[Montireef]

Originally Posted by DNA

Mikefromaz. What I read from your post.

Your dinos were there all along.
They got the upper hand with the eradication of plant matter or the organisms that eats it.
Montireef is sort of heading back from the opposite direction and claims some success.

Sadly a permanent dino solution does not exists and reefers are not uniting to move towards it.

That is right, I have tried many ways and this is the one that gave me best and longest results. Even with the natural parasite (parvilucifera) couldn't get such a success.

Originally Posted by karimwassef

There are two solutions, but they're mutually exclusive.

The natural solution is to move the ecosystem in a direction with competition (algae) and predators (zooplankton). This is the dirty tank method. It takes time and luck (until someone bottles the predators).

The second is the nuclear option - like Noah's flood: kill everything and biodiversity be damned! I don't have a tank for plankton- I have it for corals, inverts and fish. The UV may destroy the natural food chainbutI can supplement that until these invaders are eradicated. This is the clean tank method (strip nutrients and UV bomb the plankton).

I think both work and both can recover to a healthy ecosystem in the long term. I don't like the intentional growth of turf algae and haven't been able to find the right predators.

There may be a third option - heavy UV and overfeeding/underskimming. Let the algae grow faster but nuke the plankton too! Only the algae already in the rocks will survive since anything in the water column will be nuked.

I agree. Mine is the second approach but water is absolutely pristine and polyp extension in my acros is awesome 24h a day. About a fortnight since the last time I had to clean the glass, no algae anywhere and the little mulm is quickly eaten by thousands of little snails (yes, thousands). I have made out at least four kinds of copepods and many small worms. In many shaded areas I can find clumps of featherdusters.

Originally Posted by Mikefromaz

It makes perfect sense that the Marine Algaefix would kill all of the algae including the micro algae. With no competition for normal level of nutrients the dinos stepped right up to the "lunch counter". My local LFS sells a pod mixture which besides pods, rotifers etc. it has live phytoplankton. Seems like as good a place as any to begin rebuilding. I have one coral loss within a week of algaefix dosing. My otherwise healthy trumpet coral disentegrated. I will post regularly on my progress or lack of same.

Seed the tank with those pods and whatever you find. Almost every creature will feed on dinoflagellates. They are the first step in the food chain and they are delicate. They only thrive when they find the perfect conditions: no competition and just a little nutrients (so little than any other organism could not live on it). The outbreak comes when being alone (after that Algaefix dose for example) a nutrient spike takes place.