reefman141
Community Member
Dino or alage
- Thread starter reefman141
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The pics do look like Dino's...
Do they dissapear when the lights are out?
Do they dissapear when the lights are out?
reefman141
Community Member
Havent really paid attention my question what causes them and how to get rid of them are my parameters doing it
I read your question, but its not a simple answer.
Dino's can be caused by a number of different things - but its hard to diagnose without more information.
How old is the tank for a start?
I'm always hesitant to comment on parameters because i find that all reef tanks run a little different.
However, your phosphate's are high, and Nitrates are quite low - the imalance here may have caused an issue.
What are you doing to reduce/control your phosphates?
Do you run a UV - this can be an effective way to remove SOME dino's (not all) - hence the question about them dissapearing at night.
If it's dinoflagellates they can be caused by various factors. Many people believe they are caused by low nutrient readings, others think they are the cause of those low nutrient readings, and then there are also many cases in which dinoflagellates appear even though nutrient levels are fine.
They are in every tank, but seem to grow in numbers, when there is some biological niche that isn't covered by something else. This often happens when nutrients are limited and algae can't properly establish. Dinoflagellates have the advantage of being capable of actively feeding on things while also performing photosynthesis for energy.
Depending on species the treatment can differ, as some dinoflagellates will go into the open water column once the lights goes dim, which makes them vulnerable to UV sterilization. Others go into the sand bed and need to be treated differently. Manual removal, fixing tank parameters (usually nitrate and phosphate), as well as keeping a UV sterilizer running are the first steps people try. If that's not enough silicate dosing will cause diatoms which compete for space and light with the dinos. Some people have reported great success with increasing ORP/Redox with ozone.
In young tanks (< 12 months) they are pretty normal and often leave on their own once the tank matures. They can also appear after using algaecides or medication as this opens a biological niche they can exploit.
Hope this helps a bit. For the proper identification you would need a microscope (https://www.reef2reef.com/attachments/dinoflagellateid12_12_2019-pdf.1324729/)
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