TheWB’s IM Lagoon 50

[Dj City]

I’m really not too stressed out about it. It’s all part of the tank journey. I’m going to keep the lights real low, keep cleaning the rocks and sand and just keep working until balance has been restored.

I’ve got the UV bulb coming on the 6th. Couldn’t get one on Prime for next day, they are completely gone from Amazon so I had to go to BRS.

I wish you the best of luck.
I hate to tell you this but the tank will not get in balance if dinos have taken even a slight hold.
Dinos are not part of the tank journey. Dinos are the beginning of the end..
With a dino outbreak, what you have and what's coming is the new balance.
Keeping the lights real low will not help at all. Not even a tiny bit.
Cleaning the rocks and sand just gets some of the dinos into the water column. They will just settle wherever they settle and continue to grow.
The problem may get worse before it gets better but your current plan will ensure it gets worse.

UV alone will not work at all.
Lights on low will make it worse
3 or 4 day total blackout will not kill them off
Cleaning the rocks and sandbed only spreads the dinos.

It's a 3 pronged approach I used to kill them off.

1. Three day TOTAL blackout

2. Properly sized, properly plumbed and proper flow through the UV while cleaning the rocks and sand.

3. Using Dr. Tim's Dino regiment exactly as ordered.

I did this twice in a row and defeated dinos.
Your coral will be just fine in total darkness. Your fish will be just fine in total darkness.

I'm only trying to help you avoid the headaches and heartaches you will be going through trying to fight dinos. They "will" start killing your coral. The tank "will" look like total crap and dinos are like the terminator...
They keep coming and they absolutely WILL NOT STOP until the tank is "dead" (in my Sarah Connor voice)

Get at me if you want detailed info on how to properly use the UV to help kill them off.

Good luck.

 

[intricate_reefer]

Man, I am so sorry to hear about the dinos. I hear they can be a real pain. I wonder what brought them on? Could it be from playing around with the bacteria?

 

[TheWB]

Man, I am so sorry to hear about the dinos. I hear they can be a real pain. I wonder what brought them on? Could it be from playing around with the bacteria?

Thanks Rob. I’m not sure what brought them on, or if it was even really dinos. I think I might have dodged that bullet. Since I’ve turned the lights back on at a very low setting I’m not seeing them anymore. There is still some algae, probably bryopsis but not sure, that is proving tough to scrub off. Cyano seems to have cleared up for the moment. I’m still working on it. I’m going to try and fit in a water change tomorrow so I can do some more cleaning. Should have a new uv lightbulb on Friday as well so that will help.

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

There is still some algae, probably biopsis but not sure, that is proving tough to scrub off.

When I had bryopsis I could pick my rocks up by the stuff. Had it everywhere. Eradicated with a combo of fluconazole and strong tweezers. No fun at all.

 

[Dj City]

I think I might have dodged that bullet.

Since I’ve turned the lights back on at a very low setting I’m not seeing them anymore. There is still some algae, probably bryopsis but not sure, that is proving tough to scrub off. Cyano seems to have cleared up for the moment. I

Good to hear!
I truly hope you dodged that bullet. It's hard for canyo and dinos to live together at the same time so you really may have dodged that bullet.

Are you able to pull whatever has bryopsis on it out of the tank?
If so, hydrogen peroxide will be your best friend. Take rock out the water and either spray, pour, brush on or submerge the bryopsis with hydrogen peroxide.
It will KILL it DEAD.

 

[TheWB]

Good to hear!
I truly hope you dodged that bullet. It's hard for canyo and dinos to live together at the same time so you really may have dodged that bullet.

Are you able to pull whatever has bryopsis on it out of the tank?
If so, hydrogen peroxide will be your best friend. Take rock out the water and either spray, pour, brush on or submerge the bryopsis with hydrogen peroxide.
It will KILL it DEAD.

Yeah, I’m cautiously optimistic but still trying to scrub and clean out what I can.
I have had the big island out of the tank recently for a peroxide bath and it didn’t totally work although there was improvement. I also just ordered Dr Tim’s Re-Fresh and Waste Away. I’ve already been through Vibrant and Microbacter Clean. Now I’m going to give Dr Tim’s a try. The bottom line is I just have to get this tank a lot cleaner than it’s been. That means doing the dirty work that I let slide for too long. Work took up a lot of my time during the summer but now that things have slowed down it’s time to focus more on the tank and really get it whipped into shape. After that it’ll be time to order the berghia nudibranchs and eradicate the aiptasia once and for all. So far they have not damaged any corals so I’ve been tolerant, just taking out the big ones with aiptasia-x but soon they’ll have to be dealt with in a more permanent manner.

 

[Dj City]

If I were you, I would stop using aptasia x. I used it and saw an explosion of aptasia. I've read many others go through the same thing.

What i have done and what I do now is whenever I see aptasia, I remove whatever it's on and hit JUST THE APTASIA with scalding hot water. Boiling hot water if possible.
It kills them and stops them from spreading spores in the tank.

You will see this for yourself soon.

 

[intricate_reefer]

If I were you, I would stop using aptasia x. I used it and saw an explosion of aptasia. I've read mask others go through the same thing.

What i have done and what I do now is whenever I see aptasia, I remove whatever it's on and hit JUST THE APTASIA with scalding hot water. Boiling hot water if possible.
It kills them and stops them from spreading spores in the tank.

You will see this for yourself soon.

+1 f-aiptasia is what I like using. Recently started trying joes juice and they seem to spread the same way with aiptasia x

 

[TheWB]

+1 f-aiptasia is what I like using. Recently started trying joes juice and they seem to spread the same way with aiptasia x

I think the next plan for the aiptasia will be berghia nudibranchs. I’m getting kinda tired of always shooting some sort of chemical into the tank and the scalding hot water thing just isn’t going to work for me. Natural predation sounds pretty good. I have two peppermint shrimp but they don’t seem to be onboard with the aiptasia eradication.

 

[intricate_reefer]

I think the next plan for the aiptasia will be berghia nudibranchs. I’m getting kinda tired of always shooting some sort of chemical into the tank and the scalding hot water thing just isn’t going to work for me. Natural predation sounds pretty good. I have two peppermint shrimp but they don’t seem to be onboard with the aiptasia eradication.

Thats probably the best best for sure

 

[TheWB]

I pulled the screen from the DIY algae scrubber for cleaning today.

I don’t know how effective it is but it definitely works. Not too bad for 69 cents worth of plastic knitting screen and a couple of zip ties.

 

[intricate_reefer]

I pulled the screen from the DIY algae scrubber for cleaning today.

I don’t know how effective it is but it definitely works. Not too bad for 69 cents worth of plastic knitting screen and a couple of zip ties.

Dang look at that. How long did that take? Are you monitoring your N03 and Po4, you think it’s effective?

 

[TheWB]

Dang look at that. How much long did that take? Are you monitoring your N03 and Po4, you think it’s effective?

I had not checked it in a while, at least two weeks. I’ve been trying to battle the algae outbreak and have not been testing. You just get false numbers with the nutrients being bound up in the algae so it wasn’t high on my to do list. I did a water change today and will test N and P tomorrow to see where I’m at. The tank is much cleaner but there’s still algae hanging on. I may have to pull all the rocks out again but I don’t want to, it’s such a pain. I’m still trying to use good bacteria to out compete it. Time will tell if that is successful.

 

[TheWB]

So somehow my salinity has dropped from 35ppt to 31ppt without me noticing. My Apex salinity probe failed and has not been replaced. I calibrated my refractometer and checked on Sunday just because the probe has been out for a while and it’s a good thing I did. I wanted to be absolutely sure so I took a sample to the LFS and had them check with a supposedly calibrated Refractometer and they told me I was at 35. Neither my refractometer or my Hanna salinity checker were reading that high so today I took another sample to a different, better LFS and sure enough they got 31 also. My Frogspawn hasn’t looked well for a few days so I’m hoping that ramping back up to 34/35 territory by using fresh SW instead of RODI for top off water will get it happier. None of the other corals are seeming to mind. I really don’t want to buy a new salinity probe but I guess I’ll need to. I have not had the issues with it that lots of other people seem to have as far as calibration goes. It’s always been pretty close and at the very least let’s me know when a bigger change occurs even if it wasn’t perfectly dialed in.

 

[Dj City]

I'm happy you found the issue before it became a BIG issue.
Hope the Frogspawn bounce back.

 

[intricate_reefer]

So glad you caught that, I have heard so many stories of this happening with the Hanna checkers. I was going to get one but decided against it. It’s also really common for the regular cheaper refactometers to drift. If using those refractometers I suggest to people to calibrate with each use. Had so many local Reefers salinity to be off because of that. I picked up a VeeGee stx-3 refactometer off eBay for a good price. That thing is rock solid and doesn’t drift. Expensive but if you keep an eye out you can get them pretty cheap used. I got mine for less than the Hanna.

 

[TheWB]

So glad you caught that, I have heard so many stories of this happening with the Hanna checkers. I was going to get one but decided against it. It’s also really common for the regular cheaper refactometers to drift. If using those refractometers I suggest to people to calibrate with each use. Had so many local Reefers salinity to be off because of that. I picked up a VeeGee stx-3 refactometer off eBay for a good price. That thing is rock solid and doesn’t drift. Expensive but if you keep an eye out you can get them pretty cheap used. I got mine for less than the Hanna.

Yeah, I need to read the instructions again on the Hanna Checker to make sure it’s calibrated properly. I’m going to use calibration fluid each time I use the Refractometer as well just to be safe. It’s the one Marine Depot includes in their saltwater mixing kit package from like 3 years ago. It has ATC but honestly I’m not sure if it’s any good or not. Probably not. As long as I calibrate every time I think it will be fine until I can get a better one and replace my apex salinity probe.

 

[TheWB]

Ok, its full disclosure time and I’m a moron. The salinity probe I thought was dead was just halfway unplugged. I thought I had checked that when it first showed 0 salinity but I either checked the wrong plug or just didn’t notice it was loose. Glad I didn’t order a new probe.
Also started using a Nyos nitrate test kit instead of Seachem. Nitrate is reading quite a bit higher on the Nyos which makes more sense considering I have not been able to shake the hair algae. N was at 25, P was at 0.07 on the Hanna Checker. Hopefully this will lead to better corrections of parameters. The Nyos kit is also easier to read and use. I hated the pipette that came with the Seachem kit because it wasn’t precise.
Did a water change this morning after testing and cleaned out another section of sand. Slowly getting back to the right salinity and and a cleaner tank. I’ll test N and P again in the morning and maybe change another 3 gallons since I’ve got leftovers from ramping the salinity back up by substituting saltwater for fresh top off water. No sense letting it just sit around for a week.

 

[TheWB]

I haven’t done a FTS in a while so here’s what it currently looks like.

 

[Dj City]

I haven’t done a FTS in a while so here’s what it currently looks like.

For all the problems you've had...
That's a real pretty display!

Despite all the issues, you have done an excellent job.