wangspeed

Hands down the Reef Dynamics. Love mine and the recirculating ability. Avast has recirculating BP reactors now too, but I haven't personally tried one. -- Warren

Some forms of dinos are absolutely brutal. I've had the misery of dealing with them twice on the same tank. Currently beat back with FM Ultra Algea X, but you already tried that. Hope the reboot goes well. -- Warren

Love my red velvet fairy wrasse. He's a beautiful color and has the most personality. Plus he flares a few times a day and his colors change and he gets purple stripes when this occurs. Yellow tang would get a lot of attention too, though I just got rid of mine due to aggression against a copperband. -- Warren

I'm lazy. I put it into a filter bag and throw it into my reactor. No way I'm dealing with loose carbon in a reactor. I have to change it more often though, since the bag eventually slows down the reactor. -- Warren

Acid washed. Like BRS Rox or Vertex Rox. Less likelyhood of HLLE in tangs. -- Warren

Had to move him to the sump a few weeks ago because my yellow tang was being awful. Of course, that drove the CBB to stop eating. I tried all sorts of food, including blackworms, and he just wasn't taking, but he came around this week. He's eating like a pig. The confined environment probably helped him conserve a lot of energy. He was going crazy in the display trying to swim away from the tang. Now I need to catch the tang and re-home to Piper27. Warren

Mostly positive news. The Fauna Marin Ultra Algea X (not a typo, it's the way they spell it) has gotten rid of almost all my dino issues. I have some milles that look pretty pissed and are starting to stn, but all other acros look good. Could probably blame the dinos as much as the Ultra Algea X. First treatment was monday night. I only dosed enough for about 60 gallons, and did it again on wednesday night. The other news is that after a few weeks of being trapped in a compartment in my sump, my copperband has discovered that blackworms taste like candy, so he is aggressively eating them now! I'm fattening him up before I release him into the display. He's living in maybe 4 gallons of space, sharing it with a large biopellet reactor :( I think having a small space, unharnessed, allowed him to acclimate to the blackworms. Also helped that the compartment was initially filled with feather dusters for him to chow down. Now to catch that tang... Piper27's got dibs at the moment. Helps that he's like 5 minutes away form me. I'm reasonably confident that this CBB will make it! Third time is a charm I hope. I'll have to restock on a few milles if mine don't make it. A shame, but a small price to pay for beating back dinos. Again...

I have a Jebao DC12000 running at 1/2 power on my 90. I am running a herbie drain though so I can support high drain rates without bubble or noise issues. Totally happy with mine. Never forgets power levels. I power it off all the time too from my Apex for things like water changes. -- Warren

They are single-celled, free floating algae, related to the dinoflagellates known as zooxanthelle that live in corals. When conditions are right, they multiple like crazy and form snotty brown strings in the tank. Usually they have bubbles trapped in them, due to rapid photosynthesis. The bubbles help differentiate them from other pests. To make matters worse, dinos are toxic to snails and corals, or at least acropora. My softies and zoas don't seem to care too much. I'll update when I get the Ultra Algea X in. I'm keeping them at bay right now with a healthy dosing of H2O and RODI. I've done a ton of research on them, and one of the things that will destroy them nearly instantly is a blast of RODI. Someone did some tests under a microscope and found that anything under 1.14 SG destroys them. One other thing. They LOVE lower kelvin light. I can leave royal blue leds on and not see rapid expansion of them, but if my white T5s kick on, the speed at which they multiply is phenomenal. They don't even require much in the way of nutrients, so you generally can't outcompete them with any other methods.

I went super aggressive last time. 3 days of blackout + kalk + H2O. Sucks that they are back. I'm hoping to avoid the same level this time, since I some mighty pissed off corals, and I think I lost a few frags, IIRC. Easiest way for me to be 100% positive is that this stuff basically kills or slows down my ceriths that try to eat it. I got an army of dumb hermits to eat some of it, but there's too much on the rocks near the corals for them to eliminate. Boy, don't I wish it was that easy. Nope, no home deodorizers of any sort. My wife and I generally can't stand those sorts of things. I'm guessing you never really get rid of them, and everyone's got some in their tanks, but when things get optimal for them, they explode. I've been feeding heavily the last few weeks trying to keep my nutrients from being zero, plus I trained up a new blue star leopard wrasse successfully. Currently training one of my other very favorite fish in the world, a copperband that is eating frozen. He'll eat like 1-2 PE mysis a day right now. Unfortunately, I have a small yellow tang that appears to hate the heck out of him. I didn't even think that the yellow tang was going to be an issue. I moved the copperband to the sump for now, but I need to catch the tang. Copperband > yellow tang Anyways, I'm guessing all the extra feeding is not helping the situation.

My tiny frags are starting to encrust nicely and some are shooting off branches, but my battle from dinos last year is reoccurring. I can see them starting to crop back up. I'm currently dosing H2O2 and ordered some Fauna Marin Ultra Algea X as a contingency plan. Looks like the stuff works but is super potent, and needs to be used with great care. -- Warren

Vinegar or a citric acid solution should help. The bristles are calcium based, so acids will dissolve them. Fireworms are different. IIRC, they are also toxic. -- Warren

I do almost nothing and they thrive. Throw in a few pieces of brown paper in a plastic soup container with a little bit of water and put them in the fridge. They may not multiply like Paul's but they do just fine. -- Warren

The straps, which are absolutely worth it to haul water around and pour in a controller manner. http://www.jagmte.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=49 This second part is overpriced. You can DIY. I also heated the hose so that it angles down towards my sumo and ATO Container, which is just a second Scepter water can. http://www.jagmte.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=60&product_id=85 -- Warren

Oops. Comment on my uses. I use one for ATO without the mods. I use another with mods as my typical water carrying container. -- Warren

I also use a water jerry can with modifications. I have a cap with a hose. Also straps around the body so that it is easier to pour. Way better than the typical wide 5 gallon container. http://lexingtoncontainercompanysonlinestore.mybigcommerce.com/scepter-military-water-can-20l-blue/ Let me know if you want the modified cap and strap info. -- Warren

I've ordered from both getyourpods and reefs2go and they are pretty much all amphipods. Nothing wrong with that, but set your expectations. I'm terrible at culturing copepods. I tried since I no longer have a fuge. I see life in the 2 liter bottle I used, not not swarming. Algaebarn is great for dedicated copepods. -- Warren

My cleaner shrimp and wrasses will make short work of them if they come out. -- Warren

I would be concerned about that hang on back overflow. If something goes wrong with the siphon, very bad things could happen. -- Warren

You can try feeding Ick shield. It's got CP in it so you need to make absolutely sure that they are not ingested by corals. I used it once and it was enough to get me through it since my fish are food crazy. After a while though, they may start turning down the food since it tastes funny. -- Warren

You can try my salifert. Oh I forgot. I also have the Red Sea potassium pro kit which takes like 15 min to perform. It's about the same as the salifert for me. -- Warren

Some devices are notorious for leaking a little bit back into the ground line like T5 and MH ballasts and mag pumps. Any of those on the line? -- Warren

Watch the bulk reef supply YT videos about RODI. They are very educational on the topic. -- Warren

I wouldn't import any sand from an old tank. Biological diversity will happen in a reef tank all on its own with addition of corals, fish, and other invertebrates. At this point, just let it keep going up and ride it out til it is done. -- Warren

The max that my DC12000 will do is 3000 gph. Minus about 5 ft of head loss and 3/4" return back pressure. Cut that approximately in half. Probably more. Still a lot of flow though. If my siphon is clogged, my other pipe just becomes the new siphon. -- Warren