Fighting LCA dinos with silicates

[OceanJack]

Hi all,

Been quite a journey with trying to conquer dinos in my little reef tank. I tried everything from bottled bacteria, blackouts, and my last real tool was the UV sweep but that didn't completely irradicate them.

So I decided to dose silicates, this was my last shot before ripping sand out again. So far, it's been about 2 weeks of dosing silicate. I am seeing quite a big bloom of diatoms in my tank and some cyano showing up. I can't tell if there are any dinos, as the diatoms have completely covered my sand.

Funny thing is, it also is on the glass and I can see that they're diatoms. Along with being on my wave makers, however I can't tell if there are any dinos present.

My question is, should I still get a microsope to see if Dinos are still present? How long do people continue to dose silicates to keep the bloom going until they stop?

 

[jrhudson11]

What are your nutrient levels? Every time I've had dinos - I was able to eradicate them by dosing large amounts of po3 and no3, blackouts, and microbacter7.

If they are actually diatoms, a good cuc should take care of them.

 

[Moe K]

Without a microscope you can never really be 100% sure if you are winning the battle. Diatoms, LCA, SCA, prymnesium parvum can all look identical to the eye. Diatoms are usually brighter in color when they first start to appear but when they get denser they will become as dark as dinos visually. You could still have a dino outbreak or you could have been growing diatoms for a while now. Microscope will tell you what happened and what is happening.

 

[Jack_L]

get a scope, i have one, and dug it out. having information to work with is much better than guessing. even with the scope, its still a battle. its also interesting to see the microfauna that is in a drop of water.

 

[dR3ws3r]

I agree with the scope idea. I personally went through an LCA misery of several months. I put my silicates on AUTO dosing. Eventually I started getting stuff on the glass and top of the water, and under the microscope could see it was all diatoms and what some believed to be Chrysophytes. I then slowly cut my daily dosing. My last ICP showed very low silicates.

I did use a microscope and it is nice, or else you are going blind. I found it helpful, but it is another expense for something you "hopefully" will use rarely.

I also found some "literature" that seemed to say that testing phosphates can be less accurate when dosing silicates as they alter the color. Personally, it seemed to be that way for me, but I honestly can't say for sure. My hannah values did not come close to what my ICP test stated.

And finally, the FB group for Mack's Reef is very helpful for identifying and answering questions on Dinos. There are those who do not think that low nutrients are ALWAYS the cause of dinos. Perhaps a common one though. Even my most recent ICP has stuff like: Flouride/Iodine ratio: What it is: This halogen ratio is important for coral health, growth, and skeletal hardness. Imbalances of these elements, especially when combined with nutrient shifts, often trigger unwanted dinoflagellate infestations.

 

[Jack_L]

I agree with the scope idea. I personally went through an LCA misery of several months. I put my silicates on AUTO dosing. Eventually I started getting stuff on the glass and top of the water, and under the microscope could see it was all diatoms and what some believed to be Chrysophytes. I then slowly cut my daily dosing. My last ICP showed very low silicates.

I did use a microscope and it is nice, or else you are going blind. I found it helpful, but it is another expense for something you "hopefully" will use rarely.

I also found some "literature" that seemed to say that testing phosphates can be less accurate when dosing silicates as they alter the color. Personally, it seemed to be that way for me, but I honestly can't say for sure. My hannah values did not come close to what my ICP test stated.

And finally, the FB group for Mack's Reef is very helpful for identifying and answering questions on Dinos. There are those who do not think that low nutrients are ALWAYS the cause of dinos. Perhaps a common one though. Even my most recent ICP has stuff like: Flouride/Iodine ratio: What it is: This halogen ratio is important for coral health, growth, and skeletal hardness. Imbalances of these elements, especially when combined with nutrient shifts, often trigger unwanted dinoflagellate infestations.

i've been posting the the mack group, they are nice and helpful. they don't recommend blackout, but my LFS did, and it seemed to make a big big impact. i was thinking about doing it again to see if kills off my hair and hair like algea outbreak. i think its interesting to see the microfauna. i will prolly do it from time to time if i don't bag this hobby and i eventually beat dinos