So Recently My wife and I did a re-scaping of my tank. We took out almost all of the rocks and drilled and re-scaped. The Night after that I did a water change... and 3 days later another water change. Roughly 40 gallons each time. I'm now dealing with a crazy amount of DINO's.. I just put online Purigen,Phosban,and Carbon. I'm also running a great skimmer and I plan to put my Ozone Reactor online shortly. I have corals and a Anemone... What else can I do to kill this crap?
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Dinoflagellate Hell
- Thread starter asonitez
- Start date
There is no silver bullet for most problems in our systems, and a number of different species of problematic organisms that react differently to our remedies. As is in almost all cases removal of excess nutrients is part of any solution/remedy, i.e. aggressive skimming WC's, etc. I would be siphoning as much of it out as possible on a daily basis, reduce your photo period to half, elevate your pH*, run GFO to reduce PO4 and GAC to eliminate any toxins produced as the dino's die off. I would bring these on line slowly, use more than is recommended for your system, and change it more frequently.
* One of the first things that happens this time of year when we have to close up our houses, is the fact that we no longer are getting a good air exchange, causing elevated levels of CO2 in our household atmosphere. This will translate into higher levels of CO2 in our system as well, as it reaches equilibrium with the surrounding atmosphere, causing lower pH. If you can, run an air live from the intake of your skimmer to an outside air source. If not, you could add a CO2 scrubber to the intake. If your not doing it already, I'd also add kalkwasser(I prefer Mrs. Wages) to your top off water(keep an eye on your Ca and Alk if doing this, and make adjustments to your dosing if necessary).
* One of the first things that happens this time of year when we have to close up our houses, is the fact that we no longer are getting a good air exchange, causing elevated levels of CO2 in our household atmosphere. This will translate into higher levels of CO2 in our system as well, as it reaches equilibrium with the surrounding atmosphere, causing lower pH. If you can, run an air live from the intake of your skimmer to an outside air source. If not, you could add a CO2 scrubber to the intake. If your not doing it already, I'd also add kalkwasser(I prefer Mrs. Wages) to your top off water(keep an eye on your Ca and Alk if doing this, and make adjustments to your dosing if necessary).
Don't put to much stock in the hydrogen peroxide cure. It'***** or miss like all the other "fixes" in this hobby. My sons tank got hit pretty hard with it and I'm still going at it. The biggest dent was lights out and peroxide both. But after 6days no lights it showed back up slowly but surely.
I have GFO going ATM but will be setting up carbon also. And the cheato is going like crazy. One thing I found is true though. Stop all WC's immediately. It will only fuel the fire if you really do have Dino's.
My next step is when I return from vacation. That will be all new rock/sand and a whole new cycle in the tank. I'll just have to move to a 10g while I wait the cycle
I have GFO going ATM but will be setting up carbon also. And the cheato is going like crazy. One thing I found is true though. Stop all WC's immediately. It will only fuel the fire if you really do have Dino's.
My next step is when I return from vacation. That will be all new rock/sand and a whole new cycle in the tank. I'll just have to move to a 10g while I wait the cycle
Well I never had them before. I'm not prepared to replace all my rock and sand yet either. If it comes to that then maybe I would consider. I would probably Re-Stock my entire tank if that's the case. My saving grace is that I'm a few days away from finishing the setup of my 60 Gallon Cube and even if I have to move my corals into the cube in the mean time... it would be better than letting them die to Dino's.
I JUST did a water change and I actually regret it. If I knew that causes the outbreak even worse I would have just left it alone.
I just started a 3 day Blackout. I replaced all my GFO/Carbon/Phosban and my skimmer is going in over drive. I'm using a micron filter sock as well I'm rushing the setup of the 60 Gallon now though. I need to have it up and going by the end of the week. I got the plumbing stuff last night. I'm going to rapid cycle with bacteria. I'm using established and cooked live rock but there is not much life on it. Just in case I think I'm going to dump in some hydrogen peroxide into the holding container to kill off any bryopsis that MIGHT have clung on. I'm planning to get down and try to hook up my Ozone Reactor tonight which will kill some free floaters.
I JUST did a water change and I actually regret it. If I knew that causes the outbreak even worse I would have just left it alone.
I just started a 3 day Blackout. I replaced all my GFO/Carbon/Phosban and my skimmer is going in over drive. I'm using a micron filter sock as well I'm rushing the setup of the 60 Gallon now though. I need to have it up and going by the end of the week. I got the plumbing stuff last night. I'm going to rapid cycle with bacteria. I'm using established and cooked live rock but there is not much life on it. Just in case I think I'm going to dump in some hydrogen peroxide into the holding container to kill off any bryopsis that MIGHT have clung on. I'm planning to get down and try to hook up my Ozone Reactor tonight which will kill some free floaters.
Please keep the updates rolling. I will to. I've been hesitant to remove my corals in fear of the Dino's being on them and moving to my other tank as well. So far they are doing ok though during the day they get a few strings of Dino's on them. They, so far have handled the blackouts well though. My biggest setback was about 2 weeks after the 6 day black out. I decided to do a 5g WC and forgot to clean out the skimmer cup. The skimmer was going well and full of dark gunk. Anyway I just forgot all about it. A day later the skimmer overflowed and all the gunk was back in the tank. A day after that the Dino's had come back. Basically just stupidity on my part.
Since this will die without pics....
Before the water changes and dosing began
After the drilling and re-scape
Old bulbs
I replaced my radiums
https://vimeo.com/111534554
Lost some corals.. When the bryopsis came
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Before the water changes and dosing began
After the drilling and re-scape
Old bulbs
I replaced my radiums
https://vimeo.com/111534554
Lost some corals.. When the bryopsis came
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I've been battling this stuff too. I might try this advice. What do you guys think?
I've fought them on a few occasions and they are a real PITA. I wish I could say that there is a magic bullet for dealing with them but there really isn't . I'm not even sure that their cause is well understood. Peroxide and raising pH didn't do anything for my outbreaks. Peroxide did cause some of my sps to bleach. Lights out for 3 to 5 days along with stopping water changes did seem to knock them out each time for a few months. The only pattern that I think that I've seen is them appearing in late fall and early summmer. It's made me wonder if they are somehow tied to co2 levels in the house when the windows are closed for cooling or heating.
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Where did you buy the Ultra Algae X from? Can't find it anywhere online.
Here's some reading:
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-11/rhf/index.php#21
http://web.archive.org/web/19990830191218/www.animalnetwork.com/fish/aqfm/1998/nov/wb/default.asp
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-11/rhf/index.php#21
I've never had the chance to try this myself, but I always wondered what type of salt mix was used when WC's made the problem worse. Since many of the "Reef" type of salt mixed use some type of "organics" that may be beneficial to coral, etc. they may also be feeding the problem/nuisance organism. If you're using something like Reef Crystals, would changing to plain IO have the same or different effect with the WC?
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-11/rhf/index.php#21
http://web.archive.org/web/19990830191218/www.animalnetwork.com/fish/aqfm/1998/nov/wb/default.asp
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-11/rhf/index.php#21
I've never had the chance to try this myself, but I always wondered what type of salt mix was used when WC's made the problem worse. Since many of the "Reef" type of salt mixed use some type of "organics" that may be beneficial to coral, etc. they may also be feeding the problem/nuisance organism. If you're using something like Reef Crystals, would changing to plain IO have the same or different effect with the WC?
4 days of blackout, massive amount of phosban, purigen, carbon, and 24/7 ozone at 425 I think I beat it. I've had my t5 on all day and haven't seen any form. I'm going to start with 4 hours of halides and 1 hour of t5 and see if I truly beat it. I'm holding off water changes for a month. My skimmer has been in overdrive
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