Looking for help with dinoflagelates ostreopsis.

[Rickusbstick]

Hello everyone,

Currently battling for around 3 weeks vs ostreopsis. It looks like its slowly getting worse. More algue strings get on the sand everyday.

What i am doing is this.

My tank is 350 liters, 4 months old.
Around 36 kilos of aquaforest rock and 2 kilos real indonesian live rocks.
I use an 36w jebao UV with +/- 600l flow an hour.
Below i upload a photo of my light settings on their maximum. I have an 8 hours light time per day.
Since i diagnosed the ostreopsis i add fauna marin bacto blend and arka special blend as thet describe on their bottles.
I add +/- 20ml copepods everyday and have added 3 x 3 bags of copepods over the past 2 weeks.
I try to blow of my sandbed and rocks every evening, am i doing this right?

Nitrates: 10
Phosphates: 0.05

Why am i losing the fight for now? What can i do to get the overhand? Am i doing something wrong?

 

[Reefer Matt]

Turn off the lights for a few days. All lights. Then repeat as necessary until they are gone.

 

[Rickusbstick]

Turn off the lights for a few days. All lights. Then repeat as necessary until they are gone.

But most of the information i can find tells me to never do a blackout with ostreopsis. Do you have more information about this please?

 

[Rickusbstick]

I turned my light back down as suggested by some sources. Hope its gonna change something.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I beat dino's once and it took me 5 months, then it took my tank another 6 months to rebound. It takes months to beat any algae really, cannot eradicate algae in 3 weeks. I don't know what the solution is, others will know better, but just saying try not to be frustrated and be prepared for a long slog, good luck

 

[CHSUB]

I try to blow of my sandbed and rocks every evening, am i doing this right?

Nitrates: 10
Phosphates: 0.05

With any nuisance algae removal and maintenance are the best options. Simply blowing stuff around without removing is not the answer. Weekly WC, detritus removal, scrubbing rock, vacuuming the sand, low nutrients, correct feeding, cleaning mechanical filters…etc. not myth solution that involves adding stuff.

I have hundreds of scientific articles about dinoflagellates and here is one, however the underlying issue with all algae is a food source, remove that and CUC will do the rest…here is the main point of the following article; coinciding with higher nutrient supplies from land sources and/or upwelling

The Ecology of Harmful Dinoflagellates

Dinoflagellates are mostly estuarine and marine, with only ~250-300 of thẽ 2,000 known species inhabiting freshwaters (Graham and Wilcox 2000; Carty 2003). Most species are considered beneficial; dinoflagellates are dominant primary producers in the

www.academia.edu

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Dinoflagellates – Are You Tired Of Battling Altogether?

I don't know what percentage of folks had luck battling dinos with any of the methods in the old Dino thread but it's obviously a very low percentage, so I'd like refresh folks on the natural alternatives and lay out three areas of info: some of the factors that contribute to a dino outbreak...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Blitheran]

I just beat them this is what I did. I shared this post in it’s own thread:

My Battle With Dinos

I started by testing daily and closely monitoring my levels. To keep nutrients detectable, I was dosing a capful of NeoNitro and NeoPhos. Despite that, the dinos were getting stronger every day. I was turkey basting the tank each night, but by midday the next day they were back in full force.

** I was running a 15 watt UV from day 1***

I decided to do a one-day blackout to give beneficial bacteria a chance to compete. At the same time, I dosed every bacteria product I had on hand to really kick-start the population: MicroBacter Clean, Dr. Tim’s One & Only, and Waste-Away.

In my previous tank, I beat dinos by cutting back feeding and dosing Waste-Away daily with vodka, so I went back to that approach. I now dose a capful of Waste-Away and add 1 ml of vodka to provide a carbon source for the bacteria.

I also realized my Avast feeder was running 7 times a day for 20 seconds, which turned out to be the equivalent of 10–15 cubes of food per day. I had no idea it was that much. I cut it back to 7 feedings per day at 4 seconds each, which equals about 2 cubes per day. Still on the heavier side, but I do run a filter roller and a Nyos 120 skimmer.

Since making these changes, I haven’t been checking levels as aggressively, but the dinos have been reduced dramatically. They’re still somewhat present on the sand bed, but I stir it every week or so to push them into the water column where the UV can take care of them.

I did have to leave for a three-day vacation and wasn’t able to dose anything during that time. I was nervous about what I’d come back to—but the tank was perfectly clear. No issues. The dinos are still lightly present on the sand bed, but it’s just a faint brown dusting now, nothing major.

I’ve since purchased MicroBacter 7 and will be dosing that in the mornings instead of MicroBacter Clean. My current routine is MicroBacter 7 in the morning and Waste-Away with vodka at night, really pushing bacterial competition.

I’ve also stopped doing water changes for now until the issue is fully resolved.

 

[billyocean]

For Ostreopsis

Uv run pulling from display and pump back into display

Put a piece of filter floss on a nori clip in display in high flow area...rinse out floss in morning....then again before lights out.
Turkey baste or blow off all surfaces a couple times a day to make ostreopsis waterborne (definitely before lights out)

You can dose a silicate, like waterglass, to promote diatoms which out compete the dinos.

Blackouts will make ostreopsis waterborne. Ive never done a blackout but it wont hurt if you really want to. Anytime ive ever had ostreopsis its usually gone within a week or two using uv, floss, waterglass and blowing off surfaces for me.

 

[unbeknownst]

Raise phosphates above .1 and keep it there, this has cured mine three times now.

 

[exnisstech]

Just went through a short bout my self. I cut my light cycle peak on time but not intensity, added an oversized UV and started running filter floss and changing it before it was fully plugged. I was surprised that it only took a week or so to see results. Its my first run in with them so maybe it was beginners luck.
Mine were pretty heavily populated.

EDIT: I also dosed some ammonium bicarb to bump NO3 which was hovering at 0.