So I ordered some dinoflagellates today...

[Jedi Knghit]

Long story short, my brother-in-law bought me one of these...

The Mushlume UFO™ is a solar-powered showpiece for one of the world’s most extraordinary phenomena: bioluminescence. This living art aquarium is an interactive galaxy of sea life that glows cosmically blue when swirled at night.

• Hold one of nature's most magical occurrences in your hand
• Powered by sunlight, water, and simple nutrients
• The glow comes from microscopic sea life called Dinoflagellates

https://urbz.io/

I though it was interesting until I hit the four-letter word, Dinoflagellates. I spent months trying to kill these things in my tank, and someone thinks it would be cool to buy me some? :)

 

[Rmckoy]

Long story short, my brother-in-law bought me one of these...

The Mushlume UFO™ is a solar-powered showpiece for one of the world’s most extraordinary phenomena: bioluminescence. This living art aquarium is an interactive galaxy of sea life that glows cosmically blue when swirled at night.

• Hold one of nature's most magical occurrences in your hand
• Powered by sunlight, water, and simple nutrients
• The glow comes from microscopic sea life called Dinoflagellates

https://urbz.io/

I though it was interesting until I hit the four-letter word, Dinoflagellates. I spent months trying to kill these things in my tank, and someone thinks it would be cool to buy me some? :)

Wow …

i think it’s pretty cool .

I remember something mixing household chemicals to make glow in the dark liquid .
it might have contained peroxide and something else ?

 

[Jedi Knghit]

Yeah, it looks interesting and I know my daughter will love it. Only downside is the feeding requirement. They recommend you take a 1/3 of the water out very 2-3 weeks and replace it with "VitaminSea" that they sell for $15 plus shipping.

VitaminSea Ingredients

"Purified Pacific Ocean water with a proprietary blend of vitamins and minerals. pH adjusted for Urbz® bioluminescent dinoflagellates."

Sounds like mine are going to be feed display tank water.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Yeah - these dinos (Pyrocystis fusiformis) are coldwater and non-toxic (people have legitimately drunk the stuff before, though it’s not recommended). People add these to their tanks on occasion, but they typically only last a couple of weeks (slowed growth at the higher temp, and removal via filtration, skimmers, etc.).

They’re pretty neat, and kids will definitely love them.

 

[neo1738]

Yeah DT water is probably perfect for them. Highly tempting to get for my daughter (or myself!) so we'll see!

 

[Hairyteeth]

Yeah - these dinos (Pyrocystis fusiformis) are coldwater and non-toxic (people have legitimately drunk the stuff before, though it’s not recommended). People add these to their tanks on occasion, but they typically only last a couple of weeks (slowed growth at the higher temp, and removal via filtration, skimmers, etc.).

They’re pretty neat, and kids will definitely love them.

Wait…. You could add them to your tank. Have fun for a couple weeks, and then their gone!!!! that’s too much fun, think I’m going to have to do this

 

[neo1738]

Wait…. You could add them to your tank. Have fun for a couple weeks, and then their gone!!!! that’s too much fun, think I’m going to have to do this

Just added a bunch of corals don't want to upset any apple carts etc lol. Probably freak out the fish too!

 

[Jedi Knghit]

Wait…. You could add them to your tank. Have fun for a couple weeks, and then their gone!!!! that’s too much fun, think I’m going to have to do this

lol, I was wondering about that. I have a QT tank rolling in the basement. I would consider trying them in there if I wasn't receiving coral today.

 

[Hairyteeth]

lol, I was wondering about that. I have a QT tank rolling in the basement. I would consider trying them in there if I wasn't receiving coral today.

Great idea I have a qt empty rn….. thinking I should try
I think the fish will be just fine lol

 

[SPS2020]

Back in the day, we thought Sea Monkeys were the greatest! LOL

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

lol, I was wondering about that. I have a QT tank rolling in the basement. I would consider trying them in there if I wasn't receiving coral today.

Yeah, P. fusiformis is technically a phytoplankton (it’s a huge one at sizes up to 1 mm versus things like Nannochloropsis and Tetraselmis at 5-15 microns, but it’s still photosynthetic and produces oxygen), so it shouldn’t really harm anything. In fact, fish, copepods, and the like will probably eat it. A note for anyone looking to grow it, it likes high nutrients (nitrate, phosphate, and carbon).

 

[Shon]

I've wondered about this stuff before. I've read a paper where it increased feeding response in fish. Glowing brine shrimp sounded cool.

See if I can find that paper again after work.

 

[Shon]

Can't find the exact one that was on increased feeding and survival of fry, but this one (used bioluminesence bacterium) with increased feeding response in nocturnal fish..

https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1116683109
"The promoted glow in Artemia dramatically affected its risk of being preyed on by the nocturnal fish Apogon annularis in a recirculating laboratory flume in the dark. Almost all the glowing Artemia offered to the fish were consumed readily (Fig. 3 and Movie S1), compared with rare occasions of predation on nonglowing specimens."

And found a youtube of glowing brine.

 

[s2minute]

Long story short, my brother-in-law bought me one of these...

The Mushlume UFO™ is a solar-powered showpiece for one of the world’s most extraordinary phenomena: bioluminescence. This living art aquarium is an interactive galaxy of sea life that glows cosmically blue when swirled at night.

• Hold one of nature's most magical occurrences in your hand
• Powered by sunlight, water, and simple nutrients
• The glow comes from microscopic sea life called Dinoflagellates

https://urbz.io/

I though it was interesting until I hit the four-letter word, Dinoflagellates. I spent months trying to kill these things in my tank, and someone thinks it would be cool to buy me some? :)

I tried this once. Never again. The bioluminescent Dinos are a toxic algae. This almost drove me right out of the hobby. These Dinos can create what is commonly known as The Red Tide. Do yourselves a HUGE favor. NEVER add these Dinos to your system. It will end up ruining your hobby. If I wanted to add Bioluminescent organisms to my reef system, it would be species of Bioluminescent Amphipods. I just have to discover where to collect them.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

I tried this once. Never again. The bioluminescent Dinos are a toxic algae. This almost drove me right out of the hobby. These Dinos can create what is commonly known as The Red Tide. Do yourselves a HUGE favor. NEVER add these Dinos to your system. It will end up ruining your hobby. If I wanted to add Bioluminescent organisms to my reef system, it would be species of Bioluminescent Amphipods. I just have to discover where to collect them.

Actually, these specific bioluminescent dinos don't cause red tides (though many others do), and they're not toxic - if you added a different, bioluminescent dinoflagellate species, then it may very well be toxic/red tide forming.