Dinoflagellates – Are You Tired Of Battling Altogether?
- Thread starter mcarroll
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The toxin part can be weird.
Some people get highly toxic outbreaks. I never did (in my main tank) despite having the same kinds that are toxic for many others.
Published papers find that even the same species of ostreopsis can be toxic in one culture and not in another due to effects of nutrients and bacterial associates.
Some people get highly toxic outbreaks. I never did (in my main tank) despite having the same kinds that are toxic for many others.
Published papers find that even the same species of ostreopsis can be toxic in one culture and not in another due to effects of nutrients and bacterial associates.
AbjectMaelstroM
Valuable Member
So this is a bit of a pre-emptive post by a new reefer with a young tank.
My tank (120g with a 40B sump) has been set up for roughly 4 months now, using roughly 100lb of Marco dryrock which was pre cycled in a tote for about 2 months. There is also about a 2inch sandbed of reeflakes. Only 2 clowns and some zoas in it right now, CUC was being quarantined and will be going in this week.
So the whole reason for my post is, in the last several weeks, actually almost a month now, my phosphates (and to a lesser degree Nitrates) have been going.... Somewhere. For example, PO4 has been in the 0.07 range and NO3 was in the 5ppm range since the tank cycled. About the same time I saw the nutrient drop (BTW I'm not running anything to remove nutrients other than the Skimmer), my rocks, sand and glass started to turn greenish/brown... Which I assume is the ugly stage. My thought was that whatever the brown/green stuff is (diatoms?) is taking up nutrients. Being afraid that f getting dinos I started dosing PO4 and NO3 to bring them back up to original levels. I pretty much had to dose PO4 on the daily basis as it would be undetectibe within 12 hrs, NO3 would hold for several days. Downside, all the extra nutrient I was dosing, I feel went directly to fueling the ugly stage. Rocks and sand were covered. Median cup floss was green by morning and was replaced, Skimmer looked like it was filled with kale smoothie that smelled like the swamp.
Anyway, I guess the long and short of it is, if I don't continue dosing PO4 and NO3, are dinos next on my playlist? Or are nutrients still there but undetectibe from algea uptake?
Thoughts on how to proceed? I've asked in another thread and was advised to stop dosing nutrients.... But in deathly afraid of going into dinos if I do, so I thought I'd go to the epicenter of dinos and ask here...
Cheers! And sorry for the long thread.
PS. Also, I started using vibrant last week, only one dose thus far.
My tank (120g with a 40B sump) has been set up for roughly 4 months now, using roughly 100lb of Marco dryrock which was pre cycled in a tote for about 2 months. There is also about a 2inch sandbed of reeflakes. Only 2 clowns and some zoas in it right now, CUC was being quarantined and will be going in this week.
So the whole reason for my post is, in the last several weeks, actually almost a month now, my phosphates (and to a lesser degree Nitrates) have been going.... Somewhere. For example, PO4 has been in the 0.07 range and NO3 was in the 5ppm range since the tank cycled. About the same time I saw the nutrient drop (BTW I'm not running anything to remove nutrients other than the Skimmer), my rocks, sand and glass started to turn greenish/brown... Which I assume is the ugly stage. My thought was that whatever the brown/green stuff is (diatoms?) is taking up nutrients. Being afraid that f getting dinos I started dosing PO4 and NO3 to bring them back up to original levels. I pretty much had to dose PO4 on the daily basis as it would be undetectibe within 12 hrs, NO3 would hold for several days. Downside, all the extra nutrient I was dosing, I feel went directly to fueling the ugly stage. Rocks and sand were covered. Median cup floss was green by morning and was replaced, Skimmer looked like it was filled with kale smoothie that smelled like the swamp.
Anyway, I guess the long and short of it is, if I don't continue dosing PO4 and NO3, are dinos next on my playlist? Or are nutrients still there but undetectibe from algea uptake?
Thoughts on how to proceed? I've asked in another thread and was advised to stop dosing nutrients.... But in deathly afraid of going into dinos if I do, so I thought I'd go to the epicenter of dinos and ask here...
Cheers! And sorry for the long thread.
PS. Also, I started using vibrant last week, only one dose thus far.
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Here's my general philosophy on setting up a system. You can figure out how much of this applies or can apply to you.
Early on in a system, I'd focus on adding what you want, not so much on keeping out everything undesirable.
Add good, quality live rock - see aquabiomics article on good live rock keeping away the "uglies", macroalgae with plenty of light and flow, add fish and clean up crew (with herbivores), corals etc.
If you have a diverse system with a lot of good life in it, then many things that you want to keep out will not find a foothold anyway, and many others will grow and then get consumed as the natural foods of what you have in the system. If you have a good amount of life in your system, and you feed it well then nutrient starvation leading to imbalances and outbreaks are usually not going to be an issue.
AbjectMaelstroM
Valuable Member
In the short-term, would you suggest continue dosing PO4/NO3 until feeding catches up?
I just transfered 3 wrasses (fairy, melanarus, flasher) and a Tomini Tang from QT to the DT. Also have a diamond goby and firefish that are in the obsession stage and should be ready in a week or two. So the feeding/bioload will increase.
I will look into liverock, but it'll have to be QT'd like everything else as I don't want to bring in fish disease (everything that's in the DT has gone through full QT process of 6+ weeks).
I just transfered 3 wrasses (fairy, melanarus, flasher) and a Tomini Tang from QT to the DT. Also have a diamond goby and firefish that are in the obsession stage and should be ready in a week or two. So the feeding/bioload will increase.
I will look into liverock, but it'll have to be QT'd like everything else as I don't want to bring in fish disease (everything that's in the DT has gone through full QT process of 6+ weeks).
AbjectMaelstroM
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Sounds good, I'll keep it going. Might just have to set up a doser instead of onece a day dump.
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It won't hurt.
With those fish in the tank, I think your feeding is a fine nutrient input for a tank that doesn't have a dino problem.
Michael Gray
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I have coolia. Anybody know the way to defeat these guys. Po4 now .1 and no3 is about 12ppm. I been using 10 micron sock in tank. Blasting sand 2 times a day. I have a uv in sump. I might have to move it to pump straight from display temporarly. I'm waiting on parts.
Michael Gray
Valuable Member
Sand. Not much on rocks or glass. It's mostly sand.
Michael Gray
Valuable Member
Just hooked up a second uv. Jebeo 55w in display and kept my 57w aqua uv in sump. Hoping to blast sand and rocks like 3 times a day and hoping this jebeo with sicce 2.0 on lowest setting. Kills these dang buggers. So ghetto. Look at this temp setup
Michael Gray
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Meaning uv is the way to go or no?Most others with coolia formed on sand too. Seems most typical for them. UV is certainly not graceful
Michael Gray
Valuable Member
Oh ya this ghetto setup is sketch. Lol. One shake away from draining water on hardwoods. But if I gotta run this for 1 week. So be it. Well see if adding uv in display makes a difference today
Dude, you gotta batten that down a little bit. Looks like a dust mite could knock that over. I really appreciate you sharing the photo, but is it really as precarious as it looks?
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