Dinos, Hair Algae and Nutrients

[nonagon13]

I know this is discussed in myriad posts but I am still confused and need advice.

I recently transferred a 40 gal reef tank into a new Red Sea Reefer 300xl with mostly new water and all new sand. The existing rock and coral had some nuisance filamentous hair algae. I had a new "mini" cycle in the new tank but everything has been running well and the corals are growing.

I now am going through a dino bloom. The dinos cover the sand and cling to the corals. They even group up by the overflow. I have increased flow through the filter socks and tried to siphon some out. Right about the time the dinos started I thew in some macro algae in the sump for a refugium thinking I had a nutrient issue that was causing algae. I didn't measure nutrients at that time and assumed it was a nutrient issue incorrectly, as I'm sure these are dinos and not algae or cyano. I dealt with dinos once upon a time in the old system. Not sure of the strain.

Alk is 8.4
Nitrates are 2
Phosphates are 0

So nutrients are low but I have old rock with some nuissance algae that could be eating up the nutrients giving me low readings. What should I do to combat the dinos and the algae?

I'm not in the market for a UV sterilizer (don't want to deal with plumbing or high cost). Right now my plan is to increase the clean up crew to combat the algae. I am siphoning out and basting the dinos through the micron filter sock. Should I try to raise nitrates and phosphates with brightwell producs? Should I try microbacter7 (says it reduces nutrients which confuses me, but hobbyists report it cured their dinos)?. I would love some suggestions!

 

[JCTReefer]

A Dinoflagellate Treatment Guide

As the title suggests, this is intended as a short guide on what to do when you suspect dinoflagellates are trying to overtake your system. It is an attempt to boil down the protocols discussed across 11,000 posts in this "Are you Tired" thread along with thousands of other dino threads. I did...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Yates273]

Key for me was leaving my tank alone. I let my tank get dirty to allow other algae to outcompete the Dino’s. I stopped with water changes and didn’t clean the glass I also did several blackouts to knock it back. Eventually the Dino’s were gone. It did take a few months but it worked. Unfortunately what works for one may not work for another since it could be a different strain, but for me this way was successful. Whatever way you choose to fight it good luck! and be patient