bluestar87
Community Member
Does it work for sca also?
Sand Bed UV Sweeper by 3dReefing has anyone tried it?
- Thread starter cairolip21
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SpokaneSteve
New Member
Hello:
this really caught my attention as I have been "turkey basting" my sand and letting the filters remove the clouds that come up. Do you think that's a mistake? Honest question - trying to learn.
Cheers, Steve
Yes. Also users with prorocentrum are reporting positive results. Plain and simple it will shift your sand biome from any nuisance photosynthetic organism with brute force while keeping a majority of non photosynthetic organisms in tact.
I have not and you have to be cautious from hitting the glass lamp on rock work. It could also open up the potential for nuisance hair algae since you will be eliminating everything good and bad on the rock surfaces. But anything is better than dinos.
Ziggy17
Well-Known Member
Hey guys,
So I’ve been battling LCA for quite some time. My original tank got the scourge because being brand new to salt, I thought zero nutrients was the way to go, and I thought my brown uglies were diatoms. Unfortunately it was LCA. That tank (Red Sea) popped the bottom seal, and received a replacement. Unfortunately, the Dino’s followed me to the new tank. Likely were on the rock work..
I’ve been doing all the right things, dosing silicates, bacteria, blah blah, and after a few months, the Dino population decreased a lot. A shout out to Mack’s Dinoflagellate support group Facebook page as that page is a fantastic and important step in defeating dinos.
Anyhow, things were moving slowly, but in the right direction.
One popped into the group, and Moe started promoting his UV sweeper. Tbh, I thought it was total bS when I read about it. A few people ordered them and said it was working. Again, called BS on it. In theory it could work, but my thought was that, yes, you’re killing Dino’s, but you’re also killing the opponents that you want to outcompete the Dino’s. So it would be a vicious cycle of chasing your tail long term.
But after 6 months of Dino’s, I finally messaged Moe, and ordered one. I figured for $100 CND, it was worth a go. If it’s snake oil, then I’m only out $100 which is a drop in the bucket compared to the other stuff I buy for the tank.
Fast forward to now….
I used the sweeper every day for a week. Leaving it in place for about 10 seconds per spot. It took a few days of treatment but I started to see a recession in the brown that came back. By day 7 it was all gone.
Now, I was still sceptical that the Dino’s would reclaim the throne on the sand bed. But after 2 weeks, they have now. Yesterday, I took water/sands samples from the tank and put them under the microscope. Not a single Dino. Lots of little worms, and other living animals, but zero Dino’s.
I’m actually really please thus far, but I won’t be 100% positive they’re gone until a few months of testing samples from the sand bed under the scope.
I will also add, that I completely stopped dosing silicates when I started with the UV. I did not supplement bacteria, as I sure the rock work have plenty to spare. I do dose live phyto to keep my pod population healthy and to help battle PO4 spikes from dead dinos. Which it did. My PO4 jumped from .05 up to .23 during the Dino extinction event. But has since fallen to a practical .1 and continues to fall slowly. I’m using a fuge and skimmer to export the PO4. I also am running activated carbon to help with toxins. So far, no harm to the corals. I am now fighting GHA from the elevated nutrients, but that’s getting under control by the CUC.
I’ll report back if
A) the dinos return
B) the Dinos do not return and it’s been clear for a few months.
I think the UV sweeper appears to work, provided you have done all the steps to stabilize the nutrients and build up the biodiversity to keep the Dinos from taking a new foothold once they’ve been killed.
Worth the $80-$100 if you have LCA/SCA/Procentrum.
Edited for spelling/grammar.
So I’ve been battling LCA for quite some time. My original tank got the scourge because being brand new to salt, I thought zero nutrients was the way to go, and I thought my brown uglies were diatoms. Unfortunately it was LCA. That tank (Red Sea) popped the bottom seal, and received a replacement. Unfortunately, the Dino’s followed me to the new tank. Likely were on the rock work..
I’ve been doing all the right things, dosing silicates, bacteria, blah blah, and after a few months, the Dino population decreased a lot. A shout out to Mack’s Dinoflagellate support group Facebook page as that page is a fantastic and important step in defeating dinos.
Anyhow, things were moving slowly, but in the right direction.
One popped into the group, and Moe started promoting his UV sweeper. Tbh, I thought it was total bS when I read about it. A few people ordered them and said it was working. Again, called BS on it. In theory it could work, but my thought was that, yes, you’re killing Dino’s, but you’re also killing the opponents that you want to outcompete the Dino’s. So it would be a vicious cycle of chasing your tail long term.
But after 6 months of Dino’s, I finally messaged Moe, and ordered one. I figured for $100 CND, it was worth a go. If it’s snake oil, then I’m only out $100 which is a drop in the bucket compared to the other stuff I buy for the tank.
Fast forward to now….
I used the sweeper every day for a week. Leaving it in place for about 10 seconds per spot. It took a few days of treatment but I started to see a recession in the brown that came back. By day 7 it was all gone.
Now, I was still sceptical that the Dino’s would reclaim the throne on the sand bed. But after 2 weeks, they have now. Yesterday, I took water/sands samples from the tank and put them under the microscope. Not a single Dino. Lots of little worms, and other living animals, but zero Dino’s.
I’m actually really please thus far, but I won’t be 100% positive they’re gone until a few months of testing samples from the sand bed under the scope.
I will also add, that I completely stopped dosing silicates when I started with the UV. I did not supplement bacteria, as I sure the rock work have plenty to spare. I do dose live phyto to keep my pod population healthy and to help battle PO4 spikes from dead dinos. Which it did. My PO4 jumped from .05 up to .23 during the Dino extinction event. But has since fallen to a practical .1 and continues to fall slowly. I’m using a fuge and skimmer to export the PO4. I also am running activated carbon to help with toxins. So far, no harm to the corals. I am now fighting GHA from the elevated nutrients, but that’s getting under control by the CUC.
I’ll report back if
A) the dinos return
B) the Dinos do not return and it’s been clear for a few months.
I think the UV sweeper appears to work, provided you have done all the steps to stabilize the nutrients and build up the biodiversity to keep the Dinos from taking a new foothold once they’ve been killed.
Worth the $80-$100 if you have LCA/SCA/Procentrum.
Edited for spelling/grammar.
carol3
Community Member
Great question, does anyone know the answer to this?
musaabi
Well-Known Member
I think yes because you’re allowing the Dino’s to spread that otherwise would just live in the sand bed.
musaabi
Well-Known Member
Also wanted to follow up on this. I had Dino’s that I thought was cyano for a bit after my parameters tanked. I was getting announced and saw the UV sweeper searching the forms. I used it literally 1 time and used it for a bit longer than the recommended 10 seconds, I want to say closer to 20 seconds per spot. I also used it on some of the rock work that had Dino’s covered. The day after I used it, I thought I made things worse because it looked like there were way more Dino’s. Went camping for the weekend came back a few days later and they’re almost completely gone. I did also use it during peaks hours to ensure I was getting it all and had to relocate some corals from the sand bed as I did my sweep. I dosed PNS bacteria and some phyto as well. I’d recommend it for anyone having issues with Dino’s!
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This depends on the state of your sand.
If you are fighting dinos it is best to absolutely not touch the sand bed. You will just be stirring around the dinos.
If your sand bed is healthy and you have not had anymore dinos for a few weeks then IMO this is a good technique to stir the sand bed. It is gentle enough to not destroy that microbiome in the sand while lifting detritus up and out. After researching a lot about the sand bed I believe the worst thing you can do is siphon it during a water change. With basting it you keep everything in tact. SunnyX does the basting method and his tank and sand look as healthy as ever.
SpokaneSteve
New Member
Hello Moe:
This could be a really good learning opportunity for me. Any chance you can point out some of the things you read? I have really vacuumed my sand bed a lot but maybe I'm just setting myself back.....??? Would love to learn how to do better...
Thanks much, Steve.
Don't really have anything I can link you to. Just what I have learned and read through the years. Interested if anyone has an opposing theory.
When you siphon the sand you are ripping out a majority of the detritus along with the sand microbiome into your waste water during a water change. Sure there will be some organisms left behind but that is counter productive to what we are told to do when fighting something like LCA or prorocentrum. The consensus has been that the more competing organisms in the sand, the harder for dinos to take hold. Dinos can reproduce extremely fast and it would be no surprise if they showed up 24-48h again in full force or worse. I know because I have tried this and seen many others try with very low probability of success. Another factor in this method is you might disrupt an anerobic layer in a deep sand bed (below 2 inches) and the bacteria in it.
The only way I have seen anyone say they have had success with siphoning the sand and reducing or eliminating dinos is by syphoning it through a filter sock and uv repeatedly. I don't know about you guys but that is not a practical solution in my opinion. The amount of work is ridiculous and if it doesn't work then that was a huge amount of time and energy for nothing. It is also like a full sand reset. So what is stopping dinos from coming back a few weeks/months later?
Using a turkey baster to gently blow on the top surface of the sand can help stir the top layer and keep a lot more of the organisms in tact. It is a more subtle approach and as long as you are not too aggressive the deeper parts of the sand should be left virtually untouched. I tested this for about 2 weeks. I noticed in the beginning a huge amount of debris would get blown into the water column and after a week it was a considerable amount less that was getting blown out. Large chunks of detritus gets removed by your filters and bacteria should stay in the tank.
There is a 3rd option of stirring the sand and not basting it. I have not tried this myself but might soon. My first thoughts was this could grind sand and kill organisms pretty easily but further thinking about it, it might keep even more beneficial organisms in the sand since you are not blasting them with current but not sure how much detritus can be lifted up and out. I would imagine it is also easier to disrupt the anerobic part of a deep sand bed with this method since you are just shoving a stick right into it. I have seen some use this method with some great looking sand also.
Then there is the never touch your sand at all approach which is not a bad idea either IMO. Just leave it alone and let it mature. If you leave your sand for long periods of time (several months) you should never do any of the 2 methods above because you risk releasing nasties such as hydrogen sulfide I believe. In this case you can start the basting method but only a small section at a time through the coarse of about 2 weeks.
Personally I am still learning and always will be. There are still questions I would like answered such as how often would any of the sand cleaning methods be most beneficial? Weekly, monthly? I think there is also still an ongoing debate if any method is necessary at all. What I am confident in is that siphoning the sand during a fight with dinos is bad.
Hope this makes sense. Its all about keeping your microbiome active and as healthy as possible with beneficial bacteria at the end of the day.
SpokaneSteve
New Member
Thanks for sharing your analysis - you have definitely put more thought into it than I have. I just want the sand to be white and clean!!
Thinks for your input ! Just ordered one, with the foot pedal.. I'm actually battling LCA since few months, dosing silicate to 10ppm, many different bottled bacteria, live phyto, pods etc etc and barely see an improvement on my scope sample it's really frustrating.. hope your sweeper will do the job ! If it's not working I'll just at my coral and nuke the dino with dino x as a last resort .....Back in stock and some customer's before and after. Basically only a few days to have white sand again. A couple weeks to a month till not finding dinos on microscope slides is what is being reported. No chemicals, no blackouts, no disruption to your stability. This is the way.
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