Algae help needed

[Skimmer Juice]

are you using rodi water ? running gfo ? I would be vacuuming the sand while doing weekly water changes , remove as much as you can manually . Stay consistent with your water changes and dosing . Stay away from adding different chemicals/aids to try and get rid of . But if you are using rodi , make sure your filters and membrane is good .

[Dash]

+1 on vacuuming sand. I do this every water change - if I’m taking out water might as well be the yucky stuff. Really solved my nitrate problem when my tank was new. Also blowing off rocks with turkey baster once in a while, or brushing off rocks before vacuuming. I was too chicken to add anything to tank that I couldn’t test for. Just a lot of elbow grease and patience.

[Llorgon]

Originally Posted by Skimmer Juice

are you using rodi water ? running gfo ? I would be vacuuming the sand while doing weekly water changes , remove as much as you can manually . Stay consistent with your water changes and dosing . Stay away from adding different chemicals/aids to try and get rid of . But if you are using rodi , make sure your filters and membrane is good .

Using RO/DI, filters are all 6 months old. I think they should be good still. Not sure how you tell. No gfo.

Originally Posted by Dash

+1 on vacuuming sand. I do this every water change - if I’m taking out water might as well be the yucky stuff. Really solved my nitrate problem when my tank was new. Also blowing off rocks with turkey baster once in a while, or brushing off rocks before vacuuming. I was too chicken to add anything to tank that I couldn’t test for. Just a lot of elbow grease and patience.

I have been blowing off the rocks and stirring/blowing the sand during water changes with a turkey baster.


So I should be doing water changes? At j&l they all told me stop the water changes because it like very clean water so I should try to raise my nitrates a bit. Although that might be to encourage more easier to deal with algae to start growing.

[Mattyb]

I’ve battled Dino’s and they suck. Prob the worst thing in the hobby. Firstly u need to find out what strain they are. There is a huge forum on these on reef2reef. Also Devon from “reefdudes” just posted on battling Dino’s on his Facebook page that can help too. I would start with blackout and then start dosing hydrogen peroxide (1ml per 10 gallons I believe). Filter sand everyday but don’t throw the filtered water out. Just run it through a filter sock and back into the tank. I would start dosing phosphate and nitrate and get the tank as dirty as possible to start growing other algae’s so it outcompetes them. Definitely go to reef2reef though and do some research. Good luck

[Llorgon]

Originally Posted by Mattyb

I’ve battled Dino’s and they suck. Prob the worst thing in the hobby. Firstly u need to find out what strain they are. There is a huge forum on these on reef2reef. Also Devon from “reefdudes” just posted on battling Dino’s on his Facebook page that can help too. I would start with blackout and then start dosing hydrogen peroxide (1ml per 10 gallons I believe). Filter sand everyday but don’t throw the filtered water out. Just run it through a filter sock and back into the tank. I would start dosing phosphate and nitrate and get the tank as dirty as possible to start growing other algae’s so it outcompetes them. Definitely go to reef2reef though and do some research. Good luck

Thanks! Going through those forums now.


Will hydrogen peroxide kill any pods, fish, coral in the tank?

[Frogger]

Originally Posted by Llorgon

Thanks! Going through those forums now.


Will hydrogen peroxide kill any pods, fish, coral in the tank?

Depends on the dosage. Hydrogen Peroxide will kill everything if the dosage is too high. I have used it before, very effective at controlling the non-parasitic flatworms, did nothing for my bryopsis (reason for using), not sure how it works on dinos.

I beat dinos by adding a magnum micron filter, a UV sterilizer, added daily dosages of KNO3 and turkey basted the rocks every time I saw dinos start to appear. I had to change the magnum cartridge daily when I first started. Took a couple weeks to get it under control. This worked for me, it might not work for you, every tank is different and there are many different causes of Dinos

I have not ever let my nitrates and phosphates get to zero again.

[Llorgon]

Originally Posted by Frogger

Depends on the dosage. Hydrogen Peroxide will kill everything if the dosage is too high. I have used it before, very effective at controlling the non-parasitic flatworms, did nothing for my bryopsis (reason for using), not sure how it works on dinos.

I beat dinos by adding a magnum micron filter, a UV sterilizer, added daily dosages of KNO3 and turkey basted the rocks every time I saw dinos start to appear. I had to change the magnum cartridge daily when I first started. Took a couple weeks to get it under control. This worked for me, it might not work for you, every tank is different and there are many different causes of Dinos

I have not ever let my nitrates and phosphates get to zero again.

I know see why people say don't let nitrates and phosphates get to zero. What did you use for dosing KNO3?


I have been blowing off the rocks and everything with a turkey baster. Hasn't done much yet. Does keep it off the corals though.

[kyl]

Potassium nitrate from a FW guy in Richmond is the "cleanest" source.

[Frogger]

Originally Posted by Llorgon

I know see why people say don't let nitrates and phosphates get to zero. What did you use for dosing KNO3?


I have been blowing off the rocks and everything with a turkey baster. Hasn't done much yet. Does keep it off the corals though.

From what I read if you do not filter out the dinos and and/or kill them with UV sterilizer than they just regrow somewhere else. It is important to slow the flow through your UV sterilizer down, it is contact time that kills them.

[Llorgon]

Originally Posted by Frogger

From what I read if you do not filter out the dinos and and/or kill them with UV sterilizer than they just regrow somewhere else. It is important to slow the flow through your UV sterilizer down, it is contact time that kills them.

I think you are correct. From what I have been reading, dirty water helps reduce them. They can be caused when nitrates and phosphates go down to zero(which mine appear to be).



So I think my steps will be:
Blackout for 3 days, currently on day 2.
Increase feedings to try and help build up nitrates/phosphates
Added a filter sock which I will clean daily
Pickup some nitrate and or phosphate supplements to help increase them
Suck up as much of the dinos as I can into a filter sock and bucket. Then return that water to the tank.
Turn off skimmer? Not sure if this is needed or not.


Unfortunately I don't have the budget for a uv sterilizer right now.