Dinos

[Jaws]

Well, it's been over a week since my tank has been diagnosed with dinos.

http://www.canreef.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=14713

For treatment, I turned the MH's and actinics off for all but 3 hours the first day and then off for the whole day the next day. For the next five days, I ran just the actinic light and the 10000K PC light from 9:00am until 11:00pm. The skimmer pulled a ton of crap out and soon the algae began to turn a light grey, dead color rather than brown. The algae easily blew away and I made sure I basted the rocks twice a day.

Haven't done a water change yet and the tank looks back to normal again. I've been turning on the MH's for the last few days, starting with three hours the first day and gradually increasing the period one hour each day. I haven't found any sign of the dinos yet and hopefully it will continue. I know that no one beats this algae this quickly but I'm crossing my fingers. I just wanted to post my experiences and hopefully if everything is gone then this can help others.

I'll wait another week before claiming success and I'll post if anything changes in the meantime.

[Beverly]

Good luck :biggrin: :cool:

[danny zubot]

I read the article posted in your other forum, it mensions that they need a photo period for feeding or something to that effect. It sounds like you have disrupted that process enough to do some damage. How long will you continue until you think they're gone?

[Jaws]

The MH's have been back on for three days now and I've been adding an extra hour of light each day. I'll consider it beat when I have the MH's back on for the full 10 hours without any sign of them.

[Aquattro]

If you actually beat these in a week, the rest of us officially hate you!! :razz:

[christyf5]

If you actually beat these in a week, the rest of us officially hate you!! :razz:

I second that!! :wink:

[Jaws]

If you actually beat these in a week, the rest of us officially hate you!! :razz:

Honestly though, I can't see it happening but i'm crossing my fingers. In this case, i hope you guys end up hating me. :lol:

[Aquattro]

Well, I hope you beat them. They've really annoyed me for months!

[Beverly]

Well, I hope you beat them. They've really annoyed me for months!

If she beats them, you could do what she did and not be annoyed at all :biggrin:

[Aquattro]

She's a he. Her name is Jason :razz:

[Beverly]

She's a he. Her name is Jason :razz:

Now how am I supposed to know from reading the last few posts with no signature that HIS name is Jason :rolleyes: Sorry, Jason :neutral:

Anyway, Brad, I'm sure you get the gist of my comments even though I committed a faux pas :mrgreen:

[Aquattro]

oh ya, no worries. I've done exactly what he's done, 2 days later the tank was full of brown snot again. I left it in complete darkness for 4 days, then actinics only for 2, then re-acclimate the tank to MH for a week. 3 days later, tank full of brown snot.
Finally got it to disappear, posted pics of how good my tank was doing, 2 weeks later, tank full of brown snot. :rolleyes:

Tank is now just clearing up again, but hopefully it's decommisioned before the next wave of brown snot...

[Beverly]

Thinking about this situation logically, the brown snot has to have come from somewhere, even if it was one or two tiny brown snots that you couldn't possibly see when they were imported into the system. Add the right kind of nutrients and off they go and you have brown snot EVERYWHERE :eek:

Then, kill ALMOST ALL of the little brown snots off by removing light and you have a setup of even more nutrients for the very few brown snots that didn't die to just go ahead an multiply even more :confused: Sounds like a never ending cycle.

Maybe the only way of getting rid of the stuff might be to do 100% water changes to remove nutrients until they're gone. However, that still leaves room for one or two brown snots to still survive and eventually snot up the whole tank at some point down the line :frown:

GADS :exclaim:

[Aquattro]

GADS :exclaim:

yup....

[Jaws]

She's a he. Her name is Jason :razz:

Sex? "Yes Please"

This Gal's definitely a dude. No worries though. Either way my looks don't get me any further in this hobby. If anything they just scare my fish. Just called the girlfriend by the way to get an update on the tank after day 4 or 5 with MH's on and she said everything's looking good. I'll continue with updates and judging from everyone else's experiences, I'll probably end up with the dinos again so don't hate me too much.

[Jaws]

I'm not 100% sure but I think I can see signs of the dinos coming back. I can't see any brown wavey snot-like substance but there is some dead looking grey snot-like substance. I have a feeling this is just the beginning of another outbreak.

Any idea what I can do to stop this before it starts?

How harmful would it be to the coral if I left the MH's off for another 5 days and just left the actinics on?

[Aquattro]

How harmful would it be to the coral if I left the MH's off for another 5 days and just left the actinics on?

relatively harmful....

[Beverly]

Jason,

Not that I have any real experience with dinos, but I would try several large water changes as close together as you can, and siphon out any snots you see developing.

[Jaws]

The funny part is, the dinos developed the last time I did a 50% water change. I seem to have those orange threads growing all over the sandbed now too and a lot on the rocks now as well.

[Aquattro]

try several large water changes as close together as you can, and siphon out any snots you see developing.

Tried that, they really loved the new water. Grew even faster!! The only thing that has helped my tank was leaving them alone. Most of my rock is bare now, with a bit of brown algae on the back glass.

[Jaws]

What do you think about transferring everything into the big 180G tank. I'd be going from a prizm pro skimmer, Pro 4 powerheads and no Ca reactor to a Beckett 3 skimmer, Tunze 6100 powerheads and a dual chamber Ca reactor. Do you think the better equipment will help? I'll also be removing everything but 1" of the 4" sandbed.

[Aquattro]

Do you think the better equipment will help?

No, sounds like my equipment to begin with, didn't help me. I'd make sure you have lots of flow in between the rocks, don't feed too heavy and wait it out.

[christyf5]

I'm with Brad on the water changes, I found it was a waste of salt. I waited mine out. Are you using a filter sock in your sump at all?? I found that helped some. Mine eventually just went away (of course they always came back as well).

Christy :)

[Jaws]

I don't have a sump. Tank's not drilled.