Dinoflagellate Problem? Could Ulva lactuca be the Answer?

[Woody1911a1]

sorry guys no before and after pics :(

just put 1/2 of it in my in-tank media basket w/ a grow light on the outside . left the rest floating in in the mesh bag .

parameters good and i do weekly water changes and the next day my sand is brown again .

hoping someone with more experience will confirm .

also a big shout out to Algae Barn . excellent customer service .

 

[Scrubber_steve]

i do weekly water changes and the next day my sand is brown again .

This would suggest that your water changes are a problem.

Your Lactuca would have been stressed from its journey & if so it would have exuded a reasonable amount of DOC along with alleochemicals when put in your system.
Did you also add to your system the water that the algae was shipped in?

 

[Woody1911a1]

This would suggest that your water changes are a problem.

Your Lactuca would have been stressed from its journey & if so it would have exuded a reasonable amount of DOC along with alleochemicals when put in your system.
Did you also add to your system the water that the algae was shipped in?

my water change is 2 gals (remember that this is a 13.5 gal ) of zero tds 5 stage rodi mixed to 1.025 using red sea coral pro salt .

 

[Scrubber_steve]

my water change is 2 gals (remember that this is a 13.5 gal ) of zero tds 5 stage rodi mixed to 1.025 using red sea coral pro salt .

well, if you have diatoms, & it shows up after a water change, this usually indicates silicate is a problem.

 

[Woody1911a1]

ok , but i thought this thread was about dinoflagellates ?

 

[Scrubber_steve]

ok , but i thought this thread was about dinoflagellates ?

do you have dinoflagellates? or diatoms?
The paper noted both are affected by Lactuca in any case, & most likely other macro algae too.

 

[Cory]

Dinoflagellets:

 

[Cory]

Diatom algae:

 

[Scrubber_steve]

Dinoflagellets:

I'm not sure those are examples of dinoflagellets cory. dinoflagellets are unicellular, phytoplankton. Typically smaller than diatoms

 

[Cory]

I'm not sure those are examples of dinoflagellets cory. dinoflagellets are unicellular, phytoplankton. Typically smaller than diatoms

The first two i believe are dinos. The second two look like diatoms. Its impossible to say what they are without a microscope of course, but isn't the general view that dinos look stringy and diatoms dont?

 

[Scrubber_steve]

The first two i believe are dinos. The second two look like diatoms. Its impossible to say what they are without a microscope of course, but isn't the general view that dinos look stringy and diatoms dont?

those first two look like macro to me? But I've never had the problem & don't really know all the various forms dinoflags may take?

 

[B-ridge]

What I have is definitely the 2nd pic that would be diatom algae.
My ulva will/should be here tomorrow from algae barn. I started to only get the golf ball size but I went ahead and ordered the tennis ball size thinking the softball size would be to much.
My options are:
1-just place ulva in 75 gallon fuge and see if it grows. Which I doubt it will. I can’t even keep chaeto alive.
2-take half the ulva and place in fuge. Once again hoping it grows. Take the other half and chop it up and place in fresh saltwater/fresh rodi water. Let it sit for a few hours then dump the water into main tank and place the chopped up ulva in fuge
3-just chop up the whole thing and place in fresh saltwater/freshwater. Leave it overnight and then dump water into main display.
Any thoughts?

 

[Cory]

those first two look like macro to me? But I've never had the problem & don't really know all the various forms dinoflags may take?

The slimy bubbly stringy stuff is generally consideree dinos. Thats what ive got. Most threads ive seen show a pic similar to those.

 

[Cory]

What I have is definitely the 2nd pic that would be diatom algae.
My ulva will/should be here tomorrow from algae barn. I started to only get the golf ball size but I went ahead and ordered the tennis ball size thinking the softball size would be to much.
My options are:
1-just place ulva in 75 gallon fuge and see if it grows. Which I doubt it will. I can’t even keep chaeto alive.
2-take half the ulva and place in fuge. Once again hoping it grows. Take the other half and chop it up and place in fresh saltwater/fresh rodi water. Let it sit for a few hours then dump the water into main tank and place the chopped up ulva in fuge
3-just chop up the whole thing and place in fresh saltwater/freshwater. Leave it overnight and then dump water into main display.
Any thoughts?

If youve got diatoms generally they are eliminated easily by using pure water for your top off. Its the silicates they are using. That said id put the ulva in the fuge with some red leds.

 

[Scrubber_steve]

What I have is definitely the 2nd pic that would be diatom algae.
My ulva will/should be here tomorrow from algae barn. I started to only get the golf ball size but I went ahead and ordered the tennis ball size thinking the softball size would be to much.
My options are:
1-just place ulva in 75 gallon fuge and see if it grows. Which I doubt it will. I can’t even keep chaeto alive.
2-take half the ulva and place in fuge. Once again hoping it grows. Take the other half and chop it up and place in fresh saltwater/fresh rodi water. Let it sit for a few hours then dump the water into main tank and place the chopped up ulva in fuge
3-just chop up the whole thing and place in fresh saltwater/freshwater. Leave it overnight and then dump water into main display.
Any thoughts?

ItsAName couldn't grow chaeto but had no problem with the ulva L.

 

[bluewill]

IMO Photo's of what Dino's look like will vary on when Photo is taken during the day . In my case and other examples Ive seen , early morning the outbreak appears to start as what looks like Diatoms , until the Dinoflagellates start clumping together , to form the telltale Strings , sometimes associated with oxygen bubbles withing the strings.After lights out the the Strings subside. Based on what Ive read after lights out the Dino's can no no longer photosynthesize so the move into Hetotrophic mode and move into the water column to feed.I see this every day in my system.

 

[B-ridge]

@Cory-I am using pure water. I think my issue is low po4. I fight to get it above 0. Plus with nitrates at 5 doesn’t help.

 

[Cory]

@Cory-I am using pure water. I think my issue is low po4. I fight to get it above 0. Plus with nitrates at 5 doesn’t help.

Yes that sounds like dinoflagelets. My situation is the same low or no po4 and like 80 ppm no3.

 

[B-ridge]

So now I wonder if the ulva is actually gonna make any difference with po4 being so low as well as nitrate.

 

[TexasTodd]

I wonder if you're running carbon if it will pull out what you want to stay in the water from the Ulva?