How did you beat Dinoflagelatte's?

[Reffetsevla]

Currently fighting them myself. Curious what other people have done to get through this?

Tank is a 20g IM Fusion Nuvo Pro, setup 1/1/22, below are the recent testing parameters. API test kit, going to order a Hanna Phosphate checker here shortly to try and get more accurate readings.

Date	Salinity	Calcium	Alk	Phosphates	Nitrates
Averages	1.0251	425	8.8	0.01	15
2/10/2022	1.0250	440	9	0	15
2/28/2022	1.0250	440	9	0.05	15
3/8/2022	1.0255	420	8	0	10
3/13/2012	1.0250	400	9	0	20

I imagine it's my PO4 being so low. I picked up some Seachem Phosphorus to dose with to try and bring it up since extra feeding hasn't seemed to do the trick after a couple weeks. But only dosed a half dose today for the first time. Before I go too much further with that, I wanted to see what other people had done to beat it? I've reduced white lighting to short duration, I added a UV sterilizer as well. I do run a Reef Glass Nano skimmer as well to try and pull out anything it can (it's pulling out a fair amount). I had run without a skimmer for awhile but I really need at least the gas exchange from the skimmer if nothing else. Seemed to help things look a bit better after adding that.

Slowly they are less than they were, but still having to blow it off the few coral I have and rocks, which is messy and annoying. Was just curious what other people had success doing?

Thanks!

 

[bruno3047]

I clean them off the rocks as part of my early tank processes. Otherwise, I ignore them. Eventually, they disappear.

 

[Cflow]

I beat it by dosing KNO3 and PO4 to “measurable levels”. I stopped water changes, stopped cleaning my glass, added UV, and pulled most of my macro algae out. You shouldn’t need to change your lighting schedule of remove skimming.

 

[bruno3047]

If they get to be so hideous that you can’t stand to look at them, set yourself up with a couple of buckets of tank water. Buy yourself a boar bristle hairbrush at the CVS and then start cleaning the rocks in the buckets filled with tank water. When you’re finished, you replace the tank water with new water. You can do it to coincide with a water change so you kill two birds with one stone.

 

[Bubblebass]

Jason Mac's FB group. Depends on species. I had ostreo and used UV, raise nutrients, micro-bubbled and some H2O2.

 

[Cflow]

H2O2 does work but it’s a band aide. I suppose if all other methods used too it may help. Blackouts do nothing.

 

[GarrettT]

Blackouts do nothing

without a UV sterilizer ; )

 

[lazlodawg]

I added polyfil as mechanical filtration and changed it out every day, added the Green Killing Machine UV, dosed NeoNitro and NeoPhos as well as Plus NP from Tropic Marin, and blew off the rocks, cleaned the glass, and siphoned larger chunks / strands out every day. I started off with a double dose of Prodibio BioDigest in the morning with UV and skimmer off on day 1 (turned skimmer and UV back on in evening), another double dose on day 3 the same way, and a single dose on day 5, again, the same way. They were gone in a week.

The first type I had in my first tank years ago I battled for a year before giving up and it led to me bleaching the tank. When I saw them in my new setup last month I wanted to cry, but I stayed calm and developed this method after doing a TON of research. Hit them with a multi-prong offensive and it worked. I ordered a microscope to ID them, but they ended up disappearing before the microscope arrived!

 

[Jackal799]

I literally just beat them. Mine started after doing a water change on a ULN tank. I wasn’t being smart and tanked my nutrients. What I did was listen to those who came before me. I followed these steps
1. Turned my light schedule down to just blues for 4 hours a day.
2. Dosed nitrates to 5 ppm and phosphate to .1
3. Started dosing microbacter 7 and clean for 2 weeks to build up a nice bacterial colony (I had Dino’s primarily in my sand.)
4. Ran UV 24 hours a day until gone.

Looking back, I would have done UV much earlier on in the process. I bought the coralife twist 6x for an 80 gallon cube and it nuked the hell out of em. My suggestion is to keep it simple, dose competing bacteria when nitrate and phosphate levels get elevated and run UV. Once I added UV it cleared my sand bed completely in 48 hours. Moving forward I’m going to keep UV on for another 2 weeks, and keep my nitrate/phosphate level at target ranges. Honestly, my nutrient levels have been next to nothing for months. I was running an ATS and most of the Dino’s had localized on that. It’s now offline and I likely won’t add it back unless I start having crazy high levels.

 

[Idech]

H2O2, dimming the lights and a UV sterilizer.

 

[Cflow]

Side note… the way I got Dinos was by running Rowaphos because my marine pure blocks leached aluminum into the water. Rowaphos will remove aluminum and phosphate. Needless to say I removed marine pure.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Prepare by starting with a water change and blow this stuff loose with a turkey baster and siphon up loose particles.
Turn lights off (at least white and run blue at 10-15% IF you have light dependant corals) for 5 days and at night dose 1ml of 3% hydrogen peroxide per 10 gallons for all 5 nights. If you dont have light dependent coral- turn all lights off.
During the day dose 1ml of liquid bacteria (such as bacter 7 or XLM) per 10 gallons.
Clean filters daily and DO NOT FEED CORAL FOODS OR ADD NOPOX as it is food for dinos.
Day 5,, you can start with blue lights - ramping up and work your white lights up slowly

 

[Reffetsevla]

Appreciate all the feedback!

I've recently added a small GFO bag (couple days ago) to make sure I don't get any silicates, but I also am afraid that's going to compound the issue by removing any PO4. Debating removing that entirely, or just dose PO4 to bring it up while still running the GFO.

 

[Jackal799]

Appreciate all the feedback!

I've recently added a small GFO bag (couple days ago) to make sure I don't get any silicates, but I also am afraid that's going to compound the issue by removing any PO4. Debating removing that entirely, or just dose PO4 to bring it up while still running the GFO.

I wouldn’t worry about silicates at the moment. In fact, diatoms have been known to outcompete dinos. I tried the hydrogen peroxide thing at night but it didn’t work for me. I also had concerns of the hydrogen peroxide nuking the bacterial colonies I was trying to establish (no evidence to support this). Keep it simple and you’ll beat the ugly buggers into submission. Will take a few weeks but keep at it. I do know the general consensus is to outcompete Dino’s with beneficial bacteria. How you go about doing that can lead you down some rabbit holes. UV is your friend. Even a cheap unit will help. I don’t plan on leaving mine online forever as the unit I bought has had some iffy reviews on earlier models. I will likely get a high quality uv for my next build so I can incorporate it with my plumbing.

 

[Reffetsevla]

I wouldn’t worry about silicates at the moment. In fact, diatoms have been known to outcompete dinos. I tried the hydrogen peroxide thing at night but it didn’t work for me. I also had concerns of the hydrogen peroxide nuking the bacterial colonies I was trying to establish (no evidence to support this). Keep it simple and you’ll beat the ugly buggers into submission. Will take a few weeks but keep at it. I do know the general consensus is to outcompete Dino’s with beneficial bacteria. How you go about doing that can lead you down some rabbit holes. UV is your friend. Even a cheap unit will help. I don’t plan on leaving mine online forever as the unit I bought has had some iffy reviews on earlier models. I will likely get a high quality uv for my next build so I can incorporate it with my plumbing.

I removed the GFO, after thinking about it more I agree silicates are unlikely an issue. Bigger issue is that big fat 0 on PO4.

 

[haitian_reefer]

First step is to use a microscope to figure out which one you have. Then head over to the Dino thread for some help.

 

[Jackal799]

I removed the GFO, after thinking about it more I agree silicates are unlikely an issue. Bigger issue is that big fat 0 on PO4.

Brightwells neophos saved me lol

 

[ggNoRe]

I took the everything under the sun approach. It eventually worked but I suffered significant losses in the process. If I were to do it all over again I would get a UV sterilizer right away. Do frequent manual removal of dinos and just leave everything else alone. Keep to my normal routine and water change schedule. I feel like everything else I did just made things worse.

 

[Reffetsevla]

I took the everything under the sun approach. It eventually worked but I suffered significant losses in the process. If I were to do it all over again I would get a UV sterilizer right away. Do frequent manual removal of dinos and just leave everything else alone. Keep to my normal routine and water change schedule. I feel like everything else I did just made things worse.

UV Sterilizer was bought later than I should've, probably 2 weeks after the outbreak. So we're playing catchup now. I've went so far as to remove one less cured piece of LR and replace with with an extremely established piece to try and help both remove some dinos (the rock was covered) and get some better bacteria/LR in there.

Going to not panic and just keep on going. I may have to borrow my kids microscope from his science kit, see what I'm looking at lol

 

[authentic]

i Used Dr Tims schedule and his products along with cleaning and a lights out period..took about a month but clear since