Why do I still have Dinos??
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j.falk
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My theory is that they come in with the new sand. I also started with dry Marco rocks. I fought dinos for months and couldn't beat them until I took all of the sand out of my tank...I haven't had any issues with dinos since.
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Gernader
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Thanks! I just read the article and it looks like setting the temp to 83 degrees will destroy the Dinos!
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Gernader
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I’m currently using regular instant Ocean, but I never had any problems in my old tank.
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Gernader
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Yeah, it looks like it’s because of my new sand and new rocks. Hopefully, Dinos will go away when I increase the temperature to 83 degrees.
Following. I believe I’m fighting Dino’s too they keep browning my sand and rock. I ripped my tank clean rinsed the sand. They came back in about a week. Since then I’ve moved on to dosing MB7 and added the Aqua illumination 15w Uv which has been going about a week. I would say little success so far even when I stir the sand and watch the sand turn white at night.
@Gernader - let us know how increasing the tank temperature goes for you. It seems that for a majority on the other thread, an increase in tank temperature was largely unsuccessful. However, more data points are always helpful, so you might as well finish out the experiment! Have you been able to ID which dino you're dealing with?
There are 5 common species of dino we find in reef aquariums. Four of the 5 respond well to UV if sized properly, with slow flow into/out of the affected display. (1 watt per 3 gallons; 300 GPH)
As stated, large cell amphidinium are largely unaffected by UV as the stay in the sand bed at night. You woul be wasting money on a UV. And golly is this species difficult to treat. Probably best off to leave them be until they exhaust themselves. They are not terribly toxic.
There is also the "poor man's UV" which is just filter floss hung in high flow and high light areas. Particularly effective against ostreopsis. They love to cling to the stuff.Just rinse each evening before lights out. Picture attached. (you might be able to notice the UV in the background; I am pretty serious about knocking down dinos.)
Lastly, for $25 or so, you can take the guess work out of your species. A cheap, student microscope at 400X. Snap a phone pic and post it to the "Are you tired" major dino thread where there a dozen or so folks that can ID and provide at least a consensus view on ideal treatment methods. Amphidinium treatment still pretty experimental IMO.
Great write up @ScottB! I'm a big advocate of IDing which dino you're dealing with and the student scope is always a welcome suggestion! In addition, there's a few of us on the site that have offered to scope and ID dino samples for free if they're sent our way.
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Gernader
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I will let you know soon if it works! I didn’t try to ID the Dinos. I know it is Dinos due to the brown string with bubbles.
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Gernader
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@andrewey @Rick5 It looks like the Dinos have disappeared after increasing the temperature! However, now I’m starting to get brown hair algae! I just tested my tank parameters and I found out that I got 0 nitrates and 0.1 phosphates. I will have to increase the feedings and let the hair algae ride it out. At least, I’m happy the dinos aren’t present.
@Gernader Thanks for letting us know! I'm tagging @taricha, so your experience can be added to the data points he's collected. So far it seems that the temperature increase doesn't work for most, however for some fraction of reefers it does. It would be interesting to figure out if this is specific to the type of dino or how other parameters play into the success/failure of this approach. Given how prevalent dinos are and how difficult it is for some to manage, this is certainly exciting for those where it works!
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Gernader
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My clean up crew is low right now because I just transferred them from my old tank, so I ordered more CUC online and it should come soon. Once I get them, I will have over 110 snails and 1 emerald crab. I can’t take a picture of the algae since the lights are off right now.
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hrm....
"brown hair algae" is almost always just green hair algae with diatoms or dinoflagellates growing as epiphytes on it. Derbesia throws a party and lots of others come along for the ride.
Even if it were still dinos covering GHA (and diatoms is more common), the change @Gernader has seen means that either the dinos got pushed out of their normal niche due to conditions not being favorable anymore, or one kind decreased leaving something else more apparent.
"brown hair algae" is almost always just green hair algae with diatoms or dinoflagellates growing as epiphytes on it. Derbesia throws a party and lots of others come along for the ride.
Even if it were still dinos covering GHA (and diatoms is more common), the change @Gernader has seen means that either the dinos got pushed out of their normal niche due to conditions not being favorable anymore, or one kind decreased leaving something else more apparent.
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Gernader
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Yes, it turns out it is green hair algae once I flashed a light on it. I think the dinos disappeared due to increased temperature and increased phosphates. Now, diatoms and gha are taking over. Hopefully, dinos won’t come back!
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Gernader
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Nope, I did not use chemicals. All I did was increased the temperature, no white lights, increased feedings to increase nitrates and phosphates, and I am sure the bacteria from the bottle helped too.
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Gernader
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By the way, I don’t have any nuisance algae as of right now. I even saw some coralline algae growing on the dry rocks already!
C. Eymann
2500 Club Member
One "old school" method of keeping dinos at bay has been kalkwasser, personally I have never had to battle dinos in any of my personal tanks, but I have always used kalkwasser to handle a large portion of mineral demand
Just my two cents
an article by our own @Randy Holmes-Farley
It maybe older, but I feel it should be recognized as a possible asset on addition to other methods when dealing with a reoccurring problem with dinos.
Just my two cents
an article by our own @Randy Holmes-Farley
It maybe older, but I feel it should be recognized as a possible asset on addition to other methods when dealing with a reoccurring problem with dinos.
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