dino experiment

[sneeyatch]

That's awesome to hear. Congrats on hopefully winning the battle - or at least well on your way. It's such a great feeling to beat the stuff that I agree, you get your passion back and makes the hobby fun again.

[jkopp36]

I do think I'm getting somewhere but I'm doing my reset starting today. I have been double dosing H2O2 the past few days - 40ml at 6AM and 6PM on a 400g system. I have not noticed any ill effects from the double dosing except I have had a few SPS frags STN but I'm not convinced it has anything to do with the H2O2 since I had the MH above my frag tank off for about a week up until a couple days ago. Today I am shutting down all lights for three days and will turn them back on Saturday.

I'm thinking I have a different issue other than dinos. I have a lot of what can be perfectly physically described as neon green cyano. The H2O2 does not seem to have much effect on it. I know it's probably better left to ask in a separate discussion but any ideas on what that stuff is?

In general, I would have to say things are getting better for me though.

[t4zalews]

After sucking out the sandbed, I've been runnign actinics only this whole week. Dosing 7 mL in the morning. My ORP is higher than before and when I dose it spiked up to 390 which is awesome. As I said I'm also running two skimmers that are keeping good head, hopefully they're sucking out any dino remains that go to the overflow. Good thing about actinics is the algae doesnt produce bubbles, which I think is the sign of them reproducing quickly. I'll try sucking out any other dino crude from my rocks through a filter sock on friday. Then I'm going to slowly put my halides back on..but I'm thinking only for 2 hours and work my way up gradually.

[t4zalews]

On Day 4 of actinic only while dosing peroxide. My rocks seem to be clearing up, I blasted them with a turkey baster today to try and loosen some of the dead algae so that my skimmers could remove it. Sandbed looks relatively clean still, some brown spots but nothing I find alarming. My stable ORP is steadily on the rise as well. The tank runs normally at 340, up from 300-310 previously. Could be the water clearing of particles. I'm only feeding sheets of nori right now..no pellets.

[t4zalews]

Some updates (pics)






Now these pictures are taken after this lighting cycle... I had lights off sunday and monday, then starting tuesday I had actinics on for 5 hours until friday. The pictures are with my halides on for about 1 hour. No signs of bubbles. I am keeping my halides on for 2 hours a day going forward. I've been dosing 7 mL of peroxide every morning. When the actinics were on I aggressively basted my rocks with anywhere I see any brown algae. I am running two protein skimmers right now and ROX carbon in a reactor. I will keep an eye on the dino's. If i see any bubbles, I will kill the halides just run actinics. and aggressively bast my rocks if any algae seems to be forming. If the sand gets bad, I will syphon off the top layer again. I will only do that if necessary again.

Im going to continue to dose 7mL every morning.

[t4zalews]

well...you shouldnt do water changes when you have dino's. but make sure you still check your salinity! no wonder i'm losing all my corals, my SG is at 1.019. I'll mix up some salt in my ATO to slowly bring it back up. So peroxide was not to blame either for failing corals.

[fishaholic911]

Day 6 of H202 and my sand is pure white No ill effects on my live stock ether

[t4zalews]

yea..my sand still has some dusting of dinos. I'm going to siphon them out. I have my main lights on for 2 hours a day right now. I see some bubbles forming..but no new algae to speak of. I've noticed my ORP stays at a high level now. it was 370 this morning with no peroxide added. So I must have really cleaned up my water since I started this whole thing. If I get an ethernet cable, I'll hook up my apex to the internet and get a graph over the time span.

[addicted4life]

I'm glad to hear things are working out with the dosing.

I just wanted to pipe in and say that my dinos is still gone with elevated ph and lights out for a day as my only treatment.

I held it over 8.4 for a week (using kalk slurry) and the dinos disappeared. Today my ph is at 8.25 and has been below 8.4 for a few weeks now.

It is a great feeling to whip this stuff !

[DocG]

Just finished my third round of lights out with the regiment that I have described above.

Everything looks better then it has looked in a long time. Water is so clear it is amazing and no sign of Dinos.

I am going to stop dosing and keep the lights on (although still on a reduced photoperiod) and watch the tank like a hawk.

[sneeyatch]

So I performed another experiment with peroxide yesterday and this evening... I heard you can use it as a dip in certain instances that will wipe out pretty much anything it comes in contact with. Lots of people are using it to dip their frag plugs that are overgrowing with unwanted algae, etc.

Anyway, I have a small patch of bryopsis growing that I want gone before it turns into an issue, so I filled up a syringe with peroxide, turned off my pumps (except my return) and proceeded to inject the bryopsis. That was yesterday. This evening when I got home from work, I have bleached out patches of bryopsis where it was injected. Needless to say I did it again tonight - never exceeding the recommended dosage for the system. I more or less concentrated it in one area and am pleased with the results.

I wonder what this stuff will do with aiptasia, bubble algae, etc. So far, it's dino's, cyano, possibly marine velvet, bryopsis...

[t4zalews]

I read about that as well. It be sweet if peroxide works well against aiptasia.

I have dino's showing back up on my sandbed. I need to pick up some pickling lime and raise my Ph. How quickly does the Ph drop after you dose pickling lime?

[twon8]

Originally Posted by t4zalews

I read about that as well. It be sweet if peroxide works well against aiptasia.

I have dino's showing back up on my sandbed. I need to pick up some pickling lime and raise my Ph. How quickly does the Ph drop after you dose pickling lime?

The ph goes up, quickly, and as soon as you put it into the sump/tank, sump preferred.

I'd mix up a teaspoon in a cup of fresh water and dose as much as needed to get your ph up to 8.6. Twice a day is what worked for me.

[t4zalews]

Originally Posted by twon8

The ph goes up, quickly, and as soon as you put it into the sump/tank, sump preferred.

I'd mix up a teaspoon in a cup of fresh water and dose as much as needed to get your ph up to 8.6. Twice a day is what worked for me.

so the Ph doesnt fall quickly I take it? It raises alkalinity I believe? Could I set up my doser to dose it instead of my alk to keep my Ph levels high...i could control it with my apex.

[t4zalews]

Side note..Im going to continue to dose peroxide because it has rose my ORP to very high levels which I find beneficial. My tank is stabling out at around 380.

[jkopp36]

Originally Posted by t4zalews

so the Ph doesnt fall quickly I take it? It raises alkalinity I believe? Could I set up my doser to dose it instead of my alk to keep my Ph levels high...i could control it with my apex.

Ever since I started dosing kalk to help with the dinos I have been able to stop dosing my 2-part since it does more than keep up. It will depend on your needs and evap rate though. I had to put more fans on my sump to help with evaporation so I could up the kalk dosing to keep the pH up. I still struggle getting it over 8.3 but the H2O2 has pretty much wiped the dinos out and everything is looking a LOT better. Now, on to battling this neon green cyano although even it is subsiding now.

Keep a close eye on your alk. Kalk dosing can raise it rapidly and we know how much SPS like stable alk.

[t4zalews]

yea..well most of my sps died because I wasnt paying attention to my salinity, it dipped down to 1.019 and is now at 1.023 and rising.

When mixing the mrs. wages solution, do I have to wait for the solution to settle, or can I just mix and pour? Of course, I will be adding slowly to raise my Ph. How quickly does the alk raise? I'm planning on using a 1 tsp per gallon (I'll be mixing in a gallon jug)

[sneeyatch]

pH, calcium and alkalinity rising will only be able to be seen by testing. Depending on the size and demands of your system, it could vary. Test and keep track.

Yes - mix the Mrs. Wages and let it settle, then use the clear water from that container to drip into your system. My recommendation would be to read up on this before you start going in that direction if you're not familiar with it:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.php

[jmsalt1]

Originally Posted by t4zalews

yea..well most of my sps died because I wasnt paying attention to my salinity, it dipped down to 1.019 and is now at 1.023 and rising.

When mixing the mrs. wages solution, do I have to wait for the solution to settle, or can I just mix and pour? Of course, I will be adding slowly to raise my Ph. How quickly does the alk raise? I'm planning on using a 1 tsp per gallon (I'll be mixing in a gallon jug)

Do you have a TDS meter on your ro/di unit? What type of ro/di system are you running? Just trying to help get to the source of your issues. I apologize if you covered this previously in the thread.

[t4zalews]

Originally Posted by jmsalt1

Do you have a TDS meter on your ro/di unit? What type of ro/di system are you running? Just trying to help get to the source of your issues. I apologize if you covered this previously in the thread.

Ever since the tank began I've been using RO/DI water. I have a spectrapure 90 gpd, the micron filter is still whitish and the carbon block is about 4 months old. I just recently changed the DI resin. My water reads 0 tds coming out of the DI unit. I use color changing DI resin, so when it gets pretty brown I change it out. I change out the micron filter when it turns yellow in color and I change the carbon block filter about every 8 months. I have pretty clean water here so the filters last pretty long

[t4zalews]

I guess I can give a quick back story. I started in 2007. From the original set up..I've had to move the tank 3 times. Started getting dinos literally just about the time I got my gig anemone. Before that I had occasional had bouts with diatoms, but they were just diatoms not dinos. My tank was really booming, everything was looking great and then the dino swarm came and since yesterday I have 3 of my original SPS pieces, but they are very drab right now and not growing. All clams and fish seem uneffected by the whole situation. My gig has lost some color but I take that due to the lack of light I've been giving the tank lately. I originally bought an orp probe for use with ozone, but then after not being comfortable running ozone I began dosing peroxide. My normal ORP in the tank was around 300. My tank now runs a normal ORP of 375-390. So I believe I have really sucked out a lot of organics from my water which is good. Looking at the tank yesterday, I kneeled down and saw bubbles coming from the rocks again. Which is why I'm going to have to try elevated Ph.

[jmsalt1]

+1 on elevated pH. I think you have a controller from what I remember earlier in the thread. Make sure the pH probe is recently calibrated. If you have a Hanna, I would use that to double check the reading. I am guessing you will be able to monitor pH 24/7 so that will benefit you. Go slow with the Kalk. and use a doser to add it slowly (opposite your photo period which shouldn't be tought given how much you have shortened that). If you are currently using other sources for CA / alk. you will need to adjust that regiment to accomodate for the CA / alk. you are getting from dosing Kalk. Might be a good time to check you MG level as well if you have not done that lately. I'm guessing you have thought of this as well.

[t4zalews]

Yea, I have an apex unit, and I just recently calibrated the ph probe (which by the way for the apex is really weird because it doesnt calibrate to 7 and 10, you just wait til the numbers stablize, even if its not on 700 or 1000.) I'm currently dosing cal/alk with dosing pumps. I'll just seize that dosing and mix up some kalk and dose that. I havent' checked my mag in a while...so that was a good reminder. I'll just set the dosing pump to go on when the Ph is below 8.39 and stop when it hits 8.43. Would that be a good range knowing that it might swing a little when it stops

[twon8]

I would aim higher than that, at least 8.5. You can dose the slurry soon after mixing it, you don't have to use a dosing pump. I've had my ph go above 9 for short periods with no ill effect.

[t4zalews]

Originally Posted by twon8

I would aim higher than that, at least 8.5. You can dose the slurry soon after mixing it, you don't have to use a dosing pump. I've had my ph go above 9 for short periods with no ill effect.

From my understanding, I need it to stay about 8.4? how long is a short period for above 9, like 30 sec or 20 min?