Dinoflagellates – Are You Tired Of Battling Altogether?

[Pivitol]

I have a dino outbreak, from what I have seen and read it appears to be ostreopsis covering my rock. I started the tank in Feb with dry rock I had cycling since Dec of last year a mix of Fiji and Reef Saver, both No3 and Po4 are at zero. I am running a Bio pellet reactor and a carbon/gfo reactor. How can I safely get these offline without grenading my tank?

 

[savetheocean]

Someone suggested me PhosGuard and I used it. It worked in days.

 

[reeferfoxx]

I have a dino outbreak, from what I have seen and read it appears to be ostreopsis covering my rock. I started the tank in Feb with dry rock I had cycling since Dec of last year a mix of Fiji and Reef Saver, both No3 and Po4 are at zero. I am running a Bio pellet reactor and a carbon/gfo reactor. How can I safely get these offline without grenading my tank?

It doesn't get much worse than dino. You can safely remove all of those things.

Someone suggested me PhosGuard and I used it. It worked in days.

Sounds like diatoms.

 

[sfin52]

I would continue to run activated carbon. Just in case you have the kind that release toxins. Also read page one.

 

[Pivitol]

It doesn't get much worse than dino. You can safely remove all of those things.
Can i do it immediately or is it something that has to be done over time? I also have a bag of MarinePure MP2C-C in my sump do i need to remove that as well? I have a 220gal system with about 120lbs of rock.

 

[reeferfoxx]

If you want to be on the safe side, remove 50% of bio-pellets then the other 50% a week from now. I guess I don't really understand what the concern would be as you have plenty of bacteria on the rocks and we're only removing the bacteria that removes nitrates. How many fish do you have?

 

[Pivitol]

3 blue green chromis, yellow tang, yellow eye cole, and a bangi.

 

[reeferfoxx]

3 blue green chromis, yellow tang, yellow eye cole, and a bangi.

This bio-load shouldn't prompt anyone to starve the system of nutrients. The worst thing that could happen with removing all denitrate and po4 media is allowing the system to build up nutrients which is what this thread is all about. So, again, I think you are safe to remove those things without issue as you'll most likely be dosing po4 and no3 to help remove dinos.

In addition to this, Amazzon sells a $10 microscope to help with identifying your specie of dino.

 

[Pivitol]

This bio-load shouldn't prompt anyone to starve the system of nutrients. The worst thing that could happen with removing all denitrate and po4 media is allowing the system to build up nutrients which is what this thread is all about. So, again, I think you are safe to remove those things without issue as you'll most likely be dosing po4 and no3 to help remove dinos.

In addition to this, Amazzon sells a $10 microscope to help with identifying your specie of dino.

Thanks i'm shutting it down now. Just wondering if it something i need to keep offline permanently or until this goes away? As far as the microscope i bought that off of Amazon and was what brought me to this conclusion but as far as video or pics my cell phone is a point of sale.

 

[rtparty]

I have a dino outbreak, from what I have seen and read it appears to be ostreopsis covering my rock. I started the tank in Feb with dry rock I had cycling since Dec of last year a mix of Fiji and Reef Saver, both No3 and Po4 are at zero. I am running a Bio pellet reactor and a carbon/gfo reactor. How can I safely get these offline without grenading my tank?

Remove them all except carbon. You will more than likely never put them back online either. You need nutrients.

Someone suggested me PhosGuard and I used it. It worked in days.

A phosphate remover will not cure dinos. It will usually only make them worse

 

[reeferfoxx]

As far as the microscope i bought that off of Amazon and was what brought me to this conclusion but as far as video or pics my cell phone is a point of sale.

LOL! I know what you mean. Sometimes just the shape and movement are all we need to ID the specie. So quality isn't a huge deal.

Shutting these things down are a permanent solution for now. After treatment is over if PO4 or NO3 climbs to high numbers then you can SLOWLY start adding these types of filters. But you need to be testing those parameters before taking action. At this point in the tanks life, that may take a year or longer for you to be concerned.

 

[reeferfoxx]

Remove them all except carbon. You will more than likely never put them back online either. You need nutrients.

I agree with this as well. A well established reef system with a good amount of corals can consume the nutrients before they become problematic. Stony coral as well as LPS and some softies consume no3 and po4 to help with zoox and skeletal growth. So often times creating systems with huge nutrient exports only reduce coral growth and coloration.

 

[sfin52]

We are all told no3 and po4 are bad you don't want them. What they should say is the ppm you don't want them over. Too little is bad too high is bad.

 

[sfin52]

Yeah I am trying to hard to get a good price of algae to use but will post info on it when I finally find a price I can use. Thanks

Any updates

 

[Denisk]

Has anyone had Dino’s get even worse from dosing phosphate. I really was trying to get rid of the Dino’s for good and someone mentioned to me to start dosing phosphates. I was keeping them at .05.

As a result my sps once got great growth and the color was getting better but then once again the Dino’s exploded. But this time it was stringy and off coming off the tips on the sps. The sand bed is covered too and before it was like a light brown, now it almost dark brown/black. I feel like it’s even worse. Wanted to know if anyone else has had this happen?

 

[THX1138CY]

I am battling a Dino outbreak right now with phos at 0.02 ppb, Nitrates 0 Nitrite 0 Ammonia 0. But I am pretty sure it is due to starting Vibrant dosing.

 

[rtparty]

Has anyone had Dino’s get even worse from dosing phosphate. I really was trying to get rid of the Dino’s for good and someone mentioned to me to start dosing phosphates. I was keeping them at .05.

As a result my sps once got great growth and the color was getting better but then once again the Dino’s exploded. But this time it was stringy and off coming off the tips on the sps. The sand bed is covered too and before it was like a light brown, now it almost dark brown/black. I feel like it’s even worse. Wanted to know if anyone else has had this happen?

Do you know what type of dinos you have?

I have Ostreopsis and initially they went away when I started dosing N and P. After a week or so they came back with a vengeance. A UV sterilizer stopped them in their tracks though and my tank is 95% clear now

 

[Denisk]

Do you know what type of dinos you have?

I have Ostreopsis and initially they went away when I started dosing N and P. After a week or so they came back with a vengeance. A UV sterilizer stopped them in their tracks though and my tank is 95% clear now

So did you just stop dosing n and p? I may try a uv sterilizer.

 

[rtparty]

So did you just stop dosing n and p? I may try a uv sterilizer.

Nope since the beneficial algae and bacteria still need it. It was low N and P that got me into this problem

 

[reeferfoxx]

@taricha @mcarroll So, lately the tank has been progressing well. No N and P dosing, just letting nutrients slowly and naturally build up. In this time I saw a huge decrease in GHA and Coolia. However, I'm seeing more and more spots of cyano(i'll take this as progress) and in addition a few small brown spots and a brown film on the glass. I decided to scrape the glass to put under the scope. What I saw was interesting. The brown stuff is dinos but I'm not sure what kind or if it's just offspring from the bigger brothers. To confirm this I took a little patch of what GHA I have left to compare to. What I'm seeing is tiny dinos maybe 1/50th the size of Coolia or smaller. Unfortunately, they are too small for me to get a picture. But it looks like little specs zooming around. Some spinning and some doing the spin and burst and some just swimming straight. Any thoughts?