Dinoflagellates – Are You Tired Of Battling Altogether?

techhnyne · Nov 7, 2017

zachxlutz said:
Dinos soak up nutrients in a speed which would rival the Flash. It may take several days of dosing to see a reading. KNO3 WILL raise your nitrates. Give it time. Increase your dose by 5-10% each dose until you start to see a reading and then adjust accordingly.

I have 125 g tank and about a 60g sump. I used half a bottle of stump out already since yesterday afternoon and still reading 0

Im just scared it might be causing more harm then good by putting this stuff in there and getting no reading.
Heres a quick video. The algae off my rocks is gone due to me trying to dose h202 but the dinos are back

zachxlutz · Nov 7, 2017

techhnyne said:
I have 125 g tank and about a 60g sump. I used half a bottle of stump out already since yesterday afternoon and still reading 0

Im just scared it might be causing more harm then good by putting this stuff in there and getting no reading.
Heres a quick video. The algae off my rocks is gone due to me trying to dose h202 but the dinos are back

What is your ratio of KNO3 to RODI? I use 28 grams to 150 ml of RO/DI. I routinely have to dose 40-60 ml of the solution to bring my nitrates up to 10 from close to 0. I have roughly 140-150 gallons of water volume (120 + 55- rocks - sump level = 140 to 150).

Edit: Without browsing the last few pages, I'm not sure what strain you're battling, but if it's ostreopsis then you NEED to get a UV to help with the process. It made a HUGE difference in my system, almost overnight. My strain is/was ostreopsis.

revhtree · Nov 7, 2017

Turned my skimmer off yesterday and started feeding a little more to see what happens. My Triton test actually showed that I needed to feed a little more! Also got some Vibrant on the way.

techhnyne · Nov 7, 2017

zachxlutz said:
What is your ratio of KNO3 to RODI? I use 28 grams to 150 ml of RO/DI. I routinely have to dose 40-60 ml of the solution to bring my nitrates up to 10 from close to 0. I have roughly 140-150 gallons of water volume (120 + 55- rocks - sump level = 140 to 150).

Edit: Without browsing the last few pages, I'm not sure what strain you're battling, but if it's ostreopsis then you NEED to get a UV to help with the process. It made a HUGE difference in my system, almost overnight. My strain is/was ostreopsis.

I use 6 tablespoons for 1 liter of rofi.
I dosed the whole liter and nothing

zachxlutz · Nov 7, 2017

techhnyne said:
I use 6 tablespoons for 1 liter of rofi.
I dosed the whole liter and nothing

If you were at 0 ppm NO3 and dosed the entirety of that you should be seeing around 100 ppm NO3 on your next subsequent test (source: http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/calculator.htm), as long as the solution has diluted into the entire water column.

What kit are you testing with?

Also, your video looks similar to my strain. UV might be a good option along with the nutrient balancing.

zachxlutz · Nov 7, 2017

revhtree said:
Turned my skimmer off yesterday and started feeding a little more to see what happens. My Triton test actually showed that I needed to feed a little more! Also got some Vibrant on the way.

More feeding may not be enough to spike the nutrients past the starvation mode of the dinos. I'd suggest using NO3 and PO4 supplementation to really dial in your target numbers.

TbyZ · Nov 7, 2017

zachxlutz said:
If you were at 0 ppm NO3 and dosed the entirety of that you should be seeing around 100 ppm NO3 on your next subsequent test (source: http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/calculator.htm), as long as the solution has diluted into the entire water column.

What kit are you testing with?

I had a test kit that would read 5ppm no matter what, even if no3 was 60 ppm +

zachxlutz · Nov 7, 2017

TbyZ said:
I had a test kit that would read 5ppm no matter what, even if no3 was 60 ppm +

That's what I'd be worried about.

Dhoggs · Nov 7, 2017

TbyZ said:
I had a test kit that would read 5ppm no matter what, even if no3 was 60 ppm +

There are test kits which will allow you to dilute the tank water sample with RODI if your nutrient exceeds the regular range. RSCP nitrate test kit is one of them.

techhnyne · Nov 7, 2017

What test kit should i get then? Im gonna order a new one now

chefjpaul · Nov 7, 2017

revhtree said:
Turned my skimmer off yesterday and started feeding a little more to see what happens. My Triton test actually showed that I needed to feed a little more! Also got some Vibrant on the way.

I had to dose both no3 & po4, although my no3 remained stable after second shot, I had to continually dose po4.

I did this until GHA took over and out completed the dinos.
It took aroubd a month or so.

Still have fairly ugly tank, but cuc takung care of it.

zachxlutz · Nov 7, 2017

techhnyne said:
What test kit should i get then? Im gonna order a new one now

The Red Sea Nitrate Pro Test Kit is great, in my opinion. It allows you to dilute your sample down to get really accurate readings.

Pandy · Nov 7, 2017

I believe I’ve recently been dealing with Dinoflagellates amphidinium in my ZEOvit tank. My method of treatment has been completely anecdotal from researching on the ZEOvit forum, and I dose a concoction of KZ bacteria and ‘cleaner’ products, and so far it’s had a very positive effect. It’s taken daily dosings for weeks but the tank has improved drastically.

I had a big nutrient spike once the main phase of the dinos started dying out, which bought along Cyanobacteria - but that sort of helped my case in that it smothered the rocks so suffocated any remaining dinos still on the rocks. I’m now down to the last remaining patches in my sand bed but I’ll continue to dose for a good few weeks after I feel the dinos aren’t visible anymore - just incase.

Testing times for sure, I’ve come so close to throwing the towel in on a few occasions!

mcarroll · Nov 7, 2017

Dhoggs said:
What brand of test kit are you using to test nitrates? How concentrated was the solution that you created, how much did u dose and what is your total water volume?

See the nitrate calculator link up in the first post – it should have all the info you need, but ask away with any questions!!

techhnyne · Nov 7, 2017

Also. Someone mentioned to me they found sucess beating dinos with UV steralizer. Has anyone else won the war with UV?

mwilk19 · Nov 7, 2017

techhnyne said:
Also. Someone mentioned to me they found sucess beating dinos with UV steralizer. Has anyone else won the war with UV?

I did. I had ostreopsis and tried the H2O2 thing and used Vibrant with no luck. I bought an oversized (55w) UV filter for my 120. It took about a week but they disappeared. I keep the UV running 24/7 along with maintaining my No3 and Po4 levels.

techhnyne · Nov 7, 2017

mwilk19 said:
I did. I had ostreopsis and tried the H2O2 thing and used Vibrant with no luck. I bought an oversized (55w) UV filter for my 120. It took about a week but they disappeared. I keep the UV running 24/7 along with maintaining my No3 and Po4 levels.

Do you run the UV in line with the main water line plumbing or so you run it on a different loop?

Pandy · Nov 7, 2017

Sanjay Joshi posted that he beat it on one of his tanks with UV after trying other methods.

I’ve installed one on mine but only run it 12hrs per day due to being on a bacteria system. Whether it helps or not with such short run time I don’t know, but it’s another weapon in my arsenal to try.