I have been setting up a 30 gallon cube for several months now, and have had a problem since inception with what I now believe to be dinoflagellates. According to Delbeek and Sprung, the best known methods for controlling them are
1) Raise pH to 8.4-8.5 during the day and 8.2 in evening.
2) UV sterilizer (controls growth rate, but does not kill them in tank)
3) Phosphate sponge
4) Shorten photo period on the tank
The passage I read seemed to indicate that raising the pH was by far the most effective. I am trying to do that, but not having much luck.
Tank setup:
- 30 gallon cube, used in a former life as a top off reservoir for another tank.
- Water overflows into a modified stovepipe down into sump
- Acrylic sump (~8 gallon) with 9w light for algae growth in sump. Light not currently in use.
- Acrylic top off reservoir connected to float valve in Sump.
- 5-6 inch sand bed, mixed Caribsea sugar/ESV oolitic/some rubble. Washed and placed into tank.
- Unknown amount of live rock(50lbs?): base rock and some rubble from 2 seperate LFS, plus a bunch of > fist-sized dried and washed rock from tanks previously setup. (Previously had 75 gal and 240 gal, rock is rubble left over from disassembly of tank when had to move 3 states and downsize from 2200 sq ft house to 1100 sq ft apartment. Back in a house...)
- Water return to tank via Mag 7
- 2 24" fixtures with 4 x 40w PC total. (2 dual actinic, 2 dual daylight, 2 moonlight) not currently using moonlight and on 4 hour swphoto period until dinos are gone and stay gone.
- 75W heater
- Removed Turbofloater 1000 skimmer, going to go without it (Note: problem existed before removal)
Current Water quality Parameters:
SG 1.0225 (plan to raise to 1.024 by using SW instead of distilled in top off and allow evaporation to adjust over time - unable to do atm because of pH raising efforts)
Calcium 380 ppm
Carbonate hardness 11KH
pH 8.0 to 8.4 (Color is not exact match, but going by "amount of purple", it looks to me to be between 8.0 and 8.4 colors. LFS pH meter consistently shows lower than test kit.)
Ammonia 0
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Copper 0
History
My first tank was a 75 gallon SW tank, which was fairly quickly followed by another 240 gallon reef. A job change had my family move 3 states and downsize from 2000 sq ft to 1100 sq ft, so my tanks got disassembled and put in storage. (Creatures and big live rock pieces went to a friend's LFS.) For months, my 6 year old fish lover has been trying to get me to setup the 240 again. As a way to ease myself back into the hobby, I decided to setup a 30 gallon reef...
I took things slowly. I spent weeks just building a stand for it and making the sump and top off out of acrylic, then set it up and spent more weeks feeding an empty tank as it cycled. I tested water quality regularly and waited until both ammonia and nitrites were zero.
I started putting fish and shrimp in the tank, one at a time. And killing them one at a time. After several 4 to 6 hour acclimation sessions ended with yet more dead creatures, I decided that I wasn't unlucky or acclimating too fast. These were all healthy fish/shrimp when I bought them, but sometimes within a few hours of entering my tanks, they would end up dead. Numerous tests by my LFS confirmed my own numerous tests on water quality with the exception of pH. My pH tests showed 8.0 to 8.2, meter showed slightly below 8.0. LFS used a test kit, recalibrated their pH meter, and pH still showed a bit low, but still acceptable. I initiated some kalkwasser additions to raise pH a bit and tried again. And killed another fish.
Finally, I decided that I had either a biological or chemical toxin at play, so I initiated two drastic water changes using LFS bought water (I had mixed my own previously). I took the water all the way to the sand and all water out of the sump each time, almost completely changing the water and left the tank alone to stew for 3 to 4 days. I then repeated the process and added a carbon/resin filter at the end. A few days later, I bought a Clark Clownfish. All was going well for perhaps 3 to 4 days, but on the evening of the 3rd day, the Clown was showing signs of distress. On morning of the 4th day, the fish was dead.
I then turned my garage upside down, looking for my Delbeek and Sprung books. I found the section on pests, and decided that the cyanobacteria might have been dinoflagellates instead since I definately had trapped air bubbles.
At this point, I have taken the following actions:
1) Have UV sterilizer on order from Champion. Should get here this weekend and will put it on tank. I would prefer to leave it off most of the time, but until I get them under control, it is going to be on.
2) Have reduced the photo period greatly on my tank so that the tank only gets about 4 hours a day. This seems to have the greatest effect so far on controlling the dino's, since I can see them turning black and air bubbles disappearing. However, when I leave the lights on longer, the dino's appear to make a comeback.
3) I am reluctant to try the phosphate sponge, since I have heard that they can cause problems in their own right, phosphate tests show zero phosphates, and Delbeek and Sprung seemed a bit dubious as to whether it would actually work anyway...
4) Attempted to raise the pH to 8.4, but pH is stubbornly staying at the low end of the 8.0 to 8.4 range. I have been using ESV B-Ionic, Kalkwasser, and Seachem Reef Carbonate. So far, not much luck with raising pH. I was actually using Kalkwasser to start, then B-Ionic, and finally decied I might have a Hardness problem, so I got a hardness test kit and something to raise it...
Eight days ago, I added a Skunk Clownfish to the tank and it is still alive, but I don't want to add anything else until the dino's are gone. Each time I increase the photoperiod, they seem to come back. I think my final solution will be pH, but my efforts to raise it have been failures. Can anyone out there suggest any solutions for me?
1) Raise pH to 8.4-8.5 during the day and 8.2 in evening.
2) UV sterilizer (controls growth rate, but does not kill them in tank)
3) Phosphate sponge
4) Shorten photo period on the tank
The passage I read seemed to indicate that raising the pH was by far the most effective. I am trying to do that, but not having much luck.
Tank setup:
- 30 gallon cube, used in a former life as a top off reservoir for another tank.
- Water overflows into a modified stovepipe down into sump
- Acrylic sump (~8 gallon) with 9w light for algae growth in sump. Light not currently in use.
- Acrylic top off reservoir connected to float valve in Sump.
- 5-6 inch sand bed, mixed Caribsea sugar/ESV oolitic/some rubble. Washed and placed into tank.
- Unknown amount of live rock(50lbs?): base rock and some rubble from 2 seperate LFS, plus a bunch of > fist-sized dried and washed rock from tanks previously setup. (Previously had 75 gal and 240 gal, rock is rubble left over from disassembly of tank when had to move 3 states and downsize from 2200 sq ft house to 1100 sq ft apartment. Back in a house...)
- Water return to tank via Mag 7
- 2 24" fixtures with 4 x 40w PC total. (2 dual actinic, 2 dual daylight, 2 moonlight) not currently using moonlight and on 4 hour swphoto period until dinos are gone and stay gone.
- 75W heater
- Removed Turbofloater 1000 skimmer, going to go without it (Note: problem existed before removal)
Current Water quality Parameters:
SG 1.0225 (plan to raise to 1.024 by using SW instead of distilled in top off and allow evaporation to adjust over time - unable to do atm because of pH raising efforts)
Calcium 380 ppm
Carbonate hardness 11KH
pH 8.0 to 8.4 (Color is not exact match, but going by "amount of purple", it looks to me to be between 8.0 and 8.4 colors. LFS pH meter consistently shows lower than test kit.)
Ammonia 0
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Copper 0
History
My first tank was a 75 gallon SW tank, which was fairly quickly followed by another 240 gallon reef. A job change had my family move 3 states and downsize from 2000 sq ft to 1100 sq ft, so my tanks got disassembled and put in storage. (Creatures and big live rock pieces went to a friend's LFS.) For months, my 6 year old fish lover has been trying to get me to setup the 240 again. As a way to ease myself back into the hobby, I decided to setup a 30 gallon reef...
I took things slowly. I spent weeks just building a stand for it and making the sump and top off out of acrylic, then set it up and spent more weeks feeding an empty tank as it cycled. I tested water quality regularly and waited until both ammonia and nitrites were zero.
I started putting fish and shrimp in the tank, one at a time. And killing them one at a time. After several 4 to 6 hour acclimation sessions ended with yet more dead creatures, I decided that I wasn't unlucky or acclimating too fast. These were all healthy fish/shrimp when I bought them, but sometimes within a few hours of entering my tanks, they would end up dead. Numerous tests by my LFS confirmed my own numerous tests on water quality with the exception of pH. My pH tests showed 8.0 to 8.2, meter showed slightly below 8.0. LFS used a test kit, recalibrated their pH meter, and pH still showed a bit low, but still acceptable. I initiated some kalkwasser additions to raise pH a bit and tried again. And killed another fish.
Finally, I decided that I had either a biological or chemical toxin at play, so I initiated two drastic water changes using LFS bought water (I had mixed my own previously). I took the water all the way to the sand and all water out of the sump each time, almost completely changing the water and left the tank alone to stew for 3 to 4 days. I then repeated the process and added a carbon/resin filter at the end. A few days later, I bought a Clark Clownfish. All was going well for perhaps 3 to 4 days, but on the evening of the 3rd day, the Clown was showing signs of distress. On morning of the 4th day, the fish was dead.
I then turned my garage upside down, looking for my Delbeek and Sprung books. I found the section on pests, and decided that the cyanobacteria might have been dinoflagellates instead since I definately had trapped air bubbles.
At this point, I have taken the following actions:
1) Have UV sterilizer on order from Champion. Should get here this weekend and will put it on tank. I would prefer to leave it off most of the time, but until I get them under control, it is going to be on.
2) Have reduced the photo period greatly on my tank so that the tank only gets about 4 hours a day. This seems to have the greatest effect so far on controlling the dino's, since I can see them turning black and air bubbles disappearing. However, when I leave the lights on longer, the dino's appear to make a comeback.
3) I am reluctant to try the phosphate sponge, since I have heard that they can cause problems in their own right, phosphate tests show zero phosphates, and Delbeek and Sprung seemed a bit dubious as to whether it would actually work anyway...
4) Attempted to raise the pH to 8.4, but pH is stubbornly staying at the low end of the 8.0 to 8.4 range. I have been using ESV B-Ionic, Kalkwasser, and Seachem Reef Carbonate. So far, not much luck with raising pH. I was actually using Kalkwasser to start, then B-Ionic, and finally decied I might have a Hardness problem, so I got a hardness test kit and something to raise it...
Eight days ago, I added a Skunk Clownfish to the tank and it is still alive, but I don't want to add anything else until the dino's are gone. Each time I increase the photoperiod, they seem to come back. I think my final solution will be pH, but my efforts to raise it have been failures. Can anyone out there suggest any solutions for me?
