Kinda's Large Tank Adventure (LTA)

[Kindanewtothis]

16 minutes ago, seabass said:

That particular scope looks like it's missing the AC adapter (which shouldn't be that much of an issue because it looks like it accepts batteries), and is missing its 25x eyepiece (which you'd want to replace):

I'm not sure if it's because I'm searching from the U.S., but most of these are shipping from the states.

 

Here's the same scope New (open box) and apparently Complete: https://www.ebay.ca/itm/402023470096?epid=1259742840&hash=item5d9a775410:g:0I8AAOSw-2xe4p6S

Not sure about shipping to Canada

 

This is the link from Amscope direct: https://www.amscope.com/40x-1000x-student-compound-microscope-home-school-science.html

 

This one ships from Canada:

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/373577782948?hash=item56faf896a4:g:GqgAAOSwQ0VgnF2s

 

Thanks a lot for all this.

 

With the import charges and the exchange rate (that is not at all in my favor) it was better to choose the one from Canada, so I did. I want to identify properly the type of dinos I have.

 

 

[seabass]

Just checking, that link takes me to a U.S. shipped item.  I could have sworn the one I linked shipped out of Canada.  Maybe that was the last one?   I hope you got the one from Canada.

 

Edit: Yeah, nevermind, that was the last one.  I think you got it.

[Kindanewtothis]

7 minutes ago, seabass said:

Just checking, that link takes me to a U.S. shipped item.  I could have sworn the one I linked shipped out of Canada.  Maybe that was the last one?   I hope you got the one from Canada.

 

Edit: Yeah, nevermind, that was the last one.  I think you got it.

No it's from Canada don't worry and thanks again.

 

Eta: August 10th

[Kindanewtothis]

Had a busy weekend and did not clean up at all. I've decided not to vaccum  the sandbed until I come back from vacation. It doesn't seems to really help. 

 

I will clean the tank walls whick are also full but really easy to clean up with a simple sponge. Then I will, again, filter it and return it to the tank.

 

More and more cyano in the tank, if I was to use dino-x, which doesn't remove cynao, I guess it would rapidly take the place?

[seabass]

24 minutes ago, Kindanewtothis said:

...if I was to use dino-x, which doesn't remove cynao, I guess it would rapidly take the place?

The hope is that cyano (and other life) will continue to compete with dinos without dosing an algaecide.  That's a positive sign, so I'm a little surprised that you are still considering Dino-X.

 

While Dino-X will likely not kill off the cyano, it could still throw off the balance of your tank.  Remember, that's what we're trying guide you towards (a balanced and mature reef tank).

 

I believe the presence of cyano has more to do with excess organic waste than any connection to dinos.  While I can see where you are coming from, I'm not sure that it would work out exactly as you have planned.

 

Disclaimer, I've never tried Dino-X, so I'm basing my comments on what I have read, and the use of similar products (like Vibrant).

[Kindanewtothis]

3 hours ago, seabass said:

That's a positive sign, so I'm a little surprised that you are still considering Dino-X.

Maybe I don't realize how good this sign is. I understand that I want competition in the tank and there is one with the cyano. It's now covering parts of the sand and some parts of rocks, but the the rest of the tank is still dinos territory. There is so much dinos on the tank wall that there are air bubbles on the glass. But I must admit a part of it is also green.

 

Dino-x is a last resort solution, I get it. I started this at the beginning of April and dinos started to be a problem at the beginning of June, so yeah I'm considering trying a kind of reset but still not before 3 weeks and then discuss it more depending on the state of things at this moment. I will be gone a week, so no cleaning at all will be done in this period, I'm expecting the tank to look terrible when I'll be back.

 

At the same time, cyano really bloomed fast in the last 2 days...

 

 

[Kindanewtothis]

 

[Tired]

You're definitely not at a last resort stage yet. 

[seabass]

FYI: I use something like this to take the microscopic video with my iPhone: https://www.amazon.ca/SVBONY-Universal-Binocular-Monocular-Telescope/dp/B01K7M0JEM/

[Kindanewtothis]

Phosphate is down to 0.05 

Nitrate is 7.9

 

Where is my phosphate going? Does it has something to do with the cyano?

[Tired]

Yes. Cyano, and algae, use phosphates up. So do corals. 

[Kindanewtothis]

Just now, Tired said:

Yes. Cyano, and algae, use phosphates up. So do corals. 

So what now, I dose it back up before it hits 0?

[seabass]

33 minutes ago, Tired said:

Yes. Cyano, and algae, use phosphates up. So do corals. 

^ This.

 

Everything photosynthetic uses phosphate including dinos.  But yeah, cyano can uptake a lot.

 

31 minutes ago, Kindanewtothis said:

So what now, I dose it back up before it hits 0?

What makes you think you should change what you've been doing?

 

You'll probably need to dose while you are gone.  I'd put a bunch in your top off water.  By bunch, I mean figure out how much you've been needing to dose daily, and add that times the number of days you'll be gone into your top off water.

[Tired]

You have things using phosphate up and becoming competition for the dinos. Keep providing them with phosphate so they can grow. This is the whole point of the phosphate, to fuel the helpful stuff. 

[Kindanewtothis]

11 minutes ago, seabass said:

You'll probably need to dose while you are gone.  I'd put a bunch in your top off water.  By bunch, I mean figure out how much you've been needing to dose daily, and add that times the number of days you'll be gone into your top off water.

I haven't been dosing daily. I would test and dose once accordingly. Then test again in a few days and so and so. I've dose phosphate maybe 4-5 times in total. Plus this time, I went half dose this time to make sure it doesn't go from 0.05 to 0.15 in one time. I will.test daily for a while to establish what will be needed while I'm gone. My sister is a pharmacist, she can easily handle dosing phosphate.

 

14 minutes ago, seabass said:

What makes you think you should change what you you've been doing?

Nothing. Just wasn't sure, not everyone was onboard with dosing.

[Kindanewtothis]

What about silicate? I read about people dosing it to fight dinos. Don't really understand what it is.

[seabass]

Diatoms require silicate.  It's fine to dose silicate to support diatoms (just one more competitor).

[Critteraholic]

Keep your hopes up!  Here's what happened to me...

 

I always put new purchases of coral in roughly a 1 gallon container (pico) for observation.  Some zoas I bought kept losing polyps. I decided to remove them and rip off any that didn't look right and re-dip them.  That's when I found out that I had zoa spiders. YUK!  I've been 'cleaning' them about every 5 days for a couple of months. (Zoa spiders are hell to deal with.)  I was keeping everything in the tank clean as well.  Too clean, apparently. One day a little over 3 weeks ago I came in to find snot everywhere.  I have been following this thread so I knew what it was and had a mini panic attack.

 

Sooo, I poked around but didn't clean and I found some small bits of algae that were still hanging on. I did clean around the algae and then increased how long my light was on and started over feeding the tank.  It is a very small tank with no filtration, so I had to do a water change roughly every 10 days. I kept the snot off the algae to help it grow and grow it did.  It turned out to be hair algae and it has literally taken over the tank.  The few corals in there are not happy! But as of today I am dino FREE. Couldn't find any snot and pulled stuff off and did the shake test. No dinos just algae and lots of crud. YAY! Never knew I'd be glad to be overrun by hair algae. Yeesh. 

 

Your tank is much larger than my pico, but there will be an end to this!  Hang in there!

[Kindanewtothis]

I read about dosing silicate in the water chemistry section here on this forum... seems over my competences.

 

Also once the dinos are gone (hey I'm optimistic this morning!) I'll be left with a tank full of cyano, diatoms and algaes... better than dinos but still...

[seabass]

23 minutes ago, Kindanewtothis said:

hey I'm optimistic this morning!

You always seem to be.

 

24 minutes ago, Kindanewtothis said:

I read about dosing silicate in the water chemistry section here on this forum... seems over my competences.

It's really not that hard.  But dosing silicate isn't a requirement either.

 

24 minutes ago, Kindanewtothis said:

I'll be left with a tank full of cyano, diatoms and algaes... better than dinos but still...

Without these competitors, I don't feel that you will beat dinos.  Seems that you will have to flip a switch in your thinking from eliminating these other blooms to embracing them.  It will most likely get a lot uglier before a balance is eventually achieved.  Plus, cyano and diatoms are relatively easy to deal with.  And depending on the species, algae can often be controlled as well (with manual removal and a good cleanup crew).

[Kindanewtothis]

10g question:

 

Poop?

[Tired]

Yep. 

 

The pest algaes are easy to deal with. Just give them some time, in a tank with enough snails, and they'll pretty much go away on their own as the rockwork matures. 

[Kindanewtothis]

Phosphate is now 0.08 (was 0.05). Dosing again.

[Kindanewtothis]

Look at what was hiding under dinos on my rock, algae!!!

[Kindanewtothis]

I might have overdosed a little the NeoPhost or it's also the mix with high dosage of phyto, but phosphate is now 0.21.

 

I know it's a little high even for my dinos situation, but since phosphate seems to be highly consumed, it should be lower tomorrow.