Dinoflagellate Help

[justfishen]

2 weeks ago I had an outbreak of what I believe to be prorocentrum dinos. See pic.

Then I lost half of corals to rapid tissue loss which assume was due to the dinos. I moved what survived to my frag tank and they are doing well. I raised Nitrate to 14 and phosphate to .12 and have been dosing 1ppm silicate daily for 2 weeks. Now my tank is completely brown with I assume to be diatoms and cyano. See pic of current condition.

My question now is how long do i leave it like this? I cant tell what is what. I have put some corals back as a test and they appear ok. Do i move corals back? Keep the tank dirty for another week? How do i know when the dinos are under control?

For background my nutrients never bottomed out when the dinos took off. Imy nitrates dropped down to 2 to 4 ppm and i think that allowed them to grow.

 

[EnterName]

Pictures under white light would help to see if there are cyano. But another microscope sample would be even better.

As silicate dosing is not always effective I can recommend water changes, manual removal, and nutrient reduction. Keep taking samples until cyano and dinoflagellates are no longer part of what you find on the substrate.

Yes water changes introduce trace elements that can increase growth for a moment, but diatoms and other organisms that compete with dinos need those trace elements as well.

 

[justfishen]

Pictures under white light would help to see if there are cyano. But another microscope sample would be even better.

As silicate dosing is not always effective I can recommend water changes, manual removal, and nutrient reduction. Keep taking samples until cyano and dinoflagellates are no longer part of what you find on the substrate.

Yes water changes introduce trace elements that can increase growth for a moment, but diatoms and other organisms that compete with dinos need those trace elements as well.

Current microscope shows a mix of diatoms and dinos.

Should I increase silicate dosing to boost more diatoms like to 2 or 3 ppm daily?

 

[EnterName]

Pictures under white light would help to see if there are cyano. But another microscope sample would be even better.

As silicate dosing is not always effective I can recommend water changes, manual removal, and nutrient reduction. Keep taking samples until cyano and dinoflagellates are no longer part of what you find on the substrate.

Yes water changes introduce trace elements that can increase growth for a moment, but diatoms and other organisms that compete with dinos need those trace elements as well.

Current microscope shows a mix of diatoms and dinos.

Should I increase silicate dosing to boost more diatoms like to 2 or 3 ppm daily?

If the diatoms just started to grow wait a bit (there are also SiO2/SiO4 test kits) but if it doesn't get more you can increase the dosed amount.

Many dinos can prey on diatoms so you will need a certain amount to smother the dinos if it is even effective at all.