Dinoflagellates

reefshadow

reefshadow

Member
Hi, Crystal, welcome!

I just rid my 125 prop tank of this AWFUL algae a few weeks ago, this is how I handled it.

Used Polyfilter and phosphate remover in my cannister filter, blasting the algae off of the rocks, corals and sand a few times a day. (I was VERY aggressive about doing this, because as you know, it grows soooo fast! I would blast and everything would be covered again within 2 hours). Doing this also put alot of detritus in suspension so it could be removed. I put a prefilter on my cannister (a hot magnum) because alot of the loose algae was forming a film on my waters surface and I have no sump/overflow on this tank. I rinsed the Poly every day to get that stuff out of the system.

I did a few small water changes, 10 gallons each, vaccuming the sand each time. I couldn't believe the crap that came out of there. I did a change every other day for a week. (ro water).

I dosed kalk 24 /7, getting the PH up to a consintant 8.5, also kept alk. up there, @ 12 dkh. Now I have let the PH fall to 8.2.

Cleaned my skimmer very well so it is running @ maximum efficiency.

Added 2 more powerheads to really get the current clipping around in there (more than I liked in this tank even).

Again, I had to be VERY aggressive with this, and it took about 1 week to start seeing results, and a few days beyond that until it was totally gone.

These steps rid me of this algae and it hasn't been back yet. I have become very carefull about not overfeeding and rinsing most foods. I will also now vaccum the sand every time I do a water change and am blasting the rocks weekly to get detritus into suspension so it can be removed.

I didn't resort to turning my lights off or even shortening the photoperiod. Though this can work, it's not getting at the root cause of the problem leading to the nuisance algae, which is excess nutrients, plain and simple. Unlike what many people say, mine didn't disappear at all during the night anyway.

I plan to add some type of fuge in the future so I can grow and export macros.

I hope this helps you, good luck!!!

-Becca:)
 
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reefshadow

reefshadow

Member
You can get rid of it!

I know exactly how dismaying it is to see this stuff ALL OVER EVERYTHING. Brown, slimy, stringy GROSS stuff. It was literally covering everything in my tank. The LR looked like it was dipped in brown snot. It was weird, because in the 4+ years i've been doing this hobby i'd never dealt with dinos, but it crops up in my prop tank, only 6 months after starting the system up! I'm not sure how bad yours is but if it is anything like mine was, you're pretty frustrated.

Anyway, it's gone now :D Yipeeeee!
 
reefshadow

reefshadow

Member
No, unfortunately I didn't take any pics of it. To tell you the truth, I hated even looking at the tank, hoping it would just go away, but it only got worse. (I was ashamed, I tell you! :) )

It was kind of a rusty brown colour, with trailing slimy strands. LOTS of bubbles trapped within and on top of it. It started on the sand and at first I though maybe it was cyano, but it just spread and kept getting worse and worse. It also didn't come off in a sheet like cyano does, but when blasted, kind of flew off the rocks and sand in a powdery haze, with some smaller bits floating around. It's weird stuff. Only a couple of hours later it would cover everything again, bubbles and all.

Oh yeah. One other thing my tank lacked was a large cleanup crew, but most cleaners find this stuff distasteful anyway, and from what I hear, prolonged ingestion may lead to death, in fish and in inverts.

:)
 
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C

crystalreef

New Member
Now I have a dutch aquarium system. If you are not fimiliar with them it is an in the tank filter that has an over flow a biological and a denitrification chamber and a pump to circulate water. If I go and blow all this crap of the rocks and all around the tank will that be just adding to my problem of just spreading it and getting it into the filter and such?
 
reefshadow

reefshadow

Member
Ahhh. Gosh, that puts a different spin on things... (maybe?)

I would defer to more expert opinions than mine, but if I was in your place I would definately remove the bio balls (if you're using them) even w/o this algae problem. They tend to cause higher nitrates because they break down detritus into nitrate, and don't go the extra mile with anaerobic bacteria like the rock and sand do. Nitrate is a nice algae fuel, especially combined w/ phosphate.

It would definately help for you to post system particulars such as all params- alk, PH, ca., nitrate, SG, temp, phosphate etc... Also what type of system is this? Reef, FO, FOWLR? Lighting? Skimmer? Sand bed? How much live rock? How mature is this system, and what maintenence do you regularily do? Source water?

Can you replace the bio balls w/ new filter pads to catch the detritus and loose algae?

Somebody who has converted from dutch to berlin could help you better than I can with this new spin on things.

There's lots of great help on this board, and you'll get it figured out!

:)
 
Gina

Gina

Moderator
RS STAFF
Becca,

Excellent information! Glad your here to help her out with first hand experience! Not that you had to go through it being good but, that you can help her out on the road to a beautiful tank!!
 
Mebigloser

Mebigloser

Member
Here is a picture of the nasty stuff, not a great picture of it. Was focusing on the soft pen coral instead of the dino's
 
C

crystalreef

New Member
I should have done this right away but this is my tank info.

75g Dutch

Lighting 400w 20k MH (4 months old)
2x40w NO (old)

Temp. 79-80
S.G. 1.026
Phosphate .5
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Ammonia 0

Skimmer Excalibur (not getting to much skimmate from it but water is crystal clear no yellow)

RO/DI make up water

2 true black percula clown fish
1 yellow tang

Live rock fiji,tong,indo,cuba. 80 lbs
Coral sps,lps,soft

Running for about 1.5 years

Thanks
Chris Lawrence
(crystalreef)
 
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