My battle with algae & dinos (coolia monotis): A diary of the journey

[Mikeltee]

Bumping this thread as I’m almost certain I have Coolia too. What kind of pump was used in the DT? Regular return pumps? I’m going to replumb so I draw water from my DT but keep my my UV in my sump and just have the return of the UV stay at the return chamber (theoretically the same as dumping it back in my DT). I’m using a dc return pump rated for 500gph for my 25w UV, but it’s a regular return style pump with a not so fine grate at the intake. I guess I can put a sock on the end of the other side of the UV to make sure detritus dowsnr get in my return chamber.

There’s one corner of my tank that detritus accumulates slightly, so I’m guessing that’s the best place to pull water from as the Dinos should end up there the most in terms of where the water column goes?

I battled Coolia for over 2 years. Luckily my tank sprung a leak so I bleached my rock. If it's not going into the water column at night you aren't going to beat it. I tried everything! If it is going into the water column your only hope is to plumb your UV in a closed loop on the display. A tiny UV like that needs about 150gph flow which is a trickle. You didn't say what size your tank was but if it's over 50, your UV is probably not going to cut it. You can't process enough water in time. I ran a 57 watt at 300gph on a 130.

if you want to throw everything at it and give it a shot, follow my UV advice, dose silicates at 2ppm, raise your nutrients and start culturing pods and phyto. You will go broke buying enough to handle the job at hand.

 

[buruskeee]

A tiny UV like that needs about 150gph flow which is a trickle. You didn't say what size your tank was but if it's over 50, your UV is probably not going to cut it. You can't process enough water in time. I ran a 57 watt at 300gph on a 130.

if you want to throw everything at it and give it a shot, follow my UV advice, dose silicates at 2ppm, raise your nutrients and start culturing pods and phyto. You will go broke buying enough to handle the job at hand.

Each manufacturer has different specs for their UV since the tubing done too s and contact rate because of those dimensions is different. I have 160g total system, 130g in my display, 450gph would be about 3x and what the flow the manual calls for to achieve 90k exposure rate. 150gph through my specific Aqua UV 25W will kill the bulb as there’s not enough cooling at that slow of a speed through my unit (hence my minimum flow rate per spec is 400gph to be covered by warranty). Every UV brand is different and should not be generalized.

How far up or down in the water column did you have it pulling water?

I have tons of pods I have to scrape off the glass right now. And I do my best to keep the population up.

What’s the best way to get the Coolia dino into the water column? Just manually stirring the sand and blowing the rocks?

 

[Mikeltee]

Each manufacturer has different specs for their UV since the tubing done too s and contact rate because of those dimensions is different. I have 160g total system, 130g in my display, 450gph would be about 3x and what the flow the manual calls for to achieve 90k exposure rate. 150gph through my specific Aqua UV 25W will kill the bulb as there’s not enough cooling at that slow of a speed through my unit (hence my minimum flow rate per spec is 400gph to be covered by warranty). Every UV brand is different and should not be generalized.

How far up or down in the water column did you have it pulling water?

I have tons of pods I have to scrape off the glass right now. And I do my best to keep the population up.

What’s the best way to get the Coolia dino into the water column? Just manually stirring the sand and blowing the rocks?

Coolia will naturally go into the water column unless it's the new hybrid strain like I had. If your tank isn't clear in the middle of the night, you probably aren't going to beat it unless it's not coolia. Did you verify under a microscope? I ran my 57w aqua uv @250gph for over 2 years and it's fine and it did not heat the water. It doesn't matter where you place the tube in the display. Blowing the rocks doesn't help. It's too stringy. I tried that as well as scrubbing the rocks. 2 days later the stringy stuff with bubbles was back. Here's my collia...

 

[buruskeee]

Coolia will naturally go into the water column unless it's the new hybrid strain like I had. If your tank isn't clear in the middle of the night, you probably aren't going to beat it unless it's not coolia. Did you verify under a microscope? I ran my 57w aqua uv @250gph for over 2 years and it's fine and it did not heat the water. It doesn't matter where you place the tube in the display. Blowing the rocks doesn't help. It's too stringy. I tried that as well as scrubbing the rocks. 2 days later the stringy stuff with bubbles was back. Here's my collia...

What do you believe contributed to beating it? Dosing the silicates?

I haven’t verified by a scope yet, but I’m 75% sure it’s Coolia or some version of it based on comparing to threads like this.

 

[Mikeltee]

What do you believe contributed to beating it? Dosing the silicates?

I haven’t verified by a scope yet, but I’m 75% sure it’s Coolia or some version of it based on comparing to threads like this.

I didn't beat it. My tank sprung a leak. 10 days in 6-1 bleach 3 days is 1-1 vinegar and 1 hour in citric acid. I'll never get anywhere near close to low nutrients again, never use nopox or gfo, and test twice a week for the rest of my life while I enjoy this hobby. I lost interest for 2 years. No water change for 2 years and no skimmer for a year. Nutrients still stayed low.... I don't wish this strain of coolia on anyone. There is only one strain of dynos that I see successfully beat consistently. Check out macs reef dino page on Facebook if you want to verify anything that I recommend as well as see that over the last few years, new hybrid strains of dinos now appear and can't be beat. It takes a lot of people out of the hobby. If I ever get dinos again, I'll mess with it for a month, but that's its. Back to the bleach....

It really makes me cringe when I see people around here recommend setting up gfo on a cycled tank or add algae reactors, chaeto etc etc. A lot of damage gets done on here from keyboard warriors with a 6g nano thats been in the hobby for 6 months. You really have to take everything you read here as someones untested opinion unless its clear that they are an expert. I assure you that while i have 15 years in the hobby, I am no expert. I feel bad for you though bro. Some say it happened when the hobby switched to LED. It supercharged the dinos. It sure makes those expensive corals shine like diamonds so in my opinion, its worth it if you can manage it. This light fixture in this pic used to have metal halide and t5. I went 12 years without a single problem. I spent a total of an hour of maintenace a month. The problems started when i switched to led and started chasing numbers. I now use it as a rack for hydra 52s. Im 5 weeks into a new cycle with skyhigh nutrients and I intend to keep it that way. No ocean rock going in this bad boy. All corals will be dipped in h2o2 and the fish will be qt and observed for 2 months in my basement. I havent figured out what to do about inverts yet. Ill probably qt them for 2 months as well. I have a 40g in the basement with the same rock and same parameters.

 

[buruskeee]

I didn't beat it. My tank sprung a leak. 10 days in 6-1 bleach 3 days is 1-1 vinegar and 1 hour in citric acid. I'll never get anywhere near close to low nutrients again, never use nopox or gfo, and test twice a week for the rest of my life while I enjoy this hobby. I lost interest for 2 years. No water change for 2 years and no skimmer for a year. Nutrients still stayed low.... I don't wish this strain of coolia on anyone. There is only one strain of dynos that I see successfully beat consistently. Check out macs reef dino page on Facebook if you want to verify anything that I recommend as well as see that over the last few years, new hybrid strains of dinos now appear and can't be beat. It takes a lot of people out of the hobby. If I ever get dinos again, I'll mess with it for a month, but that's its. Back to the bleach....

It really makes me cringe when I see people around here recommend setting up gfo on a cycled tank or add algae reactors, chaeto etc etc. A lot of damage gets done on here from keyboard warriors with a 6g nano thats been in the hobby for 6 months. You really have to take everything you read here as someones untested opinion unless its clear that they are an expert. I assure you that while i have 15 years in the hobby, I am no expert. I feel bad for you though bro. Some say it happened when the hobby switched to LED. It supercharged the dinos. It sure makes those expensive corals shine like diamonds so in my opinion, its worth it if you can manage it. This light fixture in this pic used to have metal halide and t5. I went 12 years without a single problem. I spent a total of an hour of maintenace a month. The problems started when i switched to led and started chasing numbers. I now use it as a rack for hydra 52s. Im 5 weeks into a new cycle with skyhigh nutrients and I intend to keep it that way. No ocean rock going in this bad boy. All corals will be dipped in h2o2 and the fish will be qt and observed for 2 months in my basement. I havent figured out what to do about inverts yet. Ill probably qt them for 2 months as well. I have a 40g in the basement with the same rock and same parameters.

Yeah Dinos frag propagation and the scarcity/cost of live rock is what my guess to the prevalence of dinos. I ordered a scope to verify what I have - crossing my fingers it’s not some hybrid and I can beat it with Uv or silicate dosing.