Ready to throw in the towel from Dinos

[Alexreefer]

I have a tank just over a year old and have been battling dinos ever since I bottomed out nutrients. I have been battling what seems to be Amphindium(is that how you even spell it?) dinos. The dinos never form bubbles but are consistent of glass and rocks. I have tried h202, UV, Vibrant, refugium and nothing seems to work. I recieved my new ulr phosphate Hanna Checker and will post params soon. I also just started Dino X not sure it will work but am done with with these dinos.

No3 - 20 Nyos and 50 by salifert. All by ppm
No4 - 0.90 ppm
Using a 7 and a half hour light period by only blues from 2 Ai primes on a 75G tank.
Have been reading about metronidazole and might try that but do not have enough info at the current time.
Any help Is greatly appreciated. Thanks, Alex

 

[Alexreefer]

#reefsquad Any ideas?

 

[OutsideBrian]

What are you using for flow?

 

[revhtree]

Check out my thread here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/how-would-you-feel-if-i-tore-it-all-down.374918/

Here is where I started Vibrant: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/how-would-you-feel-if-i-tore-it-all-down.374918/post-4607244

 

[revhtree]

Vibrant and a good blackout finally knocked mine out.

 

[Alexreefer]

What are you using for flow?

Return is a rio2100+ and 2 hydor wavemakers

 

[saltyhog]

A few thoughts. If it's amphidinium, it's the hardest of the dino species to eradicate IMO since it doesn't go in to the water column at night and is therefor not responsive to UV for the most part. It would be helpful to get a video of your dinos under a microscope to determine the species.

There are some basics that are important in all species. #1 maintain NO3 around 5 or above, maintain PO4 around 0.1 or above (I'm assuming what you list as NO4 is actually PO4?) .

#2 remove as much manually as you can.

#3 dosing silicates to increase diatoms seems to help most species.

#4 This only my thought not the predominant theory but dosing beneficial bacteria helped me tremendously with amphidinium. Whether it's Dr Tim's Wasteaway, Vibrant, Microbacter 7, etc. It seems to help.

Try to get that video if you can, it really helps. If you do post it on the big dino thread in the nuisance algae forum and you can get a confirmation of the species and other ideas.

Above all don't give up! It can be beat! Resist the urge to use "quick fixes" as they usually don't work and often cause damage to the tank inhabitants. DinoX is a good example of that IMO.

 

[Bret Brinkmann]

Your nutrients should be enough to encourage them to go back into the water column where UV would be effective. How many Watts on the UV and gph going through it? Also what are the settings for your lights?

 

[IslandLifeReef]

I used Vibrant, added pods, and fed phyto to my tank and got rid of my Dino's.

 

[Entz]

Removing all my sand was the only thing that worked for me (small cell Amphidinium) or at least started me down that path. Not sure if that was the only factor as removing sand caused an a evil bloom, added UV for that, then had Cyano from hell and got past that as well. As far as I can tell they are not around any more (test sand patch shows none).

They are nasty little ones...

 

[taricha]

First, take a step back. Are these dinos toxic? Have you seen any livestock suffering from the Dinos and their toxins? Large cell ampidinium are usually low or non-toxic and they don't attach to coral so they rarely bother anything. They are annoying and ugly, but not really a crisis in any sense.

Just my $0.02.

 

[brandon429]

Alex has tried very very very hard many methods to work this tank, not been sidelining thats for sure ~ I like that idea above of pulling sand and not putting it back until problem abates. fix it using nutrients N/P balances etc but sandless is a nice next step that doesnt interfere with bio tuning for dinos suppression. he's cleaned the bed well but am concerned some is always hiding still

I enjoy watching all options for large tank battles they're totally humbling, can't wait to see what works here team. He has certainly undoubtedly removed the lions share of aggregates here, a tail end never stops coming back. We've been chatting months on this tank can't wait to collect multi ideas/we want this solved!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[brandon429]

anyone got ideas

 

[revhtree]

anyone got ideas

Did you read my thread? I was dosing 50ml a day of Vibrant to knock it out!

 

[Alexreefer]

Your nutrients should be enough to encourage them to go back into the water column where UV would be effective. How many Watts on the UV and gph going through it? Also what are the settings for your lights?

Just a small 24w green killing machine.
UV 118%
Violet 115%
Royal 49%
Blue 38% evrything else is 0%

 

[Alexreefer]

Yes I

Did you read my thread? I was dosing 50ml a day of Vibrant to knock it out!

I have!

 

[Alexreefer]

First, take a step back. Are these dinos toxic? Have you seen any livestock suffering from the Dinos and their toxins? Large cell ampidinium are usually low or non-toxic and they don't attach to coral so they rarely bother anything. They are annoying and ugly, but not really a crisis in any sense.

Just my $0.02.

Not toxic, all snails and crabs are fine

 

[Alexreefer]

Removing all my sand was the only thing that worked for me (small cell Amphidinium) or at least started me down that path. Not sure if that was the only factor as removing sand caused an a evil bloom, added UV for that, then had Cyano from hell and got past that as well. As far as I can tell they are not around any more (test sand patch shows none).

They are nasty little ones...

Could you explain further on sand test?

 

[Alexreefer]

Have brought my possible solutions down to 3 in the preferred order.
1. Metroplex
2. Vibrant
3. Silicate dosing

Also have salifert and nyos no3 test kits varying by 30ppm Any test kit suggestions to help me find a average? If anyone has any other ideas feel free to pitch in!

 

[IslandLifeReef]

Have brought my possible solutions down to 3 in the preferred order.
1. Metroplex
2. Vibrant
3. Silicate dosing

Also have salifert and nyos no3 test kits varying by 30ppm Any test kit suggestions to help me find a average? If anyone has any other ideas feel free to pitch in!

Well, what are your phosphates?

As I mentioned earlier, I used Vibrant, copepods, and phytoplankton to try to outcompete the Dino's. My nutrients were much lower than your NO3.

What I forgot to mention was that I thoroughly cleaned my sand as @brandon429 is suggesting. Something is feeding the Dino's, and there isn't anything outcompeting them.

I would try to rid my tank of all detritus before using anything else.

The sand test refers to taking a handful of sand from your tank bottom and dropping it in the tank. If it clouds, there is detritus build up.