Perfect time to get dinos?

[bigbugoutfitters]

I finally got dinos. Woohoo? I feel like this is a bit of a veteran badge as ive kept reefs for 7 years or so. The last few years have been extremely low maintenance. I do waterchanges, either dose kalkwaser or all for reef depending on the year/tank and have had decent enough success.
Current tank is a reefer 250. Been up for a year, rock is going on three years old. I feed pretty well, but have been running an oversized skimmer the entire time(probably the primary culprit) tank is barebottom(possibly another issue.)
Noticed a couple weeks ago thst my phosphates had bottomed out. Sent out an icp around the same time that confirmed it, so i was keeping a close eye on the tank while trying to feed more and do even less maintenance. Well sure enough i noticed some dinos showing up. Did the coffee filter test to make sure and yuuuup!

Anyways, perfect timing…

Normally i would be in a bit more of a panic than i am now, however the house we are building is nearing completion and i am already planning on transferring all contents of the reefer to a 180 sometime early january. If you were planning on breaking down the tank anyways for a transfer would you still go on an all out war, or would you just try to keep it at bay for a couple months? Even though ive kept tanks for years i still consider myself quite the amateur. Having read about how disastrous some peoples fight with dinos has been has be a bit nervous to go all guns blazing.

Thanks!

 

[Subsea]

“If you were planning on breaking down the tank anyways for a transfer would you still go on an all out war, or would you just try to keep it at bay for a couple months? Even though ive kept tanks for years i still consider myself quite the amateur”

Not sure what you mean by going “all guns
blazing”. At the minimum, consider a uv sterilizer for Dinoflagellate spores and increase your nutrients in or reduce your export.

After 50 years of Reefing, I am skimmerless & filterless. I use live rock & cryptic refugium.

I suggest you reconsider oversized skimmer and bare bottom. Are you operating an ultra low nutrient system for SPS?

Everything organic needs nitrate & phosphate.

 

[bigbugoutfitters]

“If you were planning on breaking down the tank anyways for a transfer would you still go on an all out war, or would you just try to keep it at bay for a couple months? Even though ive kept tanks for years i still consider myself quite the amateur”

Not sure what you mean by going “all guns
blazing”. At the minimum, consider a uv sterilizer for Dinoflagellate spores and increase your nutrients in or reduce your export.

After 50 years of Reefing, I am skimmerless & filterless. I use live rock & cryptic refugium.

I suggest you reconsider oversized skimmer and bare bottom. Are you operating an ultra low nutrient system for SPS?

Everything organic needs nitrate & phosphate.

I suppose I consider all guns blazing installing a uv. Haha.
I actually wasnt going for ulns. It just sorts got there on its own. I didnt run the skimmer all the time. Mistakingly thought that it wouldnt be a problem. Sorts surprised that i am only getting the dinos now as the tank has been up for a year and i recently doubled the number of fish that i have in the tank.

I guess that a simplified question would be this. Seeing as i am going to be upgrading to a large tank with a sand bed and an appropriately sized skimmer, should I aggressively combat these dinos or just try to keep them at bay? I havnt had much interest in running uv in the large tank and dont want to buy one only to use it for two months. The dinos shouldnt be transferred to the new system, correct ?

 

[bigbugoutfitters]

As for increse nutrients and decrease export, i plan to start dosing phyto, increase feedings, and do water changes a bit less often. Going to really keep an eye on those nitrates and test phosphate daily.

 

[Subsea]

I suppose I consider all guns blazing installing a uv. Haha.
I actually wasnt going for ulns. It just sorts got there on its own. I didnt run the skimmer all the time. Mistakingly thought that it wouldnt be a problem. Sorts surprised that i am only getting the dinos now as the tank has been up for a year and i recently doubled the number of fish that i have in the tank.

I guess that a simplified question would be this. Seeing as i am going to be upgrading to a large tank with a sand bed and an appropriately sized skimmer, should I aggressively combat these dinos or just try to keep them at bay? I havnt had much interest in running uv in the large tank and dont want to buy one only to use it for two months. The dinos shouldnt be transferred to the new system, correct ?

“The dinos shouldnt be transferred to the new system, correct ?“

I would not assume that. I would not use any of the water. If using old substrate, I would do a RIP clean with fresh water and consider further sanitizing with a high dose of peroxide.

Dinoflagellate spores are in the water column and on all surfaces. I suspect I have dinoflagellate in my 25 year mature system, but because Of competitors they can not get a foothold.

 

[bigbugoutfitters]

“The dinos shouldnt be transferred to the new system, correct ?“

I would not assume that. I would not use any of the water. If using old substrate, I would do a RIP clean with fresh water and consider further sanitizing with a high dose of peroxide.

Dinoflagellate spores are in the water column and on all surfaces. I suspect I have dinoflagellate in my 25 year mature system, but because Of competitors they can not get a foothold.

Alright, thankfully it id barebottom so no substrate to transfer. I had thought that dinos were in all tanks but only flourish and make themselves known in the right conditions.

 

[bigbugoutfitters]

Maybe seeing as i am going from 64 gallons total water volume to roughly 230 it should be a gentle transfer. The new tank will likely be up for a month or so before the tank transfer.

 

[Subsea]

Alright, thankfully it id barebottom so no substrate to transfer. I had thought that dinos were in all tanks but only flourish and make themselves known in the right conditions.

I suspect that you are correct in that Dino’s are in all tanks. The same can be said for Cynobacteria.

In my experiences, lack of diversity of competitors & consumers allows proliferation of undesirables.

 

[bigbugoutfitters]

Pulled out the the microscope and it looks like we have prorocentrum. Seems like its a bot easier to deal with.

 

[Stevorino]

I personally would go get a UV sized for your future aquarium and that very well may do the trick, or at least help significantly.

The other option I'd be considering is going ahead and getting rock for the next tank and start cooking it to get bacteria going.

Save some room in the top of the vessel so if the goings get rough with dinos, you can move over corals and then go low light/no light in the current tank.