Dinoflagellates – Are You Tired Of Battling Altogether?

[Gildo]

HI
I wanted to share with you what seems to me to be a definitive success with dinos.
ostreopsis ovata, but really resistant... in 2 and a half years I followed the instructions of this tread, the only time I didn't do it and I used dinoX I only caused damage and then it came back. the thing that worked best was the silicate dosage! I dismantled and rebuilt the tank, but after a couple of months they returned... while maintaining the recommended values of No3 and P which were always recognized under the microscope.... perhaps something wasn't clean!
And here comes the turning point: By chance and honestly not for dinos I got a reefmat 1200 the classic roller filter. in which 100% of the water passes, 8x recycling
Done the usual dark days to block intense flowering, dosed silicates.
the corals are better, dosing bacteria no longer causes the dinos to explode, everything seems to be going well.
after 2 months I finish the reel... I stay without it for 6 days, I start to see some dinos again, but once the reel is reassembled they disappear. I continue without being without rollers even for a second for 8 months! I dose bacteria, I feed the tank well etc... after 8 months I do a test. no roller for 15 days!
no dino reappeared or visible under the microscope!

I am very happy with the result!

now instead I would like to ask you some questions: on the forums in my country everyone insists on saying that dinos feed on silicates, that therefore if you have silicates the dinos come, and furthermore that dinos feed on diatoms, and that everything is related from the scientific literature! From what I learned of this tread it's the exact opposite! Where does this belief come from? and how can I prove that this is not the case????

 

[Salty_Northerner]

Diatoms feed on silicates. That's why you added silicates to the water to outcompete the dinos with diatoms. I'm at the end of the road myself with these dinos and I just gravel vac the sand into a filter sock and replace the old water back into the tank. Adding bactor7 and bactor clean on alternate days and dropped my lighting by 4 hrs. Bubbled the tank at night to keep them suspended and let the skimmer pull them out. Also been using a UV seems to have helped along with bumping the no3 to 10-15 and po4 around .15 and fingers crossed so far as it's been working. Here you can see dinos and diatoms at the same time.

 

[buruskeee]

Is this Dino? Was diatoms until yesterday I noticed brown long hairs instead of the brown dusting on the sand of diatoms that was persistent the couple of weeks prior.

150G+ system volume about 2 months old now.

My parameters:
Salinity 34.5ppm
Alk 8.1 dKh
Cal 500
Mag 1350
Temp 77.5F
PH 8.3
No3 3.0ppm
Po4 0.03ppm

 

[beesnreefs]

FWIW, I had a confirmed case of both SCA and LCA (mostly SCA) I was battling for the last 9 months. Daily bottled bac, daily live phyto, countless bottles of pods, increased nutrients…pretty much everything except silicates dosing.

Three weeks ago I added three pounds of love Keys sand from AquaBiomics. Spread the sand out in a thin layer over top the sand bed in my 180 gallon display. I also started light carbon dosing with Tropic Marin BactoBalance. My nutrients have maintained at 10 +\- for nitrates and 0.03-0.05 for phosphates.

Dinos are no longer visible in my tank.

 

[ScottB]

Is this Dino? Was diatoms until yesterday I noticed brown long hairs instead of the brown dusting on the sand of diatoms that was persistent the couple of weeks prior.

150G+ system volume about 2 months old now.

My parameters:
Salinity 34.5ppm
Alk 8.1 dKh
Cal 500
Mag 1350
Temp 77.5F
PH 8.3
No3 3.0ppm
Po4 0.03ppm

Could be dinos. Or cyano. Or a combo. Or some other temporary surface competitor that shows up during the "uglies" phase. Link to an article I wrote a few years back. Find the "coffee filter test" and let us know what you find.

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

Can you get Dinos when neither NO or PO have not hit zero? I ordered a telescope and should be here tomorrow and can post pics when I fire that $3 contraption up.

Salinity 1.026
Alk 8.68 dKh
Cal 480
Mag 1480 (high, working down slowly)
Temp 78.5F
PH 8.5
No3 8.1ppm
Po4 0.07ppm

Tank is 4-5 years old. The dark red in the left and right corners has been there for as long as I can recall. I can’t tell from the substrate as I have an insane amount of spaghetti worms, so I can’t tell what strings on my sand may perhaps not be something different. I have a lot of bubbles that have to be photosynthetically generating. I have had someone recently tell me it’s just diatoms, but it’s been here for a couple weeks now. I started siphoning the top layer into a 100 micron filter sock into the water of of my roller mat.

I let my GFO go to long and my PO4 hit .18 2 weeks ago and some GHA appeared that I am now having to address. I have not had zero nutrients of any kind in a long while.

 

[reeftivo]

Can you get Dinos when neither NO or PO have not hit zero? I ordered a telescope and should be here tomorrow and can post pics when I fire that $3 contraption up.

Salinity 1.026
Alk 8.68 dKh
Cal 480
Mag 1480 (high, working down slowly)
Temp 78.5F
PH 8.5
No3 8.1ppm
Po4 0.07ppm

Tank is 4-5 years old. The dark red in the left and right corners has been there for as long as I can recall. I can’t tell from the substrate as I have an insane amount of spaghetti worms, so I can’t tell what strings on my sand may perhaps not be something different. I have a lot of bubbles that have to be photosynthetically generating. I have had someone recently tell me it’s just diatoms, but it’s been here for a couple weeks now. I started siphoning the top layer into a 100 micron filter sock into the water of of my roller mat.

I let my GFO go to long and my PO4 hit .18 2 weeks ago and some GHA appeared that I am now having to address. I have not had zero nutrients of any kind in a long while.

could be a mixture but looks more like cyano bacteria to me. cyano usually mats but can string on rocks/sand bed and hold bubbles too.

hard to tell w/o microscope. i went through dinos and once beaten down i developed cyano and GHA due to my elevated levels of nutrients. took a while to get the balance back.

your NO3 and PO4 are fine. Hows your flow? more is better!!!!!

Also, what's your maintenance schedule?

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

could be a mixture but looks more like cyano bacteria to me. cyano usually mats but can string on rocks/sand bed and hold bubbles too.

hard to tell w/o microscope. i went through dinos and once beaten down i developed cyano and GHA due to my elevated levels of nutrients. took a while to get the balance back.

your NO3 and PO4 are fine. Hows your flow? more is better!!!!!

Also, what's your maintenance schedule?

OK, I got my microscope - but the instructions are so small I actually need the microscope to read them but with out instructions I can’t read them - Circular Reference? Lol. This is going to be a long night. It’s been over 30 years since I touched one of these.

 

[Kellie in CA]

So, I've been dealing with Proro for over a year. After months of dosing silicate I finally got a diatom outbreak.
But now Proro and Diatoms have been happily sharing the sandbed for 2 months and neither seems to be outcompeting the other. What now?

 

[reeftivo]

OK, I got my microscope - but the instructions are so small I actually need the microscope to read them but with out instructions I can’t read them - Circular Reference? Lol. This is going to be a long night. It’s been over 30 years since I touched one of these.

take a pic of the pages with your cell so you can enlarge them to see.

I'm almost 60 and i've been there and done that with my old eyes LOL

 

[reeftivo]

So, I've been dealing with Proro for over a year. After months of dosing silicate I finally got a diatom outbreak.
But now Proro and Diatoms have been happily sharing the sandbed for 2 months and neither seems to be outcompeting the other. What now?

are you running UV and adding pods with phyto? Also remember to not feed aminos for corals or add trace elements during that time or the Dinos will feast. Feed only enough for the fish. The corals and inverts will survive on the poo

a lot of the prorocentrum will free float at night and get sterilized by UV. UV wont kill them but should neuter them

 

[Idech]

So, I've been dealing with Proro for over a year. After months of dosing silicate I finally got a diatom outbreak.
But now Proro and Diatoms have been happily sharing the sandbed for 2 months and neither seems to be outcompeting the other. What now?

It’s my third time having them. They came back when I removed my in-tank UV pump. The hoses were filled with stinky water and it leaked into the tank. Two days later they were back.

I have gotten rid of them so far after about 2 months each time. I have to dose 2 ppm of silicate daily for this entire time. My silicate levels go incredibly high, like 3000% of what they should be. But it works and even though my corals aren’t thriving, they aren’t dying for the most part. I don’t do water changes while dosing, and not for at least a month after.

Then I use Phosguard to bring dow silicate levels when I’m sure they’re not coming back.

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

take a pic of the pages with your cell so you can enlarge them to see.

I'm almost 60 and i've been there and done that with my old eyes LOL

Let’s see if this works. I put my white lab coat on, I grabbed sand that is in question and I stirred it up. James Cameron I am not…

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

could be a mixture but looks more like cyano bacteria to me. cyano usually mats but can string on rocks/sand bed and hold bubbles too.

hard to tell w/o microscope. i went through dinos and once beaten down i developed cyano and GHA due to my elevated levels of nutrients. took a while to get the balance back.

your NO3 and PO4 are fine. Hows your flow? more is better!!!!!

Also, what's your maintenance schedule?

My flow is good, I have 3 MP40s at 50% and 3 back pumps built in that push water in a roll towards the flint pane. For maintenance - twice a week clean glass. 15-20% water changes weekly with a light gravel vac. I think may have fueled this perhaps. I checked my iron 3 weeks ago and the Red Sea test showed I was near zero and I dosed 100ML. I’m now wondering if I may have dosed too much. This was 10 days after a Flucanazole treatment for Bryopsis. I went 2 weeks with no UV or skimmer while in treatment. I’ve always battled a some GHA, so I gave it a little extra to help rid me of that. Well, now GHA is coming back while I figure this mess out. However, corals, fish and inverts are all sitting back with the popcorn enjoying their best life…

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

take a pic of the pages with your cell so you can enlarge them to see.

I'm almost 60 and i've been there and done that with my old eyes LOL

This one might be better

Vimeo

vimeo.com

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

I think it is only letting me post 1 free one.

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

Here is part of it.

 

[Salty_Northerner]

Can you get Dinos when neither NO or PO have not hit zero? I ordered a telescope and should be here tomorrow and can post pics when I fire that $3 contraption up.

Salinity 1.026
Alk 8.68 dKh
Cal 480
Mag 1480 (high, working down slowly)
Temp 78.5F
PH 8.5
No3 8.1ppm
Po4 0.07ppm

Tank is 4-5 years old. The dark red in the left and right corners has been there for as long as I can recall. I can’t tell from the substrate as I have an insane amount of spaghetti worms, so I can’t tell what strings on my sand may perhaps not be something different. I have a lot of bubbles that have to be photosynthetically generating. I have had someone recently tell me it’s just diatoms, but it’s been here for a couple weeks now. I started siphoning the top layer into a 100 micron filter sock into the water of of my roller mat.

I let my GFO go to long and my PO4 hit .18 2 weeks ago and some GHA appeared that I am now having to address. I have not had zero nutrients of any kind in a long while.

To me it looks like dino and cyano mixed together. Have you tried bubbling your tank?
I had dino, diatoms and a bit of cyano and bubbling took the slime/stringy crud away into the filter which I was able to remove and wash out. I bubbled at night for a week while adding hydrogen peroxide and it sure cleaned things up. The corals didn't care as once the smart power bar turned off the wooden air stone the MP's would just blast the air bubbles that were held under rocks and such away and things were back to normal.

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

To me it looks like dino and cyano mixed together. Have you tried bubbling your tank?
I had dino, diatoms and a bit of cyano and bubbling took the slime/stringy crud away into the filter which I was able to remove and wash out. I bubbled at night for a week while adding hydrogen peroxide and it sure cleaned things up. The corals didn't care as once the smart power bar turned off the wooden air stone the MP's would just blast the air bubbles that were held under rocks and such away and things were back to normal.

That’s the thing, I really don’t have any strongly slimy stuff. Strictly tons of “dusting”. So you just put an air stone in your tank at night? 1 ML of peroxide per 10G when lights out, is that the ratio you used?

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

OK, lets try this agian: