Possible to have Dinos with high nutrients?

[TokenReefer]

There are always nutrients in a tank (if not, everything would be dead). Dinos can outcompete other algaes because they can utilize nutrients at very low levels.

The theory on raising nutrients is to get a different algae (GHA) to outcompete the dinos.

Yes. I agree. I feel like this is a bit confusing for new reefers reading numbers on test kits. Gotta think about it a little beyond the numbers... What's actually growing etc

 

[Dan_P]

There are always nutrients in a tank (if not, everything would be dead). Dinos can outcompete other algaes because they can utilize nutrients at very low levels.

The theory on raising nutrients is to get a different algae (GHA) to outcompete the dinos.

I have definitely seen green algae take over diatom cultures. I don’t know why this happens but it is reproducible. I have not so far been able to show the same thing with dinoflagellates, but I am no where close to running out of ideas for trying to observe a nutrient effect with dinoflagellates. So far increasing nutrients produces real dino horror show.

 

[KonradTO]

generally agree with the sentiment, but 1ppm Si/day sounds really aggressive. I'd be more likely to advise 1/10 of that, certainly if you don't have a reliable Si kit (I've only had clearly positive reports from hanna or hach) .

I tried with less and never worked. If I start at 1ppm/day usually it takes a week to see dino slowing down. At that point I start to dose more by 10% increments every day and in 7 days more they are gone. However I never reached the point where I get a huge diatom outbreak. From my understanding after reading randy's guide on silicate dosing, it seems that there are no huge negative effects of overdosing silicate.
I do not have a test kit. When dinos are gone I cut by 50% the dosing and then slowly decrease until I dose 0.1 ppm/day. Then I keep dosing that to maintain my sponge population. Only issue is that I cannot trust my PO4 measures in this way. Do anyone know if the "normal" colorimetric PO4 tests (e.g. salifert) work with high silicates ?

 

[taricha]

I tried with less and never worked. If I start at 1ppm/day usually it takes a week to see dino slowing down. At that point I start to dose more by 10% increments every day and in 7 days more they are gone. However I never reached the point where I get a huge diatom outbreak. From my understanding after reading randy's guide on silicate dosing, it seems that there are no huge negative effects of overdosing silicate.
I do not have a test kit. When dinos are gone I cut by 50% the dosing and then slowly decrease until I dose 0.1 ppm/day. Then I keep dosing that to maintain my sponge population.

Excellent. Good observations.
When I measured Si starting dosing, I found that obvious diatom growth started for me at a couple of tenths ppm SiO2, and I did not grow diatoms more or faster when ramping up to 1-2ppm SiO2. It suggested that maybe the diatoms could get the Si they needed at the level of a few tenths, and more didn't dramatically change things.
Both sets of observations are helpful. I imagine systems can respond quite differently in these cases. Ymmv.

 

[KonradTO]

Excellent. Good observations.
When I measured Si starting dosing, I found that obvious diatom growth started for me at a couple of tenths ppm SiO2, and I did not grow diatoms more or faster when ramping up to 1-2ppm SiO2. It suggested that maybe the diatoms could get the Si they needed at the level of a few tenths, and more didn't dramatically change things.
Both sets of observations are helpful. I imagine systems can respond quite differently in these cases. Ymmv.

Yes it could easily be that simply it takes time for the dinos to disappear and my scaling up the dose is not necessary. Patience is something we are not used to anymore... The important thing is that in my system I found an almost bulletproof solution for LCA and Ostreo outbreaks. I can always see some small LCA patches in the tank but as soon as they don't spread they are daily eaten/buried by the conch. For me it's great news, so much more peace of mind! Thanks for all the suggestions!