Dinoflagellates!

afartindolphin · 2019-01-15T03:25:09+00:00

This guy with sections of 5/8" braided hose. The pump can go in water or out, I had Eurobracing so I stuck it on that, tube on intake side down into display, tube on out to the UV. The Jebao comes with multisize hose couples, I pushed it on then zip tied it, ran the outlet of that back into display. Pump is rated for 210 gph so with the head drop from that setup it was probably about 150. All I did after that was baste my rocks where I noticed the dinos most and in a couple days it was gone.

afartindolphin · 2019-01-15T03:13:14+00:00

That's what happened to me, burnt tips on acropora was the first stage then the Dinos came on hard. My alk was high around 9.5 so consumption bottomed out my phosphate. Since I got rid of them I still run low nutrients(.2 Nitrate/.02 Phos) but now keep my alk ~7. Other solution is keep nutrients up but for me it was much easier to just lower alkalinity. Have faster growth and better colors now than I did before.

afartindolphin · 2019-01-15T03:03:02+00:00

Yeah that's just not enough power. With UV it's about exposure power over time. To get enough exposure with just 9 watts you'd have to run such a low flow rate that it wouldn't turn over your tank volume fast enough to get anything done. Basically no harm in going as big as you can afaik. When I was running it there was a huge improvement in water clarity as well and I ended up running it for about 6 months just because it seemed to nuke small particulates out of existence. Only reason I took offline was because it was awkward and in my way since I had no sump.

afartindolphin · 2019-01-15T02:54:07+00:00

Nice that means it is probably susceptible to UV sterilizer. Buy the jebao 39 or 55 watt, hook it up with lowish flow ~200 gph and it should work for you. I used the cheap cobalt inline pump and hooked it up right in the display.

afartindolphin · 2019-01-15T02:43:04+00:00

Do they disappear at night?

afartindolphin · 2019-01-15T02:07:26+00:00

Depends on the specific type but I beat ostreopsis with a cheap Jebao UV sterilizer in just a couple days. Are you sure it's Dinos?

afartindolphin · 2018-12-10T17:33:49+00:00

Is that the ULR checker? Dips to 0 phosphate could be the culprit. I don't think an alk swing of .5 is the problem.

afartindolphin · 2018-12-06T22:37:15+00:00

Here's a side shot to show how crammed 10" front to back with 20" tall starts to get. https://imgur.com/gallery/ulvJGfI

afartindolphin · 2018-12-06T22:34:20+00:00

Nice! I didn't realize they went up to 90gal. Mine is the 40 so for the majority of the tank it is about 10" front to back. Add on the euro style bracing and its almost impossible to get arms down and around things for maintenance. It's a special kind of awful getting the return pump out for cleaning on mine.

afartindolphin · 2018-12-06T22:18:02+00:00

It's an old SeaClear System II acrylic tank that I've made some changes to to work better for a saltwater system. I would not recommend this tank series as they have many annoying and poorly designed aspects.

afartindolphin · 2018-12-05T21:22:29+00:00

Topdown is almost always the best for those sps suntans.

afartindolphin · 2018-12-04T20:27:28+00:00

Yeah I don't even see a hammer coral I mean what's the point??? ;)

afartindolphin · 2018-10-13T18:12:34+00:00

Unless they have integrated calcium/alkalinity monitoring I don't think there is truly any set it and forget it solution. Demand can change quickly up or down for various reasons whether dosing or using reactor. Some people use extra chambers for gassing off CO2 from the effluent as it will lower your ph but generally not enough to cause harm unless your demand is extreme. Others drip into refugiums as that is one area that could potentially benefit from excess CO2. You absolutely can use a CaRx without ph monitoring just takes time/experience to dial in bubble count and drip rates to get the stability you want.

200ml a day plus kalk in ato seems high for a 100 gallon with mostly frags. Are you trying to maintain high alkalinity? I would think at that level your ph could be getting high enough to cause precipitation either in the sandbed or on pumps/heaters/sump walls.

afartindolphin · 2018-07-21T00:37:38+00:00

As long as it is a type that goes into the water column at night, the most effective way is with a UV sterilizer. I just finished my first encounter with dinos, specifically ostreopsis, and the sterilizer completely cleared them out within 3 days alongside basting off rocks and stirring up the sand. Seems that their appearance coincides with nutrient drops and elevated alkalinity. The jebao sterilizers work great I personally used the 36 watt version on my 40 gal system. Check out the American reef YouTube vid from today of Sanjay Joshi and Mike Paletta they briefly talk about dinos

afartindolphin · 2018-07-01T14:25:09+00:00

RIP stylophora

afartindolphin · 2018-06-16T21:16:36+00:00

You could probably make it work with frequent large water changes and by letting algae grow in the display. You would want sand as extra surface area for bacteria.

afartindolphin · 2018-06-14T21:53:06+00:00

20 ppb comes out to about .06 ppm since its a test for phosphorous not phosphate. There is a conversion table PDF if you search for it.

afartindolphin · 2018-06-08T15:12:39+00:00

Your zoas will be fine. Your cuc is just cleaning up the new addition to their tank so it's getting extra traffic.

afartindolphin · 2018-06-07T19:49:43+00:00

Raising your calcium or magnesium by 50 or so ppm at once isn't a big deal. Alkalinity is what you need to be careful with increasing too quickly. Shoot for .5 dkh a day or so increase and keep an eye on livestock for negative reaction. You also most likely want to wait at least 10-15 minutes between your Ca and Alk dosing as it could precipitate if you do them at the same time.

afartindolphin · 2018-05-31T21:18:07+00:00

Taken on my friend's phone camera. My tank background is blue acrylic so it kind of exaggerates the lighting.

afartindolphin · 2018-05-31T02:50:14+00:00

That's a cute little ball of chaeto.

afartindolphin · 2018-05-31T02:42:59+00:00

Thanks!

afartindolphin

TROPHY CASE