ya, thats what I thought!

 

[Saralay]

Yeah, cause gha is caused by high nutrients and dinos is low, correct?

There is cases of Dinos in high nutrients, like mine.

 

[Lavey29]

I tried all of that.

I change 10% water weekly, siphoning the sand.

I tried too not doing any water changes and not cleaning the sand, nothing changed.

Nitrates are and 20 and phosfate are at 0.1

The tank is around 2 year old.

Currently I run only blues 9 hours a day, UV 24 hours.

Frankly I'm not super worried about the GHA, killing it is just a desirable side effect of killing the dinos. I'm beyond tired of normally battling the dinos. I want them gone by any means necessary.

Can you post a full tank Pic under white lights? Not sure why you run UV 24/7. It kills good stuff and bad equally. Certain dinos go into the water column at night so UV may help overnight but not during the day.

 

[Saralay]

Can you post a full tank Pic under white lights? Not sure why you run UV 24/7. It kills good stuff and bad equally. Certain dinos go into the water column at night so UV may help overnight but not during the day.

I'm on ich management.

I'll post the photo later when i'm at home.

 

[Saralay]

Dinos:

GHA covered by dinos:

 

[leighton.bingham]

I took all carbon and GFO out. I put in more than recommended. But it took almost a month then I had more Diatoms than I knew what to do with.

I’m not expert but know how frustrating it is with Dino’s and I tried everything that was suggested. I even did Dino-x which didn’t help anything in my tank survive.

 

[Rigoberto]

I tried blackouts. It will knock them back. The problem is the cyst phase will enable them to endure this.

30 day blackout will wipe out everything but your fish and the fish will probably need therapy too.

Did you let the diatoms run their course? Why did the Dino's out compete them?

 

[Lavey29]

Dinos:

GHA covered by dinos:

That type of dinos does not go into the water column at night so your UV running 24/7 is useless and just weakening your overall biome. Do you have a sand sifting goby?

 

[danreef55]

Do you have a protein skimmer? Are you using filter socks or fleece roller?

 

[Uncle99]

Looks more like Cyano to me rather than Dino.
Or at least the pic, reddish stringy, some matting…..many of the Dino’s run into are beige ish or golden…