Dinoflagellates

crystalreef · 02-22-2004, 04:38 AM

just wondering those of you who had Dinoflagellates before how did you get rid if them?

nivek · 02-22-2004, 05:02 AM

you can check out this thread :

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/...6454#post36454

Oh yea...WELCOME!!!!

Montanareefer · 02-22-2004, 05:15 AM

Also a big welcome!

reefshadow · 02-22-2004, 05:55 AM

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

crystalreef · 02-22-2004, 06:23 AM

Thanks for the quick reply. Great info by the way going to try it out today.

reefshadow · 02-22-2004, 06:37 AM

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

Yipeeeee!

crystalreef · 02-22-2004, 06:39 AM

do you have any pics of what it looked like in your tank?

reefshadow · 02-22-2004, 06:51 AM

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.

crystalreef · 02-22-2004, 07:23 AM

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 · 02-22-2004, 08:03 AM

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 · 02-22-2004, 08:13 AM

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 · 02-22-2004, 08:59 AM

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

crystalreef · 02-22-2004, 11:52 AM

yep that's the stuff

hoped that I was wrong, but no.

CRAP!

crystalreef · 02-22-2004, 11:54 AM

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)

02-22-2004, 04:38 AM	#1 (permalink)
crystalreef Tunicate Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 13 View Gallery Karma Komment	Dinoflagellates just wondering those of you who had Dinoflagellates before how did you get rid if them?

02-22-2004, 05:02 AM	#2 (permalink)
nivek Cabbage Leather Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Penang, Malaysia Posts: 367 View Gallery Karma Komment	you can check out this thread : http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/...6454#post36454 Oh yea...WELCOME!!!! __________________ "Hey Yoda! Stop playing with my orange lightsaber!" - Master Nivek

02-22-2004, 05:55 AM	#4 (permalink)
reefshadow Ricordea Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: washington Posts: 196 View Gallery Karma Komment	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 __________________ 240 gallon glass mixed reef 2x 250 watt m.h., 2x 175 watt m.h., 3x 110 watt vho's. 55 gallon propagation tank, 2x 96 watt pc's Empty 125 gallon tank reefer girrrl! Last edited by reefshadow : 02-22-2004 at 06:07 AM.

02-22-2004, 06:37 AM	#6 (permalink)
reefshadow Ricordea Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: washington Posts: 196 View Gallery Karma Komment	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 Yipeeeee! __________________ 240 gallon glass mixed reef 2x 250 watt m.h., 2x 175 watt m.h., 3x 110 watt vho's. 55 gallon propagation tank, 2x 96 watt pc's Empty 125 gallon tank reefer girrrl!

02-22-2004, 06:51 AM	#8 (permalink)
reefshadow Ricordea Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: washington Posts: 196 View Gallery Karma Komment	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. __________________ 240 gallon glass mixed reef 2x 250 watt m.h., 2x 175 watt m.h., 3x 110 watt vho's. 55 gallon propagation tank, 2x 96 watt pc's Empty 125 gallon tank reefer girrrl! Last edited by reefshadow : 02-22-2004 at 06:55 AM.

02-22-2004, 05:15 AM	#3 (permalink)
Montanareefer Has been struck by the ban stick Join Date: Nov 2003 Posts: 2,334 View Gallery Karma Komment	Also a big welcome!

02-22-2004, 06:23 AM	#5 (permalink)
crystalreef Tunicate Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 13 View Gallery Karma Komment	Thanks for the quick reply. Great info by the way going to try it out today.

02-22-2004, 06:39 AM	#7 (permalink)
crystalreef Tunicate Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 13 View Gallery Karma Komment	do you have any pics of what it looked like in your tank?

02-22-2004, 07:23 AM	#9 (permalink)
crystalreef Tunicate Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 13 View Gallery Karma Komment	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?

02-22-2004, 08:03 AM	#10 (permalink)
reefshadow Ricordea Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: washington Posts: 196 View Gallery Karma Komment	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! __________________ 240 gallon glass mixed reef 2x 250 watt m.h., 2x 175 watt m.h., 3x 110 watt vho's. 55 gallon propagation tank, 2x 96 watt pc's Empty 125 gallon tank reefer girrrl!

02-22-2004, 08:13 AM	#11 (permalink)
Gina Moderator Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Indiana Posts: 8,842 View Gallery Karma Komment	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!! __________________ Gina and Mark's 75 Visit Our Sponsors Gina's Cube Gina

02-22-2004, 08:59 AM	#12 (permalink)
Mebigloser Sea Pen Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Anderson, Indiana Posts: 345 View Gallery Karma Komment	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

02-22-2004, 11:52 AM	#13 (permalink)
crystalreef Tunicate Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 13 View Gallery Karma Komment	yep that's the stuff hoped that I was wrong, but no. CRAP!

02-22-2004, 11:54 AM	#14 (permalink)
crystalreef Tunicate Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 13 View Gallery Karma Komment	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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