Algae identification help
- Thread starter MarineReefer
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Subsea
5000 Club Member
Mastiffsrule
Where ever you go, there you are, so be nice 2 you
Looks stringy, bubbles in it? May be Dino.
Can you give us more info about your tank. Age, parameters, inhabitants, equipment. Can help possibly get a treatment plan.
They are a bummer to deal with for sure.
Can you give us more info about your tank. Age, parameters, inhabitants, equipment. Can help possibly get a treatment plan.
They are a bummer to deal with for sure.
Yes stringy with bubbles in it. My lfs said its dinos. I might get dinoX to treat. I'm doing phos ban in a bag on return pump. Just started phosphate rx by blue life to drop phosphates. Have to test phosphate again to see levels. Ty.
If that is really dinos you need to be ADDING phosphates & nitrates fast. Hard to tell from pictures but stringy snot with bubbles is likely dinos.
If that is dinos, you don't need to tell us your nitrate & phosphates because they are zero/zero. If they dont test zeros then rejoice! I mean it.
If they are 0/0, well welcome to the club nobody wants to join. Start reading the below. 9 weeks in myself. Mostly done.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/d...-tired-of-battling-altogether.293318/page-384
Don't worry, you won't need to read all 7,661 posts in this 384 page thread. The first dozen will lead you where you need to go. I can only speak for one dino species treatment listed (ostreopsis) and can say the protocol works when followed.
Good luck.
If that is dinos, you don't need to tell us your nitrate & phosphates because they are zero/zero. If they dont test zeros then rejoice! I mean it.
If they are 0/0, well welcome to the club nobody wants to join. Start reading the below. 9 weeks in myself. Mostly done.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/d...-tired-of-battling-altogether.293318/page-384
Don't worry, you won't need to read all 7,661 posts in this 384 page thread. The first dozen will lead you where you need to go. I can only speak for one dino species treatment listed (ostreopsis) and can say the protocol works when followed.
Good luck.
I've never hear of that. Everyone says to keep nitrates n phosphate minimal, zero if possible that's y u do water changes to drop the nitrate levels. So from the link if I'm reading it correctly, I should be adding nitrates n phosphates?!? I feel like I know nothing now about aquariums. I don't see any programs to follow to treat dinos. I've purchased dinoX b4 reading this. Thoughts?
Sorry for the confusion in the hobby. And sorry I sent you a link to the last page of the thread, not the first page here:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/dinoflagellates-–-are-you-tired-of-battling-altogether.293318/
Yes, we were all taught to keep our tanks "clean". In the past it was challenging to keep clean apparently. In my opinion, nowadays we have many, more powerful tools of nutrient export. Oversize skimmers, Carbon dosing, PO4 strippers (rowaphos, phosban...) to go along with the older methods refugiums, filter socks....
In my very mature (8 yr old rock) system, I have hit low nutrients several times without real trouble. When I saw my acropora going slightly pale, I would turn the skimmer off, or dump a little more food and things corrected smoothly.
In my much newer frag system (14 mos), when my nutrients got low, BAM! Dinos. And when I tried to correct with fish/coral food, they exploded. That system had virtually no algae in it when the breakout began. It was just too clean for too long.
The first step in addressing is to ID the type of dino you have with a super basic microscope -- the $20 variety is fine. Get a picture through the eyepiece with your phone and post it to that thread for ID. There are several active members on that thread that can ID it quickly and without question. The type of dino determines your treatment method. Several/most varieties are treated thusly:
Install a UV sterilizer to the display tank (works better than the sump) 1 watt per 3 gallons of volume
Remove anything that is stripping PO4 or NO3
Dose nitrates and phosphate to reach >10 and >.10 respectively.
Run activated carbon & change it frequently
Dislodge and remove as much dino as possible frequently
Don't do a WC until you get past the dinos
Don't feed aminos!
If you are 2 part dosing, keep track of you alkalinity. Coral growth slows way down, so they are not absorbing ALK ans Cal.
Of all the irony, you will know you are making progress when you can grow some cyano, and even more progress when your first green algae appears. You can gently, smoothly work those out later, once the dino invasion is well past. Good luck.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/dinoflagellates-–-are-you-tired-of-battling-altogether.293318/
Yes, we were all taught to keep our tanks "clean". In the past it was challenging to keep clean apparently. In my opinion, nowadays we have many, more powerful tools of nutrient export. Oversize skimmers, Carbon dosing, PO4 strippers (rowaphos, phosban...) to go along with the older methods refugiums, filter socks....
In my very mature (8 yr old rock) system, I have hit low nutrients several times without real trouble. When I saw my acropora going slightly pale, I would turn the skimmer off, or dump a little more food and things corrected smoothly.
In my much newer frag system (14 mos), when my nutrients got low, BAM! Dinos. And when I tried to correct with fish/coral food, they exploded. That system had virtually no algae in it when the breakout began. It was just too clean for too long.
The first step in addressing is to ID the type of dino you have with a super basic microscope -- the $20 variety is fine. Get a picture through the eyepiece with your phone and post it to that thread for ID. There are several active members on that thread that can ID it quickly and without question. The type of dino determines your treatment method. Several/most varieties are treated thusly:
Install a UV sterilizer to the display tank (works better than the sump) 1 watt per 3 gallons of volume
Remove anything that is stripping PO4 or NO3
Dose nitrates and phosphate to reach >10 and >.10 respectively.
Run activated carbon & change it frequently
Dislodge and remove as much dino as possible frequently
Don't do a WC until you get past the dinos
Don't feed aminos!
If you are 2 part dosing, keep track of you alkalinity. Coral growth slows way down, so they are not absorbing ALK ans Cal.
Of all the irony, you will know you are making progress when you can grow some cyano, and even more progress when your first green algae appears. You can gently, smoothly work those out later, once the dino invasion is well past. Good luck.
Mastiffsrule
Where ever you go, there you are, so be nice 2 you
Nice write up, thanks.
I liked your point about all the ways No3 and Po4 are handled now a days. It’s been such a slow change for me I never really thought about it. From simple UGV to HOB to canister to wet dry to sumps to biopellets to carbon dosing to reactors and algae scrubbers and on and on.
You last part also liked. I have a build going on started by Dino battle. I said exact same thing. Dino goes, cyano comes, then algea. I am at the last stage and about 1/3 thru the algae. My only difference was I dosed vibrant and Microbacter7 which is kinda opposite of the way mentioned.
Hopefully OP will have good results with your plan. Thanks
@Mastiffsrule you are welcome and I appreciate the compliment.
That Dino thread had several hundred experiences in it and was very comprehensive regarding the different species. Some really experienced reefers contributed a lot of time to the thread, testing stuff out and reporting results. Hard to believe that my species (ostreopsis) is one of the EASIER ones to solve for. It was a PITA.
I don't recall that thread ever condemning the use of Vibrant specifically, but as it tends to reduce nitrates, it is easy to imagine why it was never suggested.
I did spend time on a very large (and very positive) Vibrant thread here and recall a few posters mentioning it as a dino fighting tool. I am dosing Vibrant now just to keep the algae & cyano in check a bit, but my status quo algae management is algae blennies, tangs and rabbit fish.
I am the part time coral guy at my LFS. The owner is old school methods, and I have tinkered with most new methods so we debate a lot of this stuff all the time. That's how I came to appreciate the range between old/new.
Happy reefing.
That Dino thread had several hundred experiences in it and was very comprehensive regarding the different species. Some really experienced reefers contributed a lot of time to the thread, testing stuff out and reporting results. Hard to believe that my species (ostreopsis) is one of the EASIER ones to solve for. It was a PITA.
I don't recall that thread ever condemning the use of Vibrant specifically, but as it tends to reduce nitrates, it is easy to imagine why it was never suggested.
I did spend time on a very large (and very positive) Vibrant thread here and recall a few posters mentioning it as a dino fighting tool. I am dosing Vibrant now just to keep the algae & cyano in check a bit, but my status quo algae management is algae blennies, tangs and rabbit fish.
I am the part time coral guy at my LFS. The owner is old school methods, and I have tinkered with most new methods so we debate a lot of this stuff all the time. That's how I came to appreciate the range between old/new.
Happy reefing.
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