Method to combat dinos.

[atul176]

Hey y’all,

I’ve been battling dinos for a solid month and a half, and they started due to an imbalance in nitrates and phosphates. I had moderate levels of nitrates while having undetectable phosphates. This imbalance arises because I did not think to dose nutrients during a fallow period, which really sent my tank to hell. Anyways my current treatment plan is as follows:
Dose neophos
Do small water changes with subtle amounts of phosphates doses to reduce extremely high nitrates
Dose 1.5 ml of 3 percent hydrogen peroxide.

I have also added my clownfish after finishing qt in order to increase the bio load.

So far I have gotten much more hair algae, however there has been no affect on the dinos other than low amounts of die off on the back glass due to h2o2

I have also ordered some bacter 7 and will begin dosing 1 ml per day to introduce some competition.

Now here’s my dilemma. I saw the video by Julian speung informing not to disturb anything and allow the ecosystem to mature. Before I saw this I was siphoning out dinos into a 10 micron filter sock.

Now my sand bed has gotten very nasty. Should I continue to wait it out and cause minimal disturbance, or should I be manually removing as much as possible.

I have tried uv but to no avail because this species hugs the sandbed. Any advice on which path I should take, or constructive criticism to my current procedure would be pretty awesome and very appreciated. #reefsquad ?

 

[landlubber]

the biggest helper seems to be the information that is missing... which species of dinos you're battling? a person can spend a lot on treatments that will have no positive effect.
if you haven't already your main concern right now should be to get a sample under a microscope, then proceed with the correct battleplan.

 

[atul176]

the biggest helper seems to be the information that is missing... which species of dinos you're battling? a person can spend a lot on treatments that will have no positive effect.
if you haven't already your main concern right now should be to get a sample under a microscope, then proceed with the correct battleplan.

I unfortunately don’t have access to a microscope, however I was under the assumption that a balanced environment with adequate nutrients keeps dinos in check regardless of the species. I have attached a pic of you have any idea what it could be. I will see if I can get a microscope this weekend.

 

[BillyW]

Following along, I just moved my tank across Texas and now I have pretty much the same thing. Was also going to try microbactor but haven’t yet.

 

[attiland]

I unfortunately don’t have access to a microscope, however I was under the assumption that a balanced environment with adequate nutrients keeps dinos in check regardless of the species. I have attached a pic of you have any idea what it could be. I will see if I can get a microscope this weekend.

Nutrients don’t keep them in check but help the competition.
get a microscope to be sure. It is only £30 used on e-bay.

 

[SPR1968]

There’s a whole Dino thread on R2R, but all I can say is when I had them years ago in my S650 when I set it up, I did a 3 day black out and increased flow to the affected areas and they never came back

Youve probably got GHA because of raised phosphate levels and your now feeding it even more by adding phosphate so that will probably get worse.

You don’t say how big the tank is, but is it feasible to just start again maybe. Running a reef tank doesn’t need to be a constant battle, with all those additives, treatments etc.

 

[atul176]

There’s a whole Dino thread on R2R, but all I can say is when I had them years ago in my S650 when I set it up, I did a 3 day black out and increased flow to the affected areas and they never came back

Youve probably got GHA because of raised phosphate levels and your now feeding it even more by adding phosphate so that will probably get worse.

You don’t say how big the tank is, but is it feasible to just start again maybe. Running a reef tank doesn’t need to be a constant battle, with all those additives, treatments etc.

It’s is a very small tank, 10 gallons, however I’m not keen on tearing it down just yet. If nothing else work I will consider a restart.

 

[brandon429]

Best method you can use

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[attiland]

It’s is a very small tank, 10 gallons, however I’m not keen on tearing it down just yet. If nothing else work I will consider a restart.

Many did tear down their tank only to realise they come back. I agree with those saying it is there in every reef but can not get out of control because the competition keeps it in check.
I have had my fair share with them and I can tell it is an ugly thing but beating it is not impossible.

 

[BanjoBandito]

personal opinion...a blackout period is an absolute MUST to get rid of dinos.

 

[attiland]

personal opinion...a blackout period is an absolute MUST to get rid of dinos.

Combined with UV for some type it works well. Without uv it is a waste of time and risk of corals.

 

[atul176]

Combined with UV for some type it works well. Without uv it is a waste of time and risk of corals.

I don’t believe UV is effective against my species whatever it may be, as I’ve tried that a few times. I am looking into silicate dosing because I’ve heard diatoms and multiply faster if given the right conditions.

 

[attiland]

I don’t believe UV is effective against my species whatever it may be, as I’ve tried that a few times. I am looking into silicate dosing because I’ve heard diatoms and multiply faster if given the right conditions.

Silicates dosing is for large cell Amphidinium. If you have that strain it will work otherwise it won’t. I had large cell and small cell Amphidinium at the same time. Without microscope I would never able to tell the difference between dinos and diatoms.
With silicates dosing I started a diatom bloom taking down Dinos. When the 2 things are next to each other you can see there is colour difference but only microscope could tell what is in that patch. Not to mention I could find the odd dinos even when the sand looked clean an probably if I would look hard after almost 6-7 months still would able to find them.
I couldn’t see any I’ll effect with silicates dosing apart from diatoms everywhere but that was the aim.

details of my experience are here

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I have had aquarium since I can remember. Ok the very first one hardly can be called an aquarium as it was just a 3l jar with a 2-3 inch catfish in it my dad caught while we were fishing. And that fish didn’t last long with me as he had to go back to the river Danube. It was growing faster and...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Mattyreefs]

Silicates dosing is for large cell Amphidinium. If you have that strain it will work otherwise it won’t.

Silicate dosing is 100% working for me against Prorocentrum.

 

[attiland]

Silicate dosing is 100% working for me against Prorocentrum.

I might have been wrong here I just haven’t seen references to that.
mid works than even better

 

[atul176]

Update: I took a microscope ID of those dinos, but I’m having a difficult time figuring out which species they are. Can anyone ID? I attached a video, and I believe it is only viewable through laptop and desktop.

 

[attiland]

Update: I took a microscope ID of those dinos, but I’m having a difficult time figuring out which species they are. Can anyone ID? I attached a video, and I believe it is only viewable through laptop and desktop.

I have watched it a few times but can’t be sure as the pic is a bit fuzzy. I am debating between Prorocentrum and large cell Amphidinium.

let see if more experienced ID guys ( @ScottB @taricha ) can help in this.

 

[atul176]

I have watched it a few times but can’t be sure as the pic is a bit fuzzy. I am debating between Prorocentrum and large cell Amphidinium.

let see if more experienced ID guys ( @ScottB @taricha ) can help in this.

one thing to note is that it goes into the water column for the most part at night.

 

[attiland]

one thing to note is that it goes into the water column for the most part at night.

Large cell Amphidinium goes into sand for the record that is why UV don’t touch it

 

[Gqch]

Combined with UV for some type it works well. Without uv it is a waste of time and risk of corals.

brand new bulb of UV plus antibiotic pill with BT7,this method works to me for syno and brown jerry killing. i agreed that its a complicated procese but much better than just black out the tank.