Dinoflagellates – Are You Tired Of Battling Altogether?

[reeferfoxx]

So maricle mud is just baked dirt and I need to find Fiji mud. Thanks I was looking at getting maricle mud. Where can I find some Fiji mud

Yes. Miracle mud is dry. Walt Smith's Fiji Mud comes in different sizes and so different online vendors only provide different sizes. I think I got my 6lbs from Dr. Foster and Smiths site. Some places don't sell the smaller 6lb tub.

 

[Sebae]

For what it's worth I added the large pail of Fiji mud to my system and noticed no real difference in dinos or microfauna. I'm not saying it doesn't have uses but for me there wasn't a big difference.

Adding live rock caused the dinos to go away the first time. The second batch of live rock I added, thinking more would just help biodiversity, resulted in a dino bloom two days later...

 

[reeferfoxx]

For what it's worth I added the large pail of Fiji mud to my system and noticed no real difference in dinos or microfauna. I'm not saying it doesn't have uses but for me there wasn't a big difference.

Adding live rock caused the dinos to go away the first time. The second batch of live rock I added, thinking more would just help biodiversity, resulted in a dino bloom two days later...

Ya I'll kind of agree with this to an extent. Nothing good happens overnight and it's hard to take mature live rock and expect other sources from ocean to outshine it. Though my coralline algae and polyp extention on coral really did take off.

 

[sfin52]

Just looking for new ways to install microfauna to my system. Make sure out on rock 85+ lbs of live rock in my system. I’m going to add more sand. Lost a lot of it over the last three yrs tanks has been set up. Water changes and that kind of thing.

 

[Sebae]

Ya I'll kind of agree with this to an extent. Nothing good happens overnight and it's hard to take mature live rock and expect other sources from ocean to outshine it. Though my coralline algae and polyp extention on coral really did take off.

Definitely agree with the second part. Coralline took off and so did polyp extention/SPS growth. For whatever reason I had a burst in growth and now things have stalled. No changes in measurable parameters though.

 

[saltyhog]

With the Fiji ban on live rock and coral, will the Walt Smith Fiji mud even be available now?

 

[reeferfoxx]

With the Fiji ban on live rock and coral, will the Walt Smith Fiji mud even be available now?

I dont know! Good question. Buy it up while we still can lol

 

[reeferfoxx]

For whatever reason I had a burst in growth and now things have stalled. No changes in measurable parameters though.

Not sure how you are applying it? What I do for my 30g is take half a tablespoon and swirl in tank water and pour it into the display.

As far as changing parameters, it shouldnt change anything. And for the stalled growth, could be a water quality issue.

 

[Sebae]

Not sure how you are applying it? What I do for my 30g is take half a tablespoon and swirl in tank water and pour it into the display.

As far as changing parameters, it shouldnt change anything. And for the stalled growth, could be a water quality issue.

What I mean is that after I added live rock I had a burst in growth that stalled after a couple of week. There were no changes in water quality (e.g. alkalinity) that would be obvious reasons for the stall in growth.

 

[reeferfoxx]

With the Fiji ban on live rock and coral, will the Walt Smith Fiji mud even be available now?

And FWIW, there is always Garf Grunge. Though, it has small rock rubble in it. So you'll get some BB along with pods and other common tank stuff. But it's more or less a mom and pop shop making a 'poop soup' and selling it.

 

[reeferfoxx]

What I mean is that after I added live rock I had a burst in growth that stalled after a couple of week. There were no changes in water quality (e.g. alkalinity) that would be obvious reasons for the stall in growth.

In context of water quality I'm talking toxins, DOCs, waste, or reduced pH as a result of.

 

[sfin52]

That’s what you can do from a friends tank

 

[zachxlutz]

And FWIW, there is always Garf Grunge. Though, it has small rock rubble in it. So you'll get some BB along with pods and other common tank stuff. But it's more or less a mom and pop shop making a 'poop soup' and selling it.

I bought 10 lbs of GARF Grunge and added it to my 140 gallon system while I was fighting ostreopsis and large cell amphidinium dinoflagellates ONLY using manual export and nutrient balancing and it made little to no difference. I don't think it made enough impact on it's own. I'm curious if I had added the 10lbs while using the UV sterilizer if I would have seen better results. My theory is the dinos had such a stronghold on the tank without the UV that the GARF grunge didn't ever have a chance to help before it was engulfed in dinos.

 

[Jolanta]

One question that my friend made and Im curious, has anyone of you infected with dinos have heavy bioload in his tank? My tank always have only few fish and I was wondering maybe thats the problem and only adding more fish we dont need to dose anything anymore.

 

[reeferfoxx]

This doesn't pertain to dinos.

If you haven't watched this video on Mike Palettas tanks, he talks about how these systems are plumbed together. Though, they use the same water, each tank has different issues that doesn't spread to the other tank. In theory, might be a sump to DT effect.

 

[zachxlutz]

One question that my friend made and Im curious, has anyone of you infected with dinos have heavy bioload in his tank? My tank always have only few fish and I was wondering maybe thats the problem and only adding more fish we dont need to dose anything anymore.

It does seem like those with dino outbreaks have either A. a low bioload to begin with or B. have driven their nutrients down to zero using methods such as carbon dosing, GFO, etc. I think it's a good idea to have a stable, appropriate sized, bioload along with a consistent feeding schedule in order to have your nutrient levels be balanced and available for a diverse crowd of microfauna and algae.

 

[reeferfoxx]

One question that my friend made and Im curious, has anyone of you infected with dinos have heavy bioload in his tank? My tank always have only few fish and I was wondering maybe thats the problem and only adding more fish we dont need to dose anything anymore.

I added fish. Nitrates stayed a little more stable. I did stop dosing nutrients but my dinos were on the way out and hair algae was growing very well.

I will say have the cyano bloom, that nutrients need to be monitored again. Cyano can reduce N and P and the little dinos ah's can benefit from that. I realized the other night that no3 almost bottomed out again. I've since caught it.

 

[Sebae]

W

I added fish. Nitrates stayed a little more stable. I did stop dosing nutrients but my dinos were on the way out and hair algae was growing very well.

I will say have the cyano bloom, that nutrients need to be monitored again. Cyano can reduce N and P and the little dinos ah's can benefit from that. I realized the other night that no3 almost bottomed out again. I've since caught it.

What was your target phosphate level when maintaining manually? My P drops so fast that it still blows my mind. I can't wait for the day that I see hair algae.

 

[Paullawr]

Lol? Fake what?

Well you see this is what I thought. I’d also be surprised if Walt smith was putting his name on a tub of dirt that had zero benefits.

I kid you not though I was watching a live stream only two week ago today and they were all over miracle mud. I asked if anyone had tried Fiji mud and I was told it’s fake by several audience members and three hosts....! Maybe I should of asked for them to backup the claim.

 

[reeferfoxx]

W


What was your target phosphate level when maintaining manually? My P drops so fast that it still blows my mind. I can't wait for the day that I see hair algae.

I targeted between .08 and .15. Took morning and evening doses to reach that. My target no3 was 10 but sometimes would reach close to 15.