Thinking it might be time to start over

Had Dino's pretty bad when I got my 180G going. I added a bunch of fish to increase the amount of crap in my tank, sucked out all the dino's I could, followed by a 48 hour blackout period. Keeping a "dirtier" tank has done wonders, especially for colors.
 
I dosed nitrates and used a UV sterilizer and got rid of mine completely. If you need any help let me know I can make you some nitrate solution for free
 
Coral snow tends to help out a bit but a dirty tank to get other algae growing seams to be the best way
 
Aside from running out and just buying fish by the bag full, what are some more cost friendly methods to “dirty” the tank? I haven’t really spent much time planning out my livestock list. The blenny was a spur of the moment purchase. Should i stop skimming?


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I wouldn’t stop skimming but maybe dump the skimate back in every day. The bacteria will consume a lot of oxygen and you don’t need another problem to solve. Overfeed , dose nitrate, use live phytoplankton are some options
 
I wouldn’t stop skimming but maybe dump the skimate back in every day. The bacteria will consume a lot of oxygen and you don’t need another problem to solve. Overfeed , dose nitrate, use live phytoplankton are some options

Ok. I will order some ocean magik, repurpose the skimmate, and add to the feeding. Will this alone, be sufficient or should I be looking for a nitrate supplement as well?


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Easy bud , don’t get carried away lol
You want to increase your nitrate and phosphate so algae can outcompete the dinos for space. I wouldn’t go over 20 ppm nitrate and 1.0 phosphate at first and see how that effects it. This won’t be a easy or quick battle and you’ll have to help with siphoning it out. There’s a diy version of kz snow on r2r that’s inexpensive https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/diy-kz-coral-snow-with-97-purity.211722/
 
LoL. I didn’t mean I was going to dump the food container in tonight and let it rip. I merely overfed tonight. That’s it. I don’t have a phosphate test kit. I will have to pick one up.


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Just ordered a phosphate test kit, a graduated cylinder, and some stump remover. Been reading all afternoon about this raising the phosphates and nitrates and this seemed like the best bang for the buck. Will post back with results when things start to materialize.


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I would choose one method first, wait for results then proceeed with others. I went a little crazy at first trying to dirty my tank and brought on some annoying algae. Hooked my ATS back up since and now everything has balanced out
 
I have fought this fight of dino a couple of times. I have had success with elevating nitrates and a 5 day blackout. water changes only made them worse. I also dosed the coral snow which was noted in the above post.


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Can you tell me what you elevated your nitrates too? Also you said that you dosed Coral snow was that over many days? I noticed last night that I still have a little bit of Dino's so I want to keep attacking it. Thanks
 
I have fought this fight of dino a couple of times. I have had success with elevating nitrates and a 5 day blackout. water changes only made them worse. I also dosed the coral snow which was noted in the above post.


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Can you tell me what you elevated your nitrates too? Also you said that you dosed Coral snow was that over many days? I noticed last night that I still have a little bit of Dino's so I want to keep attacking it. Thanks

I brought my nitrates up to about 20 ppm. I also dosed call snow every night for I think it was three weeks. I brought The nitrates up I slightly over feeding and avoiding want to changes for quite a bit. phosphates Where somewhere between .03 and .04


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I would choose one method first, wait for results then proceeed with others. I went a little crazy at first trying to dirty my tank and brought on some annoying algae. Hooked my ATS back up since and now everything has balanced out

I will use the stump remover method. I have read that doing this, will raise both the nitrate and phosphate.


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Everything came in yesterday. Checked the phosphate and nitrate levels today (12/1 @ 9am). The nitrate was 0ppm. The phosphate was between 0 and .05ppm.

I mixed 1/4tsp of the stump remover to 100ml of RODI. This concentration will raise the nitrate .5ppm for every 10ml dosed.

Guess we will see what happens.
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Stump remover?!? Any adverse effects on corals?


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Stump remover?!? Any adverse effects on corals?


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This particular product is 100% potassium nitrate. I read that the potassium levels in the product are so minimal, that you don’t risk overdosing potassium in the tank.

Right now I only have 3 zoa frags, and they barely open, if at all. They are unhappy as all hell, and the Dino’s keep smothering them.


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I know that product is used by a lot of people but man that would make me nervous as hell putting that in my DT.

Understandable for sure. If this doesn’t work, I will strip the tank, dry out and clean all the rock, dispose of the sand, wash all the equipment, and start over. Was trying to avoid such a dramatic remedy.


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I know that product is used by a lot of people but man that would make me nervous as hell putting that in my DT.

Understandable for sure. If this doesn’t work, I will strip the tank, dry out and clean all the rock, dispose of the sand, wash all the equipment, and start over. Was trying to avoid such a dramatic remedy.


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Don't give up u get the ugly stages in every new tank


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