My fight with dinoflagellates begins...

[Max Rackstraw]

UPDATE: I have siphoned out as much of the dinoflagellate mass on the sand bed as possible before adding a ton of copepods and dosing a bacterial additive that my LFS has had success with in the past. The lights are off for a planned period of three days, although I was not originally planning on doing this (it was meant to be stage 3), it seems to be a good idea. One day later, with the lights off I have noticed no dinos settling anywhere in the display although some are still present on places I did not remove them from, these ones have been blown off into the water column. Their numbers have certainly taken a big hit.

My skimmer and UV steriliser are off for the time being due to dosing bacteria. The guidance is that this equipment should remain off for 48hrs after dose... so if Im dosing daily I cannot use this equipment until I stop. Whilst the skimmer is off anyway as Im raising the nutrient levels, I would prefer to have the UV steriliser on as it can be quite effective against dinos.

Currently, the plan of action will only progress if when the lights come back on after three days, the problem returns as it was before. Then I will be considering more aggressive approaches such as H2O2 and silicate dosing to encourage a diatom bloom. The exact species of dinoflagellate has not yet been identified although I may get a chance to do so on Monday...

 

[Bitcoin Reefer]

UPDATE: I have siphoned out as much of the dinoflagellate mass on the sand bed as possible before adding a ton of copepods and dosing a bacterial additive that my LFS has had success with in the past. The lights are off for a planned period of three days, although I was not originally planning on doing this (it was meant to be stage 3), it seems to be a good idea. One day later, with the lights off I have noticed no dinos settling anywhere in the display although some are still present on places I did not remove them from, these ones have been blown off into the water column. Their numbers have certainly taken a big hit.

My skimmer and UV steriliser are off for the time being due to dosing bacteria. The guidance is that this equipment should remain off for 48hrs after dose... so if Im dosing daily I cannot use this equipment until I stop. Whilst the skimmer is off anyway as Im raising the nutrient levels, I would prefer to have the UV steriliser on as it can be quite effective against dinos.

Currently, the plan of action will only progress if when the lights come back on after three days, the problem returns as it was before. Then I will be considering more aggressive approaches such as H2O2 and silicate dosing to encourage a diatom bloom. The exact species of dinoflagellate has not yet been identified although I may get a chance to do so on Monday...

Update?