150g Starphire Peninsula Build Thread. SPS and BTA's. Pic Heavy!

[ajcanale]

Originally Posted by sahin

Oh man...sorry about that. Look up Jason Angel on this forum. He doesnt post much here, but has a thread. He also has a thread on the other forum. In the thread on the other forum (his handle is Aussie Reefer there), he describes how he beat Dinos. I think it might be worth your time to take a look. Actually, I just done a search now: open up google and search for "My Australian 950lt SPS tank". Its the third link in the results. On the other forums thread he explains what he did.

I think he did multiple attacks (not one thing at a time): Hydrogen Peroxide dosing, algae filter, increased pH etc etc He beat it.

Good luck. Hope you beat this crap.

Ive researched and tried about everything in the book, aside from complete blackout, which I have refrained from doing in fear of anemones becoming unsettled.

[ajcanale]

Update:

So I have payed a lot of attention to the tank lately. I have upped my water change rotation, and have been diligent with siphoning out traces of dino's and changing out GFO.

Perhaps the biggest change I've made is putting my Biopelet Reactor back online. I added Warner Marine ecobak pellets, and am dosing a blend of bacteria strains in hopes of ridding my system of this horrid pest. It has started to recede from the sand bed and growth rates appear to have definitely slowed. In addition, SPS color and growth seems to be recovering and improving.

[sahin]

Originally Posted by ajcanale

Update:

So I have payed a lot of attention to the tank lately. I have upped my water change rotation, and have been diligent with siphoning out traces of dino's and changing out GFO.

Perhaps the biggest change I've made is putting my Biopelet Reactor back online. I added Warner Marine ecobak pellets, and am dosing a blend of bacteria strains in hopes of ridding my system of this horrid pest. It has started to recede from the sand bed and growth rates appear to have definitely slowed. In addition, SPS color and growth seems to be recovering and improving.

That's great news. Hopefully it will go for good.

[reefmutt]

Good to hear!
That's one of the few pests I have not encountered..... Yet... I hope it stays that way..
We are gluttons for punishment, us reefers..

[Zacktosterone]

Updates?

[ajcanale]

Well, its amazing I havent lost everything.

In the past couple months I have still been fighting a losing battle with dinoflagellates. Ive found that siphoning them out during water changes and keeping ROX carbon changed out every month prevents toxicity in my system. They still come back, and rather quickly. My next purchase from BRS will include a bottle of Dino X. I will dose that for as long as it takes, and pair it with a couple other potential remedies to hopefully rid them permanently and not crash my system in the process.

There have been two other major issues encountered. The first was that I recieved two new Hannah checker ALK reagents, only to discover that my old one had been way off. dKh was actually around 13 and not 8.5. I verified this with second tests at my LFS.
About a week later I discovered the pump for my Ca reactor was leaking, and pretty substantially. Following fixing the leak I had an "aha" moment and realized my SG had probably dropped since all the leaked water had been replaced with ATO freshwater. Well my refractometer (Milwalkee digital) said differently and reported 1.027. I pulled out the handy 1.026 calibration fluid... bam 1.032... Then tested my backup bottle of calibration fluid... 1.032 again. Then I tested RO/DI water... 1.006. Uhoh So I recalibrated the refractometer and discovered the SG of my tank was actualy 1.021.

Miraculously, low salinity + extremely high ALK + relatively low nutrients + dinoflagellates = STN and color loss of many of my SPS. Surprisingly a few pieces showed little to no change.

Anyways, not to be too long winded. All has since been corrected, hopefully it will stay that way.

Here are a few macro shots that I've taken recently under various lighting phases....

[ajcanale]

[ajcanale]

[reefmutt]

It's crazy how when it rains, it pours..
Glad to hear and see that you got it all sorted out..

Beautiful shots!
The green coral with the orange corralites and red ployps is amazing!
Very nice!
If you would be so kind, could you post a pic of your dino infestation? I'd like to have a look at it..

[ajcanale]

[reefmutt]

Thanks! So, it has a reddish color to it..
I'll be very interested to see if the dino x helps.
Good luck with it.

[cambo123]

Hey ajcanale,

Sorry to here about your dino issues. I have been and continue to battle these things in my stand along frag/lps tank. Blackouts for 3 days work really well! Going to try 5-7 days next time. I understand your concern about anemones moving though.

Just a thought here. One thing I considered trying but haven't yet is using a diatom filter in conjunction with blasting/basting the rocks at night. This stuff, as I am sure you have noticed, does not have a strong footing in the tank and will turn to a kind of dust when blasted with water. Likewise, I believe it "lets go" /dissipates at night in search of light. IME, its the presence of light that forms these clusters that we see while trying to clean it out. Anyway, diatom filters can remove down to 0.5 microns which would remove dinoflagellates. My thinking is that, because this pest is easy to get suspended in the water column that you could easily filter it out with filtration under 1 micron. This would need to be done repeatedly and in conjunction with other techniques. Just a thought. Your acros look awesome.

[ajcanale]

Originally Posted by reefmutt

Thanks! So, it has a reddish color to it..
I'll be very interested to see if the dino x helps.
Good luck with it.

Sorry when I snapped the pics only Royal Blue and UV LED's were on. The color varies from a dark brown to light tan and it looks kinda like jelly. There are also a lot of different types.

Originally Posted by cambo123

Hey ajcanale,

Sorry to here about your dino issues. I have been and continue to battle these things in my stand along frag/lps tank. Blackouts for 3 days work really well! Going to try 5-7 days next time. I understand your concern about anemones moving though.

Just a thought here. One thing I considered trying but haven't yet is using a diatom filter in conjunction with blasting/basting the rocks at night. This stuff, as I am sure you have noticed, does not have a strong footing in the tank and will turn to a kind of dust when blasted with water. Likewise, I believe it "lets go" /dissipates at night in search of light. IME, its the presence of light that forms these clusters that we see while trying to clean it out. Anyway, diatom filters can remove down to 0.5 microns which would remove dinoflagellates. My thinking is that, because this pest is easy to get suspended in the water column that you could easily filter it out with filtration under 1 micron. This would need to be done repeatedly and in conjunction with other techniques. Just a thought. Your acros look awesome.

Definitely sounds like a solid aproach, but I guess my one question is... how do you implement the filter? Post drain line into the sump similar to a filter sock? The only problem I see with this is even if a filter like that is implemented there will still be dino spores (not sure if that is a correct term ) that settle on subrate/rockwork.

I think it could definitely prove useful and be another tool in a multi pronged attack.

[gblaszczuk]

I love the color on the sps. Looking forward to more pictures.

[cambo123]

Hmmm, personally, I would run it in the display for a couple hours until the water is crystal clear after running through with a turkey baster and knocking all the dinos loose you can. This would significantly cut back on there population.

I actually attempted something similar but with a BRS media reactor and a 1 micron RODI sediment filter. I got the tank super kicked up with dino crud and let it run for about 30min. This worked REALLY well however it is somewhat impractical as the sediment filter clogged immediately. It would be MUCH easier working with diatomaceous earth because you can quickly (and cheaply) replace it. Anyway, I would take out the filter every 10 min and scrape of the dinos. It was like 1/4in snot all the way around...really amazing.

I used this as a precursor for a multi prong attack. I did this prior to a 3 day blackout, h202 dosing regiment, and large water change. Everything subsided for about 2 months but came back slowly (I believe because I just moved my tanks from Tuc-Phx)

IMO, you may be successful using the diatom filter for 1-2 hours, followed by a short blackout (maybe <24 hours to prevent the dino's from getting a footing) followed by another diatom filter treatment, followed by a water change. At least that is what I am thinking of attempting, maybe even several attempts over 4 weeks.

[ajcanale]

A few non macro top down... I love these 3 acros.

[Zacktosterone]

Have you tried fauna Marin ultra algae x?

[ajcanale]

Originally Posted by Zacktosterone

Have you tried fauna Marin ultra algae x?

Actually I just ordered some yesterday... they renamed it to Dino X.

[Zacktosterone]

L

Originally Posted by ajcanale

Actually I just ordered some yesterday... they renamed it to Dino X.

I had an issue with dino in two different tanks. It completely helped both times. Just follow the instructions to the exact specifications. I made sure to go to the full dosing period. I also blacked out the tank with cardboard for 5 days at the beginning

[deeznutz1]

Are you running fine sand? Do you vacuum it?
I've removed all of my sand bed and the dines disappeared within a few days.
This is the second time I've encounter it and it has worked for me.

Great SPS btw

-dan

[jroovers]

There is nothing wrong with your corals and their colours/health that is for sure! I love your Hawkins echinata colony, beautiful. My guess is that the dinos will eventually burn themselves out, you just need to be patient, stick to your routine and keep your parameters in check, and eventually they will go away. The hardest part though is when they grown on/near your sps, they can cause some damage, that frequent basting can help combat.

[ajcanale]

New additions, though not going in the 150, set my old 90g up as a frag system. About 1/3 of it is aquascaping... figured it would be better to get some new things.

SC Orange Passion


BC Bubblebath Unicorn


BC Midas Supreemo


BC Pink Flamingo


Tubb's Pink Jade

[westreef]

Are these BC (Battle Coral) stuff? They are so gorgeous.

[sahin]

Originally Posted by jroovers

There is nothing wrong with your corals and their colours/health that is for sure! I love your Hawkins echinata colony, beautiful. My guess is that the dinos will eventually burn themselves out, you just need to be patient, stick to your routine and keep your parameters in check, and eventually they will go away. The hardest part though is when they grown on/near your sps, they can cause some damage, that frequent basting can help combat.

+1 I've had them in my current tank. I didnt change my routine. I just let them burn themselves out.

Your acros look great though despite the Dino issues.

[Zacktosterone]

I may have missed it, but just wondering if you uses the dino X yet