I am going through very similar problems on both of my tanks. Both tanks were the result of too effective skimming, and chaeto growth and laziness on my part to test (Hanna) NO3 and PO4. Ultimately, I bottomed out both tanks and thought my problems were simple algae. Surprise! DINOS!!! Im now dosing nitrate and phosphate, got rid of the chaeto, turned off UV, carbon and other reactors. Ive lost some inverts and corals in the mixed tank. The FOWLR tank is unaffected and responding to treatment with DINO-X. Like you, I made similar mistakes. The struggle is real.....REAL EXPENSIVE!
New subscriber - i respect your honesty and i had similar Dino issue due to zero Phosphate but Nitrate was good. I had an ineffective clean up crew so my feeding was small and inconsistent. I listened to bad advice from lfs on phosphate parameters and clean up crew. I was told zero phosphate was an excellent number. Dino free now as I feed 2x a day. I do not run the protein skimmer all the time and a very effective clean up crew. Turbo and Mexican Turbo snails, Hermit Crabs, Porcelain Crab and an Emerald Crab. I learned most of this before I set up my tank but getting from setup to current was very challenging and frustrating. I was chasing temp. fixes and not knowing how to resolve the cause. Have a good day.
Thank you for that comment. Although some make it look easy with posts of beautiful photos of their tank, in reality this is a very difficult hobby IMO.
I was quite lucky with mine, my tank has been set up for about a month and I had live rock and sand so I stocked a clean up crew and was feeding them. After about a week and a half some dinos started to pop up which initially I thought was algae because of the brown colour, I researched and learnt about dinos and luckily I tried adding more food to up the nutrients, I also moved the lights higher which has resulted in them nearly all gone and algae has started to grow in its place. It has now been gone for just under a week and looking promising so I’d recommend trying this and dosing beneficial bacteria :)
I'm going through it right now. The tanks been set up for 4 months. Dinos came in and are all over the tank. I tested PO4 and NO3 regularly with Salifert and API test kits. I couldn't make out any colors to check. I finally splurged on the Hanna Po4 and No3. Po4 and No3 were at 0. After dosing my tank and feeding aggressively Po4 at .07 and No3 at 5. I'm just curious how long it takes to be eliminated.
After about 2 weeks they went away, but came back again. Ultimately the only way I could keep them from coming back was using a UV sterilizer. Sorry about the late reply, but hope you already have it solved.
Great video!! I am fighting with dinos right now myself. I've used many of the methods you mentioned in the past. I am pretty sure that my problem started with nutrients bottoming out. I currently dose both nitrate and phosphate. I also use Dino-X to get them under control quicker. Again great video.👍🏾
@@TheHelicapt Yes it did work to kill off the dinos. But it's still a constant fight. I have just been working with adjusting lighting levels to keep it down.
@@TheHelicapt It's just a little bit that shows up on the circulation pumps and cords. But it goes away after a week or two. It's annoying, but at least it's not getting on the rockwork. I feel like once you have them, you never truly are 100% free of them.
Wait… so you did another video talking about uv lighting solving Dino’s. But you didn’t mention the uv light here. Did you decide it wasn’t ultimately as helpful?
Yeah, the dinos went away after a couple of weeks with this method, but came back again. Ultimately, I had to resort to using a UV sterilizer to keep them away.
Skipper, very honest & heartfelt upload. I also made many of the same mistakes... now I have DINOS! So can you please advise? I have been raising nitrate and phosphate levels by simply adding extra food pellets. This has begun to work well... I am now considering using a bacterial product to "out compete" the Dinos. Did you CONTINUE to dose Nitrates, DURING the time you added bacteria, or just prior? The problem with most bacterial products, is that they also consume phosphate/ nitrates, risking the too low level scenario again! Was this a concern for you too, what bacterial product did you use? Do you think "die off" is likely to prevent phosphate/ nitrates to hit zero, while the Dino recedes? Thanks in advance, and no shame in learning from errors!
Thank you! And sorry to hear you are dealing with dinos but I know you will beat them! I did continue to dose nitrates until I got it up to steady 10ppm. I also dosed some phosphate. I added them at the same time. I dosed two types of bacteria fritz 460 and 9. I just used what my lfs had and I think it’s good to have as many varieties for diversity. I’m now dosing dr Tim’s waste away and eco balance. You will have to feed it carbon though. I used vodka to feed the bacteria. Of course food and fish waste is a carbon source but I vodka is easier for them to consume. TBH I’m still fighting low nutrients. Yesterday my phosphate tested zero on my Hanna checker 🤦🏻♂️. So I’m back to dosing neophos. It’s a delicate balance between too low nitrates and nuisance algae. I’d rather have the algae. One of my problems may be only having 3 small fish in 40 gallons. Anyway enough rambling. Good luck and let me know if you have any questions. Btw just be careful with bacteria dosing and letting oxygen get too low int your tank. I ran an airborne to help especially since you’ll be turning off your skimmer if you have one.
Hi how do you take a sample of water to view under the microscope? Do you just take the tank water or you have to siphon some Dino up and shake it to break it up before viewing? I say many video to just identify under the microscope but they dun teach how to obtain the sample. Thank you
I turned off light and dip coral out and back in hydrogen peroxide. I’m willing to kill Corals to get my perfect tank. I’m the the ruler of that tank not the Dino’s.
your video is so chill. calming my nerves while fighting dino...
Happy to help! Call it dino stress therapy 😂
I am going through very similar problems on both of my tanks. Both tanks were the result of too effective skimming, and chaeto growth and laziness on my part to test (Hanna) NO3 and PO4. Ultimately, I bottomed out both tanks and thought my problems were simple algae. Surprise! DINOS!!! Im now dosing nitrate and phosphate, got rid of the chaeto, turned off UV, carbon and other reactors. Ive lost some inverts and corals in the mixed tank. The FOWLR tank is unaffected and responding to treatment with DINO-X. Like you, I made similar mistakes.
The struggle is real.....REAL EXPENSIVE!
Sorry to hear that. Definitely feel your pain. Do you know what type of dinos you have? UV was the only thing that really got rid of mine.
New subscriber - i respect your honesty and i had similar Dino issue due to zero Phosphate but Nitrate was good. I had an ineffective clean up crew so my feeding was small and inconsistent. I listened to bad advice from lfs on phosphate parameters and clean up crew. I was told zero phosphate was an excellent number.
Dino free now as I feed 2x a day. I do not run the protein skimmer all the time and a very effective clean up crew. Turbo and Mexican Turbo snails, Hermit Crabs, Porcelain Crab and an Emerald Crab. I learned most of this before I set up my tank but getting from setup to current was very challenging and frustrating. I was chasing temp. fixes and not knowing how to resolve the cause.
Have a good day.
Thank you for that comment. Although some make it look easy with posts of beautiful photos of their tank, in reality this is a very difficult hobby IMO.
So true, I have had success and failures that’s for sure.
Learning and studying is far different from hands on.
Doing water-changes is mainly a mistake when battling dinos...you feed them with it again.
I was quite lucky with mine, my tank has been set up for about a month and I had live rock and sand so I stocked a clean up crew and was feeding them. After about a week and a half some dinos started to pop up which initially I thought was algae because of the brown colour, I researched and learnt about dinos and luckily I tried adding more food to up the nutrients, I also moved the lights higher which has resulted in them nearly all gone and algae has started to grow in its place.
It has now been gone for just under a week and looking promising so I’d recommend trying this and dosing beneficial bacteria :)
That’s good to hear. Looks like you caught it in time. It took me way too long to realize I had dinos. Hope you can keep them away!
I'm going through it right now. The tanks been set up for 4 months. Dinos came in and are all over the tank. I tested PO4 and NO3 regularly with Salifert and API test kits. I couldn't make out any colors to check. I finally splurged on the Hanna Po4 and No3. Po4 and No3 were at 0. After dosing my tank and feeding aggressively Po4 at .07 and No3 at 5. I'm just curious how long it takes to be eliminated.
After about 2 weeks they went away, but came back again. Ultimately the only way I could keep them from coming back was using a UV sterilizer. Sorry about the late reply, but hope you already have it solved.
Great video!! I am fighting with dinos right now myself. I've used many of the methods you mentioned in the past. I am pretty sure that my problem started with nutrients bottoming out. I currently dose both nitrate and phosphate. I also use Dino-X to get them under control quicker.
Again great video.👍🏾
Thanks! Glad you found a way to keep them in check.
How did Dino x work ?
@@TheHelicapt Yes it did work to kill off the dinos. But it's still a constant fight. I have just been working with adjusting lighting levels to keep it down.
@@GwonkReefkeeping
So your still fighting the dino’s?
@@TheHelicapt It's just a little bit that shows up on the circulation pumps and cords. But it goes away after a week or two. It's annoying, but at least it's not getting on the rockwork. I feel like once you have them, you never truly are 100% free of them.
Wait… so you did another video talking about uv lighting solving Dino’s. But you didn’t mention the uv light here. Did you decide it wasn’t ultimately as helpful?
Yeah, the dinos went away after a couple of weeks with this method, but came back again. Ultimately, I had to resort to using a UV sterilizer to keep them away.
Skipper, very honest & heartfelt upload. I also made many of the same mistakes... now I have DINOS! So can you please advise? I have been raising nitrate and phosphate levels by simply adding extra food pellets. This has begun to work well... I am now considering using a bacterial product to "out compete" the Dinos. Did you CONTINUE to dose Nitrates, DURING the time you added bacteria, or just prior? The problem with most bacterial products, is that they also consume phosphate/ nitrates, risking the too low level scenario again! Was this a concern for you too, what bacterial product did you use? Do you think "die off" is likely to prevent phosphate/ nitrates to hit zero, while the Dino recedes? Thanks in advance, and no shame in learning from errors!
Thank you! And sorry to hear you are dealing with dinos but I know you will beat them! I did continue to dose nitrates until I got it up to steady 10ppm. I also dosed some phosphate. I added them at the same time. I dosed two types of bacteria fritz 460 and 9. I just used what my lfs had and I think it’s good to have as many varieties for diversity. I’m now dosing dr Tim’s waste away and eco balance. You will have to feed it carbon though. I used vodka to feed the bacteria. Of course food and fish waste is a carbon source but I vodka is easier for them to consume. TBH I’m still fighting low nutrients. Yesterday my phosphate tested zero on my Hanna checker 🤦🏻♂️. So I’m back to dosing neophos. It’s a delicate balance between too low nitrates and nuisance algae. I’d rather have the algae. One of my problems may be only having 3 small fish in 40 gallons. Anyway enough rambling. Good luck and let me know if you have any questions. Btw just be careful with bacteria dosing and letting oxygen get too low int your tank. I ran an airborne to help especially since you’ll be turning off your skimmer if you have one.
@@skippersreef4009 Thanks Skipper, you area great help. I hope you get your nutrients stable :-)
@@Mindboggle100 happy to help! And thank you!
Hi how do you take a sample of water to view under the microscope? Do you just take the tank water or you have to siphon some Dino up and shake it to break it up before viewing? I say many video to just identify under the microscope but they dun teach how to obtain the sample. Thank you
I siphon the dinos up off the rocks or glass where I see them using a small plastic pipette.
@@skippersreef4009 do you need to filter first before putting it on a microscope slide?
@@Wangsium nope. Just put a couple drops directly on the microscope slide. You’ll see them moving around in the water droplets.
Awesome video! Thanks!
hi did you got any problem with corals or fish by using air stone?
Not at all. Although I didn't have very many corals at that point, bc the dinos wiped most of them out.
This is due to using dry rock, and not LIVE reef rock. I used live rock for years since the 90's never had dino. Have them now fighting them.
I think you’re right. Seems much harder to find real ocean live rock nowadays tho.
Don't overfeed with supplements like reef roads.
I turned off light and dip coral out and back in hydrogen peroxide. I’m willing to kill
Corals to get my perfect tank. I’m the the ruler of that tank not the Dino’s.
Good luck! Go get em!
Dr. Tim's waste away. Problem solved.
Yeah that's good stuff!
I’m currently using that and no results 🤷🏻♂️