My tank has been set up for two-ish years and for a year and a bit of this I have been battling dinos.
My parameters (latest test) are as follows:
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0
Phosphate - 0
Calcium - 340ppm
Alkalinity - 8.4 DKH
Magnesium - 1450ppm
Temperature - 78
Salinity - 35psw
Specific gravity - 1.023
PH-8.3
I've had some troubles with my alkalinity but these parameters have been pretty consistent minus the phosphate. The phosphate was at about 0.1 before I added in the GFO.
So far these have been the casualties:
-Kole Tang
-Lots of snails and hermit crabs
-4 neon gobies
-2 cleaner shrimp
-6 emerald crabs
-couple corals (acropora and montipora)
-A variety of smaller things (Eg. coralline algae)
-2 pearly jawfish
This is what's left:
-2 percula clowns
-tuxedo urchin
-some zoas, hammerhead corals, and some nems
-Some macroalgaes in the tank
-some coralline algae
My setup:
It is a 55g tank with a 15g sump.
I have two HOB filters left over from my freshwater tank that I haven't taken off. One is rated for 110g and the other is rated for 75g. I have GAC in both.
I have a crushed aragonite gravel with a large grain size that is 1-2 inches deep (closer to 1" in most places). I have replaced part of it and disturb it regularly.
I have about 115 pounds of live rock in the system (weighed dry not wet) split between the sump and the display. I bought the rock dry with one piece of live rock from my LFS to 'seed' the tank.
My sump set up starts with a pre-filter that I wash every second day. It drains over a compartment with a chemical absorption pad ( http://www.petsandponds.com/en/aquarium-supplies/c5812/c378024373/p17666996.html ) before going through some filter socks. Next I have a fuge with some chaeto and live rock this overflows through some GAC into a compartment that contains an oversized skimmer, a media reactor with GFO, and a 800GPH pump to return the water to the main system.
I have a 750GPH water pump placed opposite to the return from the sump and a 500GPH pump to eliminate a couple dead spots I found.
My lighting is an LED system http://www.petsandponds.com/en/aquarium-supplies/c5813/c231289/p17721560.html
The Battle Against Dinos
I think this started around the time I started dosing iodine (dumb idea I know) and I have read this can trigger dino blooms.
I've tried every single solution I can find on the internet. The first thing I read was an intensive maintenance schedule. This did nothing. Daily water changes (10%), daily filter washing, scrubbing off tons of dinos. By the next day they just grow back. I next read that I was doing everything wrong and you need to not do water changes (I later learned that this was also wrong and that it could do something but it's not because your 'feeding' the algae with your water changes). This did nothing. Next I tried a combo-aproach. I scrubbed the rocks and did some water changes as well as raised my PH. I then started a blackout (lasted for seven days. I completely covered my main tank and sump) while also dosing hydrogen peroxide, aerating the tank and topping off with kalk exclusively. This actually put a bit of a dent in the algae but didn't do anything to substantial. I'm now doing intensive maintenance while running only blue lights. I'm also using the peroxide strategy and am slowly increasing my doses until I get up to about 5ml per gallon of 3%w/v solution per day. So far this is doing nothing and the dinos are growing happily (I'm still only topping off with kalk).
If anyone has any idea as to what I could do to get rid of these dinos it would be greatly appreciated as they are ruining my tank, and my enjoyment of this hobby.
Edit: The tuxedo urchin devours the dinos. Not enough to make a difference (alone) but may consider getting more. It's funny that everything else in the tank died when they eat dinos but the tuxedo urchin is thriving on it.
My parameters (latest test) are as follows:
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0
Phosphate - 0
Calcium - 340ppm
Alkalinity - 8.4 DKH
Magnesium - 1450ppm
Temperature - 78
Salinity - 35psw
Specific gravity - 1.023
PH-8.3
I've had some troubles with my alkalinity but these parameters have been pretty consistent minus the phosphate. The phosphate was at about 0.1 before I added in the GFO.
So far these have been the casualties:
-Kole Tang
-Lots of snails and hermit crabs
-4 neon gobies
-2 cleaner shrimp
-6 emerald crabs
-couple corals (acropora and montipora)
-A variety of smaller things (Eg. coralline algae)
-2 pearly jawfish
This is what's left:
-2 percula clowns
-tuxedo urchin
-some zoas, hammerhead corals, and some nems
-Some macroalgaes in the tank
-some coralline algae
My setup:
It is a 55g tank with a 15g sump.
I have two HOB filters left over from my freshwater tank that I haven't taken off. One is rated for 110g and the other is rated for 75g. I have GAC in both.
I have a crushed aragonite gravel with a large grain size that is 1-2 inches deep (closer to 1" in most places). I have replaced part of it and disturb it regularly.
I have about 115 pounds of live rock in the system (weighed dry not wet) split between the sump and the display. I bought the rock dry with one piece of live rock from my LFS to 'seed' the tank.
My sump set up starts with a pre-filter that I wash every second day. It drains over a compartment with a chemical absorption pad ( http://www.petsandponds.com/en/aquarium-supplies/c5812/c378024373/p17666996.html ) before going through some filter socks. Next I have a fuge with some chaeto and live rock this overflows through some GAC into a compartment that contains an oversized skimmer, a media reactor with GFO, and a 800GPH pump to return the water to the main system.
I have a 750GPH water pump placed opposite to the return from the sump and a 500GPH pump to eliminate a couple dead spots I found.
My lighting is an LED system http://www.petsandponds.com/en/aquarium-supplies/c5813/c231289/p17721560.html
The Battle Against Dinos
I think this started around the time I started dosing iodine (dumb idea I know) and I have read this can trigger dino blooms.
I've tried every single solution I can find on the internet. The first thing I read was an intensive maintenance schedule. This did nothing. Daily water changes (10%), daily filter washing, scrubbing off tons of dinos. By the next day they just grow back. I next read that I was doing everything wrong and you need to not do water changes (I later learned that this was also wrong and that it could do something but it's not because your 'feeding' the algae with your water changes). This did nothing. Next I tried a combo-aproach. I scrubbed the rocks and did some water changes as well as raised my PH. I then started a blackout (lasted for seven days. I completely covered my main tank and sump) while also dosing hydrogen peroxide, aerating the tank and topping off with kalk exclusively. This actually put a bit of a dent in the algae but didn't do anything to substantial. I'm now doing intensive maintenance while running only blue lights. I'm also using the peroxide strategy and am slowly increasing my doses until I get up to about 5ml per gallon of 3%w/v solution per day. So far this is doing nothing and the dinos are growing happily (I'm still only topping off with kalk).
If anyone has any idea as to what I could do to get rid of these dinos it would be greatly appreciated as they are ruining my tank, and my enjoyment of this hobby.
Edit: The tuxedo urchin devours the dinos. Not enough to make a difference (alone) but may consider getting more. It's funny that everything else in the tank died when they eat dinos but the tuxedo urchin is thriving on it.