Dinoflagellates my experience......h2o2 reefing tool!!!!!

[Mmsetta]

Dino's are not fun. I did beat them but lost a yellow tang, sunk shrimp and a ton of snails. I had a smaller tank, substrate was not good (only about 3" deep). In my new tank I just have a light coating for looks and I sift it. Either supper deep and don't touch it or very light and sift I have found is the way to go. I was in the danger zone with my old tank. I shifted some rocks around and released the Dino beast. To beat them I did the following - not sure what part worked. I went dark for 72 hours. Then- best advice I ever received- skipped water changes for about two months. I had been doing massive water changes, siphoning, using a youth brush on rocks etc. it was when I skipped water changes and kept my hands out of the tank that the Dino's finally went away. It took a long time, but once they decided to die off they were quickly gone.

 

[Bokevince]

Hello,
after 1 week of treatment of peroxide, no effect on my algae, so maybe it's not dino???

Any idea of what algae is it??? Cyano or diatom or else???

Thanks

 

[Bokevince]

Dino's are not fun. I did beat them but lost a yellow tang, sunk shrimp and a ton of snails. I had a smaller tank, substrate was not good (only about 3" deep). In my new tank I just have a light coating for looks and I sift it. Either supper deep and don't touch it or very light and sift I have found is the way to go. I was in the danger zone with my old tank. I shifted some rocks around and released the Dino beast. To beat them I did the following - not sure what part worked. I went dark for 72 hours. Then- best advice I ever received- skipped water changes for about two months. I had been doing massive water changes, siphoning, using a youth brush on rocks etc. it was when I skipped water changes and kept my hands out of the tank that the Dino's finally went away. It took a long time, but once they decided to die off they were quickly gone.

Hi Mmsetta, what do you call a light coating? I have about 2 inches (4-5 cm), too much???
I think my algae problem came after adding the sand... now everything is covered (sand and rocks), it goes with a pump on it but the next day, it has come back everywhere with lights on... dang it!!!

 

[Fish_BowLisha]

Looks like diatoms. How deep is your sand bed?

 

[Fish_BowLisha]

Mine was only about an inch deep and it had a similar issue. I tried reducing the light, feeding less, less water changes etc., however, it seemed that the addition of new sand (only two cups per week spread out in about 1/4" layers is doing the trick.) Sounds like the sand bed was accumulating detritus like mine. I'm using a turkey baster to disturb the upper 1/2" now. DO NOT do too much at once though as this will cause other problems. It's a slow process.

 

[Bokevince]

Looks like diatoms. How deep is your sand bed?

Hi Fish Bowlisha!
My sand bed is from 1 inch to 2 inches, depending on the place!

 

[Bokevince]

My tank is young (8 months) and I put the sand 1 month ago, then this algaes came...

 

[Fish_BowLisha]

That's pretty normal. The sand acts as a biological filter hosting bacterial populations. These bacteria have different ranges of the sand bed that they live in. If we cover up the ones who use oxygen then they die. When they die they become nutrients in our water. These nutrients allow the algae to reproduce at a faster rate because they have more food.

When adding new sand it's best to add a thin layer and wait and then repeat until you have your desired depth. This way the bacterial balance is less disturbed. At least this is my understanding.

Also adding too many fish at once can do the same...

 

[Fish_BowLisha]

I have read that sand beds should not be between 2-4". Either a shallow sand bed, up to 2", with routine maintenance; or a deep sand bed, 4+", but don't disturb below the top one inch. There are a lot of great articles on the web... Saltwater corner, advanced aquarist, wet web media to name a few. Check those out and read the pros and cons.

I decided on the 2" bed for now lol. I like sand sifting gobies and other "disturbers" of the substrate too much:-)

 

[Bokevince]

Ok so I just wait and do nothing or better remove part of the sand and start again with thin layers???
Thanks

 

[Fish_BowLisha]

Good question...

 

[Bokevince]

I have read that sand beds should not be between 2-4". Either a shallow sand bed, up to 2", with routine maintenance; or a deep sand bed, 4+", but don't disturb below the top one inch. There are a lot of great articles on the web... Saltwater corner, advanced aquarist, wet web media to name a few. Check those out and read the pros and cons.

I decided on the 2" bed for now lol. I like sand sifting gobies and other "disturbers" of the substrate too much:)

I think i have a shallow sand bed but maybe a little too much, maybe I ll remove some this we in order to have only one inch everywhere.
Thanks

 

[Fish_BowLisha]

I guess it depends on the life in the sand. Can you see that worms have made their way from the first layer to the second? If they have then chances are you would be removing good guys and you don't want to do that.

 

[Bokevince]

I guess it depends on the life in the sand. Can you see that worms have made their way from the first layer to the second? If they have then chances are you would be removing good guys and you don't want to do that.

Hum, I ll check this... the fact is I don t have a lot of life in my sand bed (i have seen fireworms but not a lot...).
I ll let it like this for now, between 1-2 inches should be good!
Thanks

 

[Fish_BowLisha]

Hopefully bristle worms and not fire worms:-)

 

[Fish_BowLisha]

Free reading while you wait:-)

Click on the upper right hand corner...Happy Reefing;-)

 

[Bokevince]

Hopefully bristle worms and not fire worms:)

Yes bristle worms, sorry for my bad french traduction!!!
I ll chek your website!
thanks

 

[Breakthecycle2]

Thats not diatoms. As I said, that is 100% cyano.

 

[dib]

OK made it to about page 43 then figured what the heck....lets give it a shot! I'm pretty sure I have every species of algea anyway! lol I may even have the best "ugly tank" .....kind of embarrassed :/ but here are some pics when the lights first come on in the morning. I never noticed or thought about it until I read this thread about a somebody having a midday bloom, I get that too! Because what I see later in the day is not there now! I will see what the tank looks like in the middle of the day.

 

[Fish_BowLisha]

Thats not diatoms. As I said, that is 100% cyano.

Maybe Cyano and diatoms... Peroxide didn't rid the bloom...diatoms don't care about peroxide.