Dinos, Hair Algae and Nutrients

nonagon13

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I know this is discussed in myriad posts but I am still confused and need advice.

I recently transferred a 40 gal reef tank into a new Red Sea Reefer 300xl with mostly new water and all new sand. The existing rock and coral had some nuisance filamentous hair algae. I had a new "mini" cycle in the new tank but everything has been running well and the corals are growing.

I now am going through a dino bloom. The dinos cover the sand and cling to the corals. They even group up by the overflow. I have increased flow through the filter socks and tried to siphon some out. Right about the time the dinos started I thew in some macro algae in the sump for a refugium thinking I had a nutrient issue that was causing algae. I didn't measure nutrients at that time and assumed it was a nutrient issue incorrectly, as I'm sure these are dinos and not algae or cyano. I dealt with dinos once upon a time in the old system. Not sure of the strain.

Alk is 8.4
Nitrates are 2
Phosphates are 0

So nutrients are low but I have old rock with some nuissance algae that could be eating up the nutrients giving me low readings. What should I do to combat the dinos and the algae?

I'm not in the market for a UV sterilizer (don't want to deal with plumbing or high cost). Right now my plan is to increase the clean up crew to combat the algae. I am siphoning out and basting the dinos through the micron filter sock. Should I try to raise nitrates and phosphates with brightwell producs? Should I try microbacter7 (says it reduces nutrients which confuses me, but hobbyists report it cured their dinos)?. I would love some suggestions!
 

JCTReefer

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Yates273

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Key for me was leaving my tank alone. I let my tank get dirty to allow other algae to outcompete the Dino’s. I stopped with water changes and didn’t clean the glass I also did several blackouts to knock it back. Eventually the Dino’s were gone. It did take a few months but it worked. Unfortunately what works for one may not work for another since it could be a different strain, but for me this way was successful. Whatever way you choose to fight it good luck! and be patient
 

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