RC_Reefer
Community Member
First of all thanks for any and all input.
I'll keep this as short as possible and straight to the point.
Brief History
Tank age: 9 months
Tank size: 125g (150g with sump)
Started with dry rock (Will never do that again)
Been battling Dinos for last 2 months
I have Prorocentrum (confirmed under microscope)
Battle methods:
NO WATER CHANGES
A few 36hr blackouts, Pods, Live Phytoplankton from Reef Legends (Dino Buster blend and 12 live species blend), Dosing silica (maintaining 4ppm)
Keeping N03 above 10ppm, Keeping P04 above .04ppm (trying to push higher but its difficult), 1- 24w UV light, 1- 36w UV light
Scraped Dinos off glass vacuumed into 1 micron sock, Brushed rocks vacuumed into 1 micron sock, vacuumed only the very top of SB where Dinos are into 1 micron sock.
Params as of 8-2-24
Alk: 8.6ppm
N03: 12.6ppm
P04: .04PPM
Mag: 1380ppm
Cal: 400PPM
Silica: 4PPM
Temp: 79*
Salinity: 1.025
How's the battle going
Well, it's been a long hard fought battle... not even sure if I've won... I can say this; I'm doing a lot better than I was.
Daitoms appear to be outnumbering the Dinos on the SB. I have confirmed this with several samples under a microscope.
The Dinos are NOT completely gone from the SB and are still in small quantities on the back glass.
Under the microscope I can see the ratio of Diatoms to Dinos is very heavily weighted in the Diatoms corner.
Also visible to the naked eye on the SB the Diatoms are more of a lighter color and more of a dusting rather than a mat like the Dinos.
The Million Dollar Questions
How far do I let the Diatom bloom go?
When do I do a water change?
And how much? (most I can do is 33g)
I'll keep this as short as possible and straight to the point.
Brief History
Tank age: 9 months
Tank size: 125g (150g with sump)
Started with dry rock (Will never do that again)
Been battling Dinos for last 2 months
I have Prorocentrum (confirmed under microscope)
Battle methods:
NO WATER CHANGES
A few 36hr blackouts, Pods, Live Phytoplankton from Reef Legends (Dino Buster blend and 12 live species blend), Dosing silica (maintaining 4ppm)
Keeping N03 above 10ppm, Keeping P04 above .04ppm (trying to push higher but its difficult), 1- 24w UV light, 1- 36w UV light
Scraped Dinos off glass vacuumed into 1 micron sock, Brushed rocks vacuumed into 1 micron sock, vacuumed only the very top of SB where Dinos are into 1 micron sock.
Params as of 8-2-24
Alk: 8.6ppm
N03: 12.6ppm
P04: .04PPM
Mag: 1380ppm
Cal: 400PPM
Silica: 4PPM
Temp: 79*
Salinity: 1.025
How's the battle going
Well, it's been a long hard fought battle... not even sure if I've won... I can say this; I'm doing a lot better than I was.
Daitoms appear to be outnumbering the Dinos on the SB. I have confirmed this with several samples under a microscope.
The Dinos are NOT completely gone from the SB and are still in small quantities on the back glass.
Under the microscope I can see the ratio of Diatoms to Dinos is very heavily weighted in the Diatoms corner.
Also visible to the naked eye on the SB the Diatoms are more of a lighter color and more of a dusting rather than a mat like the Dinos.
The Million Dollar Questions
How far do I let the Diatom bloom go?
When do I do a water change?
And how much? (most I can do is 33g)
