PLEASE Need help with dinoflagellates or cyno on sandbed.

[AaronB5916]

I have a 180 Gallon mixed reef tank that has been setup for almost a year now and have been battleing dynos for months now and after doing 2 3 day long blackouts and buying a uv sterilzer I am starting to get desperate, luckily it only forms on the sandbed now but still need any advice. My nutrients are actually quite high at 15 nitrates and 0.3 phosphates, I have been dosing microbacter7 and still have not seen change. What should I be doing I only run around 10% whites in my lights I have a 7 stage RODI water system I strain my frozen food out before feeding and only feed every other day. yet I still have high phos so I bought and ran a gfo reactor and that took all my nutrients down to 0 causing this dyno outbreak that even with the nitrate dosing and blackouts it still takes over the whole sandbed. Here are some pics I took of it on the sandbed I am 99% sure its dynos, as it mostly goes away at night and if i clean the sandbed it comes back in minutes.

Pl

 

[Reefer Matt]

Can you get a microscope to get a picture of the dino you have? It’ll help a lot to avoid guessing, as not all of them are responsive to blackouts and uv.

 

[mook1178]

Get some live rock from as many different places as you can, ocean live rock would be best, but local from fish store and other reefers would work as well. Hell get it from all.

You need biodiveristy in the microbiome to out compete the dinos.

 

[AaronB5916]

Can you get a microscope to get a picture of the dino you have? It’ll help a lot to avoid guessing, as not all of them are responsive to blackouts and uv.

Any microscope you think is best?

 

[D.WhiteShark]

Any microscope you think is best?

They have tons of them on amazon (with good reviews). I picked up one for a little over $100 and it works awesome. You will also find some threads on H2O2 dosing for dinos if that's what it turns out to be. I had them really bad at one point, and I absolutely contribute my success in beating them to dosing H2O2. just food for thought. Ultimately, you'll have to decide what is your best course of action.

 

[AaronB5916]

They have tons of them on amazon (with good reviews). I picked up one for a little over $100 and it works awesome. You will also find some threads on H2O2 dosing for dinos if that's what it turns out to be. I had them really bad at one point, and I absolutely contribute my success in beating them to dosing H2O2. just food for thought. Ultimately, you'll have to decide what is your best course of action.

would you mind sending the link to the one you bought if thats possible than you very much!

 

[Featherweight]

Don't spend money on a microscope, this is so unnecessary.

Spend time on removal, husbandry, testing, dosing phos.

Put filter pads in and remove and replace often, filter bags clean at least once per day. Siphon the sand bed through a sock back into the sump. Turn down your lights but not off.

I've beat dinos in 3 systems this summer with zero blackouts and no UV. I don't own a microscope either.

Phosphate over zero every day. Clean every day. Turkey baste rocks every Day. no water changes, no aminos, no traces. Consider silica if you have it.

But removal removal removal. Good luck

 

[D.WhiteShark]

would you mind sending the link to the one you bought if thats possible than you very much!

I got something very similar to this one. You don't need anything crazy to identify the basic stuff like cyano vs dino or different types of algae.

Amazon product ASIN B0F9KVQ8H9

 

[mook1178]

Don't spend money on a microscope, this is so unnecessary.

Spend time on removal, husbandry, testing, dosing phos.

Put filter pads in and remove and replace often, filter bags clean at least once per day. Siphon the sand bed through a sock back into the sump. Turn down your lights but not off.

I've beat dinos in 3 systems this summer with zero blackouts and no UV. I don't own a microscope either.

Phosphate over zero every day. Clean every day. Turkey baste rocks every Day. no water changes, no aminos, no traces. Consider silica if you have it.

But removal removal removal. Good luck

I can't stress all this enough. Don't waste money on a microscope. Clean out you nutrient sources and add biodiversity.

 

[D.WhiteShark]

Don't spend money on a microscope, this is so unnecessary.

You are right in that you don't NEED a microscope, but I got one just because I was interested in knowing more. And they aren't terribly expensive when compared to the amount of money we dump into the hobby.

 

[AaronB5916]

You are right in that you don't NEED a microscope, but I got one just because I was interested in knowing more. And they aren't terribly expensive when compared to the amount of money we dump into the hobby.

I agree I do not need a microscope but I am interested on what species it is to better combat it now and if needed in the future, I have been doing the cleaning and siphoning all the tricks and they have gone down but I want them gone gone so a microscope is nice to have for identification. And that link or photo you sent wont load for me.

 

[p1u5h13r4m24]

Some Dino’s can be toxic. It’s a good idea to run activated carbon to be safe. Make sure your maintain nitrate and phosphate levels aim for 10n and .1 phos during the time. This will allow beneficial bacteria’s to establish and outcompete Dino’s or
Other algae’s for surface area

 

[D.WhiteShark]

I agree I do not need a microscope but I am interested on what species it is to better combat it now and if needed in the future, I have been doing the cleaning and siphoning all the tricks and they have gone down but I want them gone gone so a microscope is nice to have for identification. And that link or photo you sent wont load for me.

I PM'd you

 

[CHSUB]

Your nutrients up and down and the corresponding algae, Cyano, dinoflagellate growth is likely just coincidence and “hobby” observations. In all cases nutrients were present and significant enough to grow algae. Algae grow well below hobby testing resolution and observations are at best, guessing and probably wrong.

Use manual removal and better maintenance to control nuisance stuff…having a large CUC is also very beneficial…

This \/

Turkey baste rocks every Day

But removal removal removal

Siphon the sand bed through a sock back into the sump

Clean out you nutrient sources

 

[buzzfin]

I have a 180 Gallon mixed reef tank that has been setup for almost a year now and have been battleing dynos for months now and after doing 2 3 day long blackouts and buying a uv sterilzer I am starting to get desperate, luckily it only forms on the sandbed now but still need any advice. My nutrients are actually quite high at 15 nitrates and 0.3 phosphates, I have been dosing microbacter7 and still have not seen change. What should I be doing I only run around 10% whites in my lights I have a 7 stage RODI water system I strain my frozen food out before feeding and only feed every other day. yet I still have high phos so I bought and ran a gfo reactor and that took all my nutrients down to 0 causing this dyno outbreak that even with the nitrate dosing and blackouts it still takes over the whole sandbed. Here are some pics I took of it on the sandbed I am 99% sure its dynos, as it mostly goes away at night and if i clean the sandbed it comes back in minutes.

Check out Mack's reef...Dinoflagellates support group! . on Facebook. Lots of useful info and they will help you identify specific strain if you post a video of a view through your microscope. Treatment for Dinos depends somewhat on what type you have.