Dinoflagellates – Are You Tired Of Battling Altogether?

[taricha]

Nematodes are a good thing correct? The last time I looked under the scope I had some mixed with the Dino.

nematodes really don't seem to care. I find them in the middle of dino mats and the foulest skimmate sludge you can imagine. Where little else is, there be nematodes.

Any suggestions on the best CUC, I don't want to put anything in the tank that would be harmed by the Dino.

"CUC" is too vague for our purposes - what are you going for? keeping green algae in check? or just general biodiversity to compete with and graze on occasional dino cell?
(honestly "CUC" is too vague for everyone's purposes. People buying "CUC" are thinking "herbivores" and people selling "CUC" are giving you a lot of scavengers and opportunists - but that's another story.)

 

[TRNANCE]

nematodes really don't seem to care. I find them in the middle of dino mats and the foulest skimmate sludge you can imagine. Where little else is, there be nematodes.


"CUC" is too vague for our purposes - what are you going for? keeping green algae in check? or just general biodiversity to compete with and graze on occasional dino cell?
(honestly "CUC" is too vague for everyone's purposes. People buying "CUC" are thinking "herbivores" and people selling "CUC" are giving you a lot of scavengers and opportunists - but that's another story.)

Yes I am trying to get some biodiversity and if there is a CUC that will kill some Dino then I would like to know what it is I got some flourish to increase my phosphates so currently I am at 5 on nitrates and o.16 on phosphate Which I may have overshot a bit, also added cheato on the sand bed per your suggestion, picked up a few pieces of live rock at my LFS and even got some water from a established tank he had. I am kinda throwing everything I have read in this thread at it.

 

[kecked]

So I thought I figured out how much P I needed. It went up to 0.31ppm. My N is still around 5ppm. Should I carbon dose once and add a little N to make up for the lost N from consuming the P.

Well I did this....add a little ethanol. 2ml in 75g. Total bacterial bloom. It cleared but wow. Yea don’t do what I did. Do not go back to carbon dosing.

My UV sterilizer should be here today. So I draw water from main display. Do I dump that in overflow or back in tank? It’s a 55w unit so I expect I expect it will turn my tank over couple times a day. I’m hoping by overfilling it will clear all the free swimmers in a night or two. Then I just need to keep blowing it off the rocks and hope I’m cured. Hopefully once I tip the scale, the bacterial on the rocks will repopulate and stay that way.

Once I see no or few dinos should I add a bottle or two of new bacteria with the uv off?

Should I then turn the uv off and leave it off? Maybe just run at night?

 

[Bob Lauson]

If you are drawing water from the display tank via a pump dedicated to the UV sterilizer then you have to return that flow to the display tank. If you are using you display tank return pump to partially flow through the sterilizer then it really doesn't matter if you go back to the display tank or into the overflow. It is important you get the right flow through the sterilizer (slow enough) to make sure you kill the dinos that go through it.

I run my UV 24/7.

 

[kecked]

How slow is slow? I will be getting the unit today. Hopefully they have English instructions but it’s for a pond so.... I have a 220g/hour pump for it. I can put a flow diverted on it to slow it down. Is there something relative like th flow should look like a water fountain or half as fast as a faucet or such to compare too? Since it’s 55w on 65 gal tank it would really be a killing machine. I’m not messing around.
If this doesn’t work I’m going hydrogen peroxide. The increased n and p did help but isn’t tipping the scales. I’m hoping this will. Thank god this stuff leaves the rocks at night or this would never work.

 

[reeferfoxx]

How slow is slow? I will be getting the unit today. Hopefully they have English instructions but it’s for a pond so.... I have a 220g/hour pump for it. I can put a flow diverted on it to slow it down. Is there something relative like th flow should look like a water fountain or half as fast as a faucet or such to compare too? Since it’s 55w on 65 gal tank it would really be a killing machine. I’m not messing around.
If this doesn’t work I’m going hydrogen peroxide. The increased n and p did help but isn’t tipping the scales. I’m hoping this will. Thank god this stuff leaves the rocks at night or this would never work.

N and P needs to be stable. In your case it never has appeared that way. It took me 1 month of stable N and P dosing without exceeding 0.15 to see my first round of Dino's gone. That was before adding a UV.

 

[lbacha]

Is there a phosphate dosing calculator? I just got some seachem flourish phosphorus.

I've been using this lately and it has been pretty accurate for KNO3 and KH2PO4 dosing

http://rotalabutterfly.com/nutrient-calculator.php

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I've been using this lately and it has been pretty accurate for KNO3 and KH2PO4 dosing

http://rotalabutterfly.com/nutrient-calculator.php

Nice. I hadn't seen a calculator with as many different DIY choices before.

It still lacks some I'd like to see (sodium nitrate, and various sodium phosphates), but its a step int he right directions.

 

[lbacha]

Nice. I hadn't seen a calculator with as many different DIY choices before. [emoji4]

It still lacks some I'd like to see (sodium nitrate, and various sodium phosphates), but its a step int he right directions.

It's designed for freshwater planted tanks. I think it's a beta so maybe I will send them a message and tell them that the reef community would be interested In something like this

I found it on Green Leaf Aquatics website which is where I got my Dual stage CO2 regulator from as well as my fertilizers for my high tech planted tank

 

[Bob Lauson]

How slow is slow? I will be getting the unit today. Hopefully they have English instructions but it’s for a pond so.... I have a 220g/hour pump for it. I can put a flow diverted on it to slow it down. Is there something relative like th flow should look like a water fountain or half as fast as a faucet or such to compare too? Since it’s 55w on 65 gal tank it would really be a killing machine. I’m not messing around.
If this doesn’t work I’m going hydrogen peroxide. The increased n and p did help but isn’t tipping the scales. I’m hoping this will. Thank god this stuff leaves the rocks at night or this would never work.

On my 40w UV Steilizer I had a 500 gph rated pump and needed around 180 gph through the sterilizer. So I ran the pump directly through the sterilizer and measured the flow through the setup. It was too high. I then capped off the output from the sterilizer with a small (1/8”) hole drilled in the cap
and measured the new flow. It was too low. I started gradually drilling out the hole size until I got the flow I wanted. I did not want to use a diverted valve since it added more plumbing

 

[janos]

Hi to all. Anybody know what is the size of the dino . By micron Thank you

 

[Waterbourn]

I'm still battling. But phosphate and nitrates have been raised for almost a month now. Now I am have a lot of this stuff shown in my pics. Trying to figure out if hair algae or something else. It is covering my rocks in places and is brown. It also on glass and sand. What do I do if not dinos. My tank looks just awful!!

 

[Beardo]

Hi to all. Anybody know what is the size of the dino . By micron Thank you

There is a pretty wide size variance depending on species. Do you know what type you are dealing with?

 

[kecked]

N and P needs to be stable. In your case it never has appeared that way. It took me 1 month of stable N and P dosing without exceeding 0.15 to see my first round of Dino's gone. That was before adding a UV.

Yes you are right. I’m just impatient. I did add a doser for alk and calcium. They are stable now.
N is stable 5-10ppm. P moves around. Between .1 and .3 changes required dose nearly daily. If I have a Dino bloom it drops. Reeferfoxx don’t get mad at me. I’m human. I cry when I see my tank. So sad.

The uv looks like a possibility and so I try it. I am thankful for everything you’ve shared. Just frustrated.

Hey randy I’m using calcium nitrate to dose nitrate. Same idea as kalk.

 

[HomeSlizzice]

Alright, I took some photos through the little $15 amazon microscope. Can y’all identify the type of Dino’s I have?

P.S. here is a link to the Video I took on YouTube:

 

[revhtree]

Someone rescue me.....

I’m on the verge of tearing it all down, drying it out and setting up a nano!

 

[taricha]

Yes I am trying to get some biodiversity and if there is a CUC that will kill some Dino then I would like to know what it is

hmm... lots of tiny inverts you can't buy - ciliates, isopods, tanaid shrimp, all generally live rock hitchhikers. Ones you can buy - grazers like amphipods and snails that aren't picky. But if the cell numbers are still significant and the bloom is toxic, these could all die.

...also added cheato on the sand bed per your suggestion, picked up a few pieces of live rock at my LFS and even got some water from a established tank he had. I am kinda throwing everything I have read in this thread at it.

Look forward to seeing how the chaeto blobs do for you vs your amphidinium.

Hi to all. Anybody know what is the size of the dino . By micron Thank you

The problem dinos that make up almost all the cases here are like 40-70 micron range. There are a couple of uncommon ones that are in the 10-20 micron range.

Alright, I took some photos through the little $15 amazon microscope. Can y’all identify the type of Dino’s I have?

Daaang. Prorocentrum. And that is the most healthy thick collection of pure proros that I think I've ever seen.
You'll need to siphon almost all of that accumulation out. It's no doubt a storehouse of toxins and all kinds of things that dinos need and use. (part of me has always wanted to figure out how to take a sample, lyse the cells - bleach? fresh water? acid? microwave? - and send the sample to Triton for element analysis)

I'm still battling. But phosphate and nitrates have been raised for almost a month now. Now I am have a lot of this stuff shown in my pics. Trying to figure out if hair algae or something else. It is covering my rocks in places and is brown.

It looks like filamentous algae. This is a positive sign. Scrape it off the glass, and once all signs of dinos are gone, slowly scale up herbivores to keep the algae suppressed, but never totally gone.

 

[HomeSlizzice]

Daaang. Prorocentrum. And that is the most healthy thick collection of pure proros that I think I've ever seen.
You'll need to siphon almost all of that accumulation out. It's no doubt a storehouse of toxins and all kinds of things that dinos need and use. (part of me has always wanted to figure out how to take a sample, lyse the cells - bleach? fresh water? acid? microwave? - and send the sample to Triton for element analysis)

So what's my course of action? As you can see... I need some help.

 

[Jolanta]

Hi guys. how are you? I hope you can help me, a friend of mine has dose strange thinks in his beautifull nano tank and I would like to help him identify it



what do you thing? Diatoms maybe?

 

[reeferfoxx]

Someone rescue me.....

I’m on the verge of tearing it all down, drying it out and setting up a nano!

Nooo! No nano! LOL

Let's get your dream tank back in order. Please let us help you. I see you pop in and then I dont see you for weeks. Let's get it done right.

Let's get the complete list of parameters. SG, Temp, N, P, Alk, Ca, Mg, and anything else you have for test kits lol.
Full run down of filtration, water volume, and live vs dry rock or both?
Also a list of things you have tried as well and any other anecdotal methods dumped into the tank? Also how long its been since last treatment. I remember your ID from earlier back.

Here is what I’m still dealing with!!

Take your time if you have to with the water tests. Need fresh numbers.