The Good (Diatoms), The Bad (Dinoflagellates Osteo), and The Ugly (Dinoflagellates Amphidinium).

Micro-Reefs Aquarium

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I have been reefing since 1991 when I was 21 years young, now at 2021 at the age of 51 and what I thought was wise unitl meeting Dinoflagellates and them schooling into being naive, I have come up with liking Diatoms wPUrhhen before they were my foes.

Vacuuming with a Micron 25, then with a Micron 5 filter sock, DOESN'T DO NOTHING BUT MAKE THE SAND GORGEOUS WHITE FOR ALMOST 24 HOURS.

Purhasing a Tiger Conch, will eliminate 98% of diatoms, yummy they love it and are the vacuum cleaners of diatoms, but THEY WILL NOT TOUCH, AMPHIDINIUMS! If they do taste it they will burry themselves in the sand for a 24 hour hold, on the stomach ache they received for trying that out for dinner.

Reducing whites from LEDs and increasing blues, makes it better for a short time, takes longer for the Dinos to regroup and multiply. If the whites were on, wow they do it quicker.

Raising the temperature from 77-78F to 82-83F, AMPHIDINIUMS, they don't care! Doesn't do a darn thing to them at all, in fact they seem to have reproduced more, warmer water, faster metabolism.

Keeping my Phosphate .03-09, Nitrates 5-15ppm still working on this concept for 2 weeks in and aquarium is not worse but it is not better!

Adding beneficial bacteria, like Microbacter 7, two weeks in not any better, not any worse!

Flushing filtered water from Micron 25 and Micron 5 filter through 100% by-pass UV, not any worse not any better.

Conclusion:

Large Cell Amphidiniums are here to stay, they are not going nowhere, they can have my sandbed, my rocks my corals are 100 percent free of Dinos, they are not interested, well at least not yet on the live rock which is aquacultured from the ocean, Keys of Florida. They are thriving on the sandbed, both from my lights and nutrition, this makes them both mixotrophic! These ugly guys are tough and resilient and that makes them almost bullet proof in our marine tanks.

My corals were suffering from my hands going into the tank and adding more mayhem, then they like, that stress knocked out a couple frags, so I stopped and brought back all parameters temp and lighting the same before and the corals are blooming once again.

This is not a fight to erradicate Dinos, no way! They have eluded predation and are part of the ecosystem in our tanks, I am led to believe they will burn themselves out into a smaller more un-noticeable area of my reef. When conditions favor them, they will explode, when conditions are against them, they will hibernate so they can live for the next run.

My microscope arrives this week, I cannot wait to learn more about these very ellusive Protist that has baffaled the reefing community. This is a hobby that fascinates me as easy as it irritates me when things go south. So, I miss the Good, Diatoms, I hate the Bad Osteo Dinos, and I really hate/dispise the Ugly Amphidinium but they are here to stay wilth us!
 

painfullycurious88

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My nutrients bottomed out (phosphate & nitrates) and I ended up getting dino's really bad. I ended up dossing nitrates to around 10 and using bacter7 after a 3 day blackout. They're still here but every day it gets a little better.
 
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My nutrients bottomed out (phosphate & nitrates) and I ended up getting dino's really bad. I ended up dossing nitrates to around 10 and using bacter7 after a 3 day blackout. They're still here but every day it gets a little better.
Please take a look at my two short videos of week 2 on dinos, I don't care anymore they are on my sand bed.

My corals have never looked better with higher phos + nitrates.

My concern is do they attack the rocks and my corals next?

If that is to come I will need to do battle because I am not going to watch and do nothing as this ugly dinos destroys the entire tank.
 

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Please take a look at my two short videos of week 2 on dinos, I don't care anymore they are on my sand bed.

My corals have never looked better with higher phos + nitrates.

My concern is do they attack the rocks and my corals next?

If that is to come I will need to do battle because I am not going to watch and do nothing as this ugly dinos destroys the entire tank.
Mine were all over my liverock, and LPS I had to blow them clean with a turkey baster at least 2-3 times daily when the battle started now its once daily.
 
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Mine were all over my liverock, and LPS I had to blow them clean with a turkey baster at least 2-3 times daily when the battle started now its once daily.
Did you have Amphidiniums or Osteo? I am alarmed because did you see how mine are not on my liverock or my corals, both tanks. They are just all over the sandbed but wow, am I going to get covered now that they are spreading?

Did yours crossover on week 2 or 3 to your live rock or did they get on that sooner?
 

ScottB

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Please take a look at my two short videos of week 2 on dinos, I don't care anymore they are on my sand bed.

My corals have never looked better with higher phos + nitrates.

My concern is do they attack the rocks and my corals next?

If that is to come I will need to do battle because I am not going to watch and do nothing as this ugly dinos destroys the entire tank.
It is the ostreopsis that have the toxins to stress corals. LC Amphids are merely a visual nuisance. You are correct though in that nobody really can eat them. Diatoms are really their primary competitors for space, so adding some silicates to boost them should, in time, help.

More than a few have reported that LEAVING THE SAND BED ALONE is better than disturbing it all the time. The amphids bounce back better than the diatoms and other competitive micro critters do. Dinos love disturbance and imbalance. Often (not always) a nutrient deficiency gives them the upper hand.
 
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It is the ostreopsis that have the toxins to stress corals. LC Amphids are merely a visual nuisance. You are correct though in that nobody really can eat them. Diatoms are really their primary competitors for space, so adding some silicates to boost them should, in time, help.

More than a few have reported that LEAVING THE SAND BED ALONE is better than disturbing it all the time. The amphids bounce back better than the diatoms and other competitive micro critters do. Dinos love disturbance and imbalance. Often (not always) a nutrient deficiency gives them the upper hand.
I used the Micron 25 and Micron 5 filter socks, with the last one Micron 5 looking like it left the sandbed crystal white sand, only to be run over by what you see in the video above, I don't know if it might be diatoms that came back, wishful thinking, my microscrope hasn't come in yet. So, that was the last major disruption the sandbed got, yesterday. So I am just letting it grow and see what happens. I see the small bubles under the stringy snot. Diatoms sometimes looks exactly the same.
 

painfullycurious88

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Did you have Amphidiniums or Osteo? I am alarmed because did you see how mine are not on my liverock or my corals, both tanks. They are just all over the sandbed but wow, am I going to get covered now that they are spreading?

Did yours crossover on week 2 or 3 to your live rock or did they get on that sooner?
Started on my liverock and then went to sandbed. It annoyed my coral when it would get stuck, but I haven't seen any issues in regards to coral growth.
 
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Started on my liverock and then went to sandbed. It annoyed my coral when it would get stuck, but I haven't seen any issues in regards to coral growth.
Okay, you have a different strain. Mine started on my sandbed and have stayed there not showing any whatsoever interest in my live rock or my corals, I really hope it stays that way. I believe it is Amphidiniums the large cell ones that stay on the sandbed only and are not as toxic but they are hard to remove.
 
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For those following my thread about how pervasive and extremely resilient the Amphinidium are to erradiction, I have employed simple acrylic plates to create black out grids to stop incomming light to the Amphinidium, although they are mixotrophic, I am at least trying to stop it's 2nd form of energy from reaching them, light.
 
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