Dinoflagellates on High Flow area ONLY

[samdinhkhuong]

Anyone experienced to have Dinoflagellates (brown strings with bubbles) on high flow area only? I've been consistently having Dinoflagellates on small rocks (mostly at the tip of the rocks) in high flow area. I blow it off and comes right back the next day. It doesn't spread; just on the same areas for over a month now.
It is quite backward from what I've read that Dinoflagellates typically exists on low flow area. I started to run an 18w UV sterilizer with 500gal/hr pump for about 1 week now but no changes.

64Gal bare bottom Display with 30gal sump, 100bls live rock.
Temp 79F
Salinity 35
PH 8.4 day high, PH 8.25 night low
Cal 460
Alk 9-9.3
Mag 1445
PO4 .12
NO3 14
I'm running Apex, Hanna and Salifert to confirm parameters results and they are very consistent.
I do 20% water change bi-weekly. Since Dinoflagellates existed i started to do 20% water change weakly; then my male clown fish started to get ich...then female and all other fish are fine. All corals are absolutely fine and healthy. I have mostly torch corals and sps. Anyone want to chime in on this weird problem? HAPPY reefing!

 

[EnterName]

I think photos under white/neutral light might help. A microscope image would be even better of course, but I know not everyone has one at hand.

I commonly see diatoms attach to green hair algae in areas of extreme flow (directly on power heads) making it appear as if there are brown strings. This could also give a false impression of dinoflagellates.

It's hard to generalize things like "they love low nutrient levels" or "they prefer low flow" when talking about dinoflagellates as there are thousands of species that thrive in different environments.

Does the slime disappear in the evening when the lights go dim?

 

[samdinhkhuong]

I think photos under white/neutral light might help. A microscope image would be even better of course, but I know not everyone has one at hand.

I commonly see diatoms attach to green hair algae in areas of extreme flow (directly on power heads) making it appear as if there are brown strings. This could also give a false impression of dinoflagellates.

It's hard to generalize things like "they love low nutrient levels" or "they prefer low flow" when talking about dinoflagellates as there are thousands of species that thrive in different environments.

Does the slime disappear in the evening when the lights go dim?

Yes, the brown slime strings pretty much disappear about 4hrs after the lights went off. Then reappear a couple hrs after lights on in the morning. It gets worse when lights and maximum intensity. I know i dont have hair algae. I want to punctuate that the slime only on small rock surfaces; mostly on tips of the rocks. There's none on rocks with large flat surfaces. My tank i bare bottom and there's no slime on the bottom except right infront of my mp40 that sits close to the bottom. When I shut the mp40 off, then the slime is gone and doesn't appear the next day. The slime is very minor but when they get about 4 inches long within half a day, they break of and float around and get tangled on some of the corals

 

[Subsea]

Hi flow or low flow area is ervelavant. If you have dinoflagellets, then its spores are in the water column and you should consider uv sterilizer.

With respect to the rock that it forms on, consider sucking if off the rock instead of blowing spores into water column. Also, dip a tooth brush into peroxide and scrub the surface on rock that was covered in Dinoflagellets.

 

[Sam7]

I'd still like to see a full tank shot of your tank.....I like seeing others tanks

 

[samdinhkhuong]

I'd still like to see a full tank shot of your tank.....I like seeing others tanks

I circled in red of the top of the rock tip where's the most dino. It's hard to see on the full view of the tank. The other picture is a 12 times zoom with my phone on the glass. The affected areas are usually only 1-2inch. Well I dont have much exposed rocks anyways. The dino issue is very minor. It's just annoying because im used to a super clean system .

 

[slingfox]

I circled in red of the top of the rock tip where's the most dino. It's hard to see on the full view of the tank. The other picture is a 12 times zoom with my phone on the glass. The affected areas are usually only 1-2inch. Well I dont have much exposed rocks anyways. The dino issue is very minor. It's just annoying because im used to a super clean system .

It is possible Dino’s lie to grow in the circled area not because it has high flow but because it is a barren area higher in the tank and therefore closer to the lights. Things you can try include dosing silicates to tip the scales to diatoms who can out compete the Dino’s and/or dosing a purple bacteria such as contained in MicrobeLift Special Blend (sold widely including at Petco).

 

[Sam7]

I circled in red of the top of the rock tip where's the most dino. It's hard to see on the full view of the tank. The other picture is a 12 times zoom with my phone on the glass. The affected areas are usually only 1-2inch. Well I dont have much exposed rocks anyways. The dino issue is very minor. It's just annoying because im used to a super clean system .

could be cyano hard to tell...just keep vaccum it off with a hose. It will eventually clear....rest of your tank looks very nice. Is that the only spot? Also i wouldnt do water changes as often as you decribe unless your testing dictates you need to

 

[samdinhkhuong]

Hi flow or low flow area is ervelavant. If you have dinoflagellets, then its spores are in the water column and you should consider uv sterilizer.

With respect to the rock that it forms on, consider sucking if off the rock instead of blowing spores into water column. Also, dip a tooth brush into peroxide and scrub the surface on rock that was covered in Dinoflagellets.

I'm currently running a 18w UV sterilizer for a few couple weeks now. But it's doesn't seem to get rid of it. I guess I'll be patient. It's not bad at all since it's only on a few small areas that are exposed. I was considering the peroxide but i have tons of corals in the tank that I'm hesitate to use chemical. I'll wait and see what the UV will do

 

[samdinhkhuong]

It is possible Dino’s lie to grow in the circled area not because it has high flow but because it is a barren area higher in the tank and therefore closer to the lights. Things you can try include dosing silicates to tip the scales to diatoms who can out compete the Dino’s and/or dosing a purple bacteria such as contained in MicrobeLift Special Blend (sold widely including at Petco).

Great idea! I'll try to grab some MicrobLift this weekend. Thanks for the suggestion. Cheers!

 

[slingfox]

Great idea! I'll try to grab some MicrobLift this weekend. Thanks for the suggestion. Cheers!

You could turn off all flow and use a pipette to spray some of the Microbe lift to the specific problem areas.

 

[George03]

You have a good UV and flow numbers, but I am certain that your return flow cycle is being bypassed. If you can figure out how to ensure you have UV treated flow in the return, or some other way to ensure All of what is coming back out the return has been UV treated. So If you can split the UV output with one branch directly to return, the problem will be solved.

I have a 25 nano with comparable UV rates, but split up into 2 units, one in the sump and a second one in the return tube.