The fight continues ! Dino’s or diatoms?

[Polyp Punk]

Hey reefers

update on my tank issue. I cannot shake this dam brown algae on my sand bed. Been fighting Dino’s for over a year and my UV seemed to get rid of them. I still have the UV running HOB and the string Dino’s are gone but this crap on the sandbed is still here and won’t budge. I’m leaning towards diatoms ? It could also be LCA Dino’s. Im so burnt out on this issue. My tank is a year and a half old and i havnt been able to enjoy it for one minute. Maybe I have extra silicate in the water causing the diatoms ? Silicate Test kits are on the way and I also added a 5th filter to my RODI with anion resin in case a ton of silicates are getting through? Thoughts ? Picture below.

 

[Idech]

I don’t know but I feel for you. I’m having a similar problem. This sucks.

 

[xcountryx]

My tank is way newer then yours but I had the same issue tried all sorts of things to get it to go away. Not saying this is your issue but I've had to stop using my skimmer. I only use it 1 hour after I feed and only run it for an hour. Ever since then no more brown sand. Hope this helps!

 

[GarrettT]

When you start seeing webs, that’s when you know you have a problem. Do the coffee filter test. I believe it’s on the tired of battling dinos thread.

 

[Jimbo]

I have the same stuff as in your pic. I thought it was Diatoms too, upgraded my RO/DI thinking it was from silicates.

Just would not go away and got worse. Finally broke down and bought a kid’s microscope on Amazon for 30 bucks.
Turns out it’s Dino’s……..LCA to be exact. Alt least now I know what it is and I’ve been battling it for over a month now. Sorry to tell you if it does turn out to be the LCA, you’ve got a battle ahead of you.

Good news is it’s not toxic like other Dino’s but the bad news is it’s the hardest to get rid of. Hope it turns out to be diatoms for you. Only way to find out is buy or borrow a microscope. You’ll need at least 400X magnification.

‘Good luck!

 

[Lavey29]

Hey reefers

update on my tank issue. I cannot shake this dam brown algae on my sand bed. Been fighting Dino’s for over a year and my UV seemed to get rid of them. I still have the UV running HOB and the string Dino’s are gone but this crap on the sandbed is still here and won’t budge. I’m leaning towards diatoms ? It could also be LCA Dino’s. Im so burnt out on this issue. My tank is a year and a half old and i havnt been able to enjoy it for one minute. Maybe I have extra silicate in the water causing the diatoms ? Silicate Test kits are on the way and I also added a 5th filter to my RODI with anion resin in case a ton of silicates are getting through? Thoughts ? Picture below.

Drop a sand sifting goby in there and he will blow that suff up into the water column for you.

 

[jmichaelh7]

Drop a sand sifting goby in there and he will blow that suff up into the water column for you.

Any if it’s toxic wil die. I lost mine when I had Dino’s

 

[Lavey29]

Any if it’s toxic wil die. I lost mine when I had Dino’s

OP would already know this if there were a bunch of dead snails on his sandbed. If not then as stated above its probably a non toxic version.

 

[Polyp Punk]

I have a silicate test kit coming. I’m going to test my RODI water and tank. I’m also adding in an extra anion cartridge to my RODI. I’ll update you guys…. Maybe I’ll just completely take out all the sand as my last resort ?

 

[taricha]

I’m leaning towards diatoms ? It could also be LCA Dino’s.

I'll bet on large cell amphidinium dinos based on that picture.
Good news is that they are basically harmless. Just annoying brown. The UV got rid of the more problematic ones so there's little reason to stress over it. siphon out any parts that are more brown than you can tolerate.

 

[Polyp Punk]

I'll bet on large cell amphidinium dinos based on that picture.
Good news is that they are basically harmless. Just annoying brown. The UV got rid of the more problematic ones so there's little reason to stress over it. siphon out any parts that are more brown than you can tolerate.

How can I get rid of them remove sandbed ?

 

[smalltanks]

Read this post https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/dinoflagellates-–-are-you-tired-of-battling-altogether.293318/

Dinos thrive when nitrates and phosphates are ultra low to zero. As some others have posted on the above linked thread, they pretty much eradicated their Dinos by actually dosing phosphate and or nitrate. There is also a stickied thread or article about using hydrogen peroxide (h202) to eradicate Dinos.
It seems from what I’ve read that having non stop Dino stems from a root cause somewhere in the system, so replacing all your sand probably won’t prevent the issue from happening again. It also seems like from what I’ve read that precise, deliberate steps need to be taken to address the problem.

 

[Polyp Punk]

So it’s preety much confirmed it’s defff Dino’s I have no sooocates in the water I tested my RO and tank water. I’m going to remove all of the sand from the system and pray that works. How should I rip clean the sand. Any suggestions?

 

[GarrettT]

@brandon429

 

[brandon429]

a ten mins total duration read and each step is required, full disassembly cleaning with no room for customization:

Sadies Biocube 16

www.nano-reef.com

*we can't remove the sand from the tank without taking the tank down, that's unsafe. our method shown above is safe, fully cleaning the tank as shown, page 12-17 is safe and an easy pattern read. using this method, no nano reef could be invaded by anything. ID doesn't matter, params like nitrate and phosphate don't matter (and often come stated from cheap non digital test kits which are wrong, then we have folks dose N and P corrections to misread settings)


if we study the two jobs on file and repeat them without deviation, a perfect rip clean will result here for SL

we discuss every option of preventing regrowth too, that's a perfect read above in 5 pages total to see how to never own an invaded nano reef, watch their updates unfold as the days go by. they're happy reefers now.