Microbe Lift Special Blend to Combat Dinos

[slingfox]

I recently had an outbreak of Dino's in my sand. I siphoned out the top layer of sand, rinsed it out thoroughly, added fresh saltwater along with the recommended first time dose of Microbe Lift Special Blend and some silicate. One day later and my sand looks pristine---no sign of Dino's other than the small areas in the tank I could not reach.

I have previously used Microbacter 7, Microbacter Clean, Dr. Tim's One and Only, Dr. Tim's Waste Away, and KZ Zeovac. Microbe Lift is cheaper (16 oz bottle from Petco for $14.78), skinkier (smells like the sewer---worse than any of the other products), and seems extremely potent. There are a lot of small particles and chunks in the bottle which I assume helps keep the special blend alive. My water is super clear one day later it seems like the bacteria + ozone I am running are doing their job. One critique is the bottle once opened is not airtight when closed. To avoid the smell I have out the opened bottle (with cap on) on a high shelf in a closet. I will plan to do weekly dosing until the bottle runs out to help ensure the Dinos do not return.

 

[Dread Pirate Dave]

Thanks for sharing. Hopefully I wont need to deal with dinos anytime soon.

 

[slingfox]

Thanks for sharing. Hopefully I wont need to deal with dinos anytime soon.

I hope you can avoid them too. The first time I had to deal with them it was around 3 months in with my first time tank. I had a roughly 2 month battle with the uglies of which dealing with dinos for one month straight was super painful. I had to scrub the rocks, siphon out and clean the sand, dose a bunch of stuff, etc. every few days. I also blew a lot of money on products trying to figure out what worked. Eventually the tank stabilized but I completely understand how the uglies drives some people to quit during their first year in the hobby.