Dinos and Nutrient dosing

[LovinlifeinGuam]

My two cents is guessing that the system was started without live ocean rock...if so, I'd tend to feel that contributed to the issue.

They didn't necessarily "go away over time" because of something OP did, isn't it just as likely another variable--even as simple as time--caused remission?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I dosed consistently for a month and tested practically every day. The dosing made the Dino’s bloom more and were not getting better.

What levels were you getting when you dosed and then measured later? Dosing and not getting enough to spur competitors might be suboptimal.

You might try dosing silicate (water glass) to boost diatoms as a competitor to dinos. There's no significant risk to that since you can always stop dosing silicate.

 

[141918]

I would maintain the best as possible, 10 nitrate and 0.1 phosphate.

It’s entirely possible that dosing for that month boosted enough good algae unseen that it’s now the reason why my Dino’s are slowly going away. My rocks are practically squeaky clean except mowed down algae from the urchin and turbo snail.

I did get some silicate from bright well. I dosed for 2 weeks but didn’t notice any diatoms pop up. I would dose for 1ppm daily. None that could see anyways. It could also be helping in a way.

 

[ogbounceman]

following

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I would maintain the best as possible, 10 nitrate and 0.1 phosphate.

It’s entirely possible that dosing for that month boosted enough good algae unseen that it’s now the reason why my Dino’s are slowly going away. My rocks are practically squeaky clean except mowed down algae from the urchin and turbo snail.

I did get some silicate from bright well. I dosed for 2 weeks but didn’t notice any diatoms pop up. I would dose for 1ppm daily. None that could see anyways. It could also be helping in a way.

I don't know much about the Brightwell product. I generally recommend water glass, sodium silicate solution.

 

[reneeL]

HI all, thanks for reading.

During my last 5 month battle with Dinos, I've realized that dosing is only making them worse and they aren't going away.

For the last 2 weeks, I quit all dosing, except seachem remediation for supplemental bacteria.

Now, the Dinos seem to be slowly losing the battle. I can clearly see that they are slowly going away.

But what I wanted to ask was, can I buy some easy corals, like softies, so that they can aid in the nutrient absoption for the tank?

Will this help with the Dinos?

Tiger conchs, amphipods, will eat those Dinos.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Tiger conchs, amphipods, will eat those Dinos.

I’ve not heard of pods eating dinos. Have you observed that yourself?

 

[141918]

I’ve not heard of pods eating dinos. Have you observed that yourself?

I’ve heard this is still up in the air. There seems to be just as many that say they do and those that don’t. Not sure if it’s been proven or not unfortunately. I do have an abundance of pods now. They literally marinate the glass when I get home at night. Gotta be hundreds of visible ones lol

 

[reneeL]

I’ve heard this is still up in the air. There seems to be just as many that say they do and those that don’t. Not sure if it’s been proven or not unfortunately. I do have an abundance of pods now. They literally marinate the glass when I get home at night. Gotta be hundreds of visible ones lol

so you have no dinos?

 

[reneeL]

I’ve not heard of pods eating dinos. Have you observed that yourself?

All I know is that my sand would be brown and I added amphipods and tiger conchs I have clean sand the rocks even stopped looking brown. This was when I started the new tank back in March.

 

[reneeL]

so you have no dinos?

If you mean brown stuff, no. I had to move my tank livestock to small tanks because of a RS failure that was immanent, we could see copepods in between the where silicone should have been. It was getting worse, had clamps on for a few weeks, so we could sleep.

All I know is that my sand would be brown and I added amphipods and tiger conchs I have clean sand the rocks even stopped looking brown. This was when I started the new tank back in March.

 

[reneeL]

I put a lot of amphipods in the set up tanks to keep the livestock until we got the 180 going. 3 months no brown or hair or the scum. I try to solve the problem with what eats what. Not wanting to use any type of medicine. Even the aiptasia I took care of keeping them away with the critters that eat them: peppermint shrimp, file fish, CB fish. I did take care of the very larger with Joe's Juice. I now have several tanks and no real problems with the algae or dinos. Tiger Conchs and amphipods are awesome.

 

[LovinlifeinGuam]

Don't the BRS guys swear by adding 15 jars of pods to a 10 gallon haha? Who knows if it's true...BUY MORE NO MATTER WHAT! The company selling them will appreciate your business...

 

[reneeL]

I certainly did not put that much in my tank, tank is a 180. However, I have a culture of them and add them periodically. I also add the copepods periodically. I only know that the brown stuff went away. I have added them to new set up and no uglies to deal with. Tiger conchs get credit too.

 

[141918]

so you have no dinos?

I still have Dino’s. however, they have been slowly going away.

I wonder if it was a slow process of previous dosing, silicate dosing and tank maturity that is helping.

All I know is that if introduce nitrate, my Dino’s get worse. I dosed just phosphate yesterday morning and noticed no increase in Dino’s last night. I am going to test tonight to get a reading.

 

[sd_tom]

Did you microscope your dinos to know which kind?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I’ve heard this is still up in the air. There seems to be just as many that say they do and those that don’t. Not sure if it’s been proven or not unfortunately. I do have an abundance of pods now. They literally marinate the glass when I get home at night. Gotta be hundreds of visible ones lol

I've read hundreds of threads of folks dealing with dinos, and I do not recall ever seeing one that claimed that pods solved their dino problem. It may be that it could, but I'm very skeptical.

Often, people do many things at once, and I suspect it is possible that someone added pods and dinos coincidentally went away for other reasons. I also suspect that folks selling pods would clearly make the dino claim if they though it was true.

Pods do eat other things, likely including diatoms. Some folks may confuse the two terms, or maybe a reefer with a dino/diatom problem didn't correctly identify the pest they had.

 

[reneeL]

Both types of Pods do eat phyto stuff (dinoflagellates) and diatoms are considered phytoplankton found in saltwater environments. I put both amphipods and copipods in the tank to help eat problem things. I just don't want the medicine stuff, which goes for the aiptasia pest as well. I try to use the animals that eat the aiptasia.

 

[141918]

Hi all. I assumed I had Dino’s as this was what they appeared to be with there stringy snot and bubbles on the end initially. However, the reddish brown stains still plague my sand bed.

Recently, I’ve noticed that the red/brown stuff got on a rock, and it looked matted like cyano. I’ve heard it’s quite possible to have both in some cases.

It may very well be that most or if not all the Dino’s are gone but still have remaining cyano. It’s just some reefer said it still looks like Dino’s during one of my Reddit posts and I just assumed it was still this. Either way, it’s still a nutrients issue.

Sorry if I have wasted anyone’s time.

But I still have some questions. If nutrients make them worse, and i starve my tank to get rid of them (only thing that has ever made progress) won’t they just come back if the nutrients are raised again? Seems like a losing battle lol.

I’m just thinking if I starve the bacteria out, that just starves the beneficial bacteria right? So to my basic understanding, that would be a waste of time.

I am not sure how, that logically, raising the nutrients for good algae will do anything but fuel the cyano/dinos. Which will out compete the good algae. But if starve the tank, nothing will grow lol.

Seems to me I am at a stale mate unless someone has other information or can explain what I am not understanding.

To my understanding, I need enough nutrients to grow good algae. But my only logical thought on this would be that there has to be more good algae in the tank than cyano or Dino’s, that the majority competes against the minority. Would physical removal of the Dino’s be my only option to create this environment?

 

[CHSUB]

other information or can explain what I am not understanding.

Raising nutrients to selectively target “good” algae is myth. Everything grows with nutrients and everything dies without nutrients. Feed your animals, including coral, manually remove what turns to waste and nuisance algae and add a good CUC. Imo, it’s very simple, don’t get confused with mythical nutrient level.