I think I have the dreaded Dinos

[Salo001]

December 31 is the first pic the second is today at the same exact time. The Dinos are retreating for sure. I barely see any anymore at lights out. My glass is so dirty (haven’t cleaned in over a month) that’s why it looks like there is stuff on the sand but really there isn’t much if any at all.

i am mixing up a fresh batch of saltwater and I’m going to do my first water change in over a month and pray to God that it doesn’t make them bloom again. I’m also going to dose silicate tomorrow morning to hope it over takes the space before dinos can

Great! Just make sure u still have some nutrients in there and hopefully should be good!

 

[Reefahholic]

@reefaholic @Kmst80 Any other input? I want to form a plan if the consensus is dinos

Looks like a lot of Dino’s in there with the Diatoms to me. @saltyhog may be able to ID. -Post #6

 

[Reefahholic]

The elongated cells look like diatoms. Not sure what the dark oval looking spots underneath are, they are to blurry to make out.

Definitely Diatom’s 100%

 

[Reefahholic]

I know why "know your enemy" is important, but, why is important to identify which dino one have?

Because each species of Dino’s is somewhat different. Some may enter the water column at night while others stay on the rock or sandbed. Some species are much more difficult than others, but most seem to prefer a weak Biome, low or depleted nutrients, or inverted ratio, etc. IMO, when the nutrients are very low or depleted, the microbiology is weak and allows Dino’s to thrive w/o many competitors.

 

[bvanfish]

Thanks all. Yes I confirmed it was LCA. But the fight is on and going my way! I did my first water change yesterday with minimal resurgence. So we’ll see if that stands

 

[The Ginga Ninja]

I’m not sure if they are Dinos or not but today I was looking closer at pictures of Dino’s and I think they are. I have a 25 gallon about 2.5-3 months old. It seems like it is a brown like algae in the sand which I thought was diatoms part 2. But these completely disappear at night and slowly come back with the lights. Now today I saw what I thought was gas bubbles in the sand but I see that can be a sign of Dinos.

they aren’t on the rock only the sand and my snails / conch are helping a ton suck them up.

I will upload pics tomorrow but I am feeling over whelmed with Dino info. I am thinking of trying to manually suck them off the sand, up my phosphate, and maybe add another powerhead to help flow?

where can I bring them to see what type I may have

Sorry to hear this! If you do have dinos though, don't worry too much I've gotten rid of these in as little as 6 days (but usually 8) here's the method I follow:

 

[bvanfish]

few days after water change and it seems like I am in the clear. have the diatoms but no to extremely few bubbles and no dark matts!!

 

[Salo001]

few days after water change and it seems like I am in the clear. have the diatoms but no to extremely few bubbles and no dark matts!!

Good to hear! Continue strong and make sure those nutrients don't drop again! If they do though now u know what to do

 

[bvanfish]

Things are looking pretty good. Did a second water change yesterday and have a slight look of Dino’s but also some diatoms it seems.

I thought of an idea that I’m sure others have too but has anyone tried selective blackouts? Using paper or something on your lid to only black out certain areas of your sand where there is an issue. I have 2 places that the main problem is. Think it will help or do nothing?

my idea is light still goes where I want it and bacteria still can grow. But those hard spots don’t get fed?

 

[TokenReefer]

Things are looking pretty good. Did a second water change yesterday and have a slight look of Dino’s but also some diatoms it seems.

I thought of an idea that I’m sure others have too but has anyone tried selective blackouts? Using paper or something on your lid to only black out certain areas of your sand where there is an issue. I have 2 places that the main problem is. Think it will help or do nothing?

my idea is light still goes where I want it and bacteria still can grow. But those hard spots don’t get fed?

Yes! I've been suggesting this lately. I got over a small dino outbreak on my sand this past week with this method as well as limiting CO2; both energy sources. Seems to have worked so far...

 

[bvanfish]

Yes! I've been suggesting this lately. I got over a small dino outbreak on my sand this past week with this method as well as limiting CO2; both energy sources. Seems to have worked so far...

Boom maybe I read it from you and forgot and just threw stuff on their subconsciously haha. Either way I am going to give it a whirl because why not try something else on top of the million other things

 

[TokenReefer]

It's worth a shot as it costs nothing and if light is fuel limiting it is a very effective approach; even if it simply weakens them for other methods to be more effective. Keep us posted

 

[Kmst80]

Things are looking pretty good. Did a second water change yesterday and have a slight look of Dino’s but also some diatoms it seems.

I thought of an idea that I’m sure others have too but has anyone tried selective blackouts? Using paper or something on your lid to only black out certain areas of your sand where there is an issue. I have 2 places that the main problem is. Think it will help or do nothing?

my idea is light still goes where I want it and bacteria still can grow. But those hard spots don’t get fed?

I have read that before somewhere too.
Not sure if it is counterproductive, i have been reading this post from the big Dino Thread and if you read through to the blue highlighted it mentions that eventually you want to lower N and P dosing once Algae is growing so Dinos revert to Photosynthesis hence only consuming dissolved nutrients.

Worth a read, like the diagram too.

Dinoflagellates – Are You Tired Of Battling Altogether?

Salinity: 1.025 Ca: 440 Kh: 8 Mg 1410, so nothing is off in that department :) @mojjen...what brand salt do you use? Elevating the N&P in my case is not killing off dinos so im looking for other ideas.

www.reef2reef.com

 

[bvanfish]

Day 3 of selective black outs. Seems to be working extremely well

 

[bvanfish]

Noooooooooooo out of no where the bubbles are back!!!! I’ve been keeping up my work on them but it seems they are back after like 2 weeks of clear sailing. Not sure what’s going on here

 

[TokenReefer]

Something needs to replace them. Personally, I've been thinking about bacteria lately to take over their territory but I haven't figured out yet how I want to go about it. Mine seem to be waxing and waning so trying to work out how to increase the waning so to speak

 

[Icryhard]

Ok sweet. Thank you. Does dosing microbacter7 and adding more pods / phyto help?

I think my phosphate being 0 is the killer. I am getting some more fish which will help bump it up.

Phospate 0 = dino (pretty much always)
The only time I kept my nitrate, phospate 0, was because I had a lot of silicates and wanted to prevent the explosion of diatoms. It did take its toll on my corals. Only reduce it to 0 if you have no fish or corals in the tank... unfortunately I had both, which caused a dead shrimp and coral. With the help of reef2reef I managed to fix the problem. Just throw in a silicate remover in your filter, up your phospate and nitrate a bit and wait untill the bloom dies off. Silicate is the cornerstone of diatoms. They feed on phospate and nitrate, but if there is no cornerstone for their cells, you can have as much food as you want and they still cannot sustain.

 

[bvanfish]

Something needs to replace them. Personally, I've been thinking about bacteria lately to take over their territory but I haven't figured out yet how I want to go about it. Mine seem to be waxing and waning so trying to work out how to increase the waning so to speak

Ya I feel you. I am wondering if I get some ocean rock if that new bacteria will colonize the tank and sand. I’m just afraid of introducing all these ***** hikers. Out of the frying pan into the fire sort of deal @TokenReefer

 

[penguinexdeus]

Ya I feel you. I am wondering if I get some ocean rock if that new bacteria will colonize the tank and sand. I’m just afraid of introducing all these ***** hikers. Out of the frying pan into the fire sort of deal @TokenReefer

I'm in the same boat... i bought some ocean live rock and was so worried about hitch hikers... Got from KP aquatics and their curing instructions say to submerge in 1.035 to 1.040 salinity for a few minutes to have hitch hikers evacuate. I've done that a few times and had all kinds of crazy worms and such bail out... now they're sitting in a tub curing. But i'm starting to worry i may have gone too far and killed everything off since i haven't seen anything alive on the rocks for a while and ammonia is still pretty decent. Hopefully the microorganisms on the rock are still good... haven't put them in the tank yet... it's definitely been a battle for a while...

 

[bvanfish]

Im not sure why the website blocked hitch hikers hahah? Maybe I fat fingered it.

Ya I am wondering if I get a few smaller rocks if it will reduce the likely hood of bad ones. Or just put them in a bucket with water and watch it for a day or so. Ugh I hate dinos hahah