Dinoflagellates Algae HELP!

Hey everyone,

I've had this "dino" algae in my tank for a month now, and i never seem to be able to get rid of it. I've tried to keep my nutrient levels down, which is probably the only way i can get rid of it, since no algae eaters eats toxic algae (Yeah, heard it was toxic). But everytime i do my 10 - 15% waterchange on my nano, i always just suck it up. It usually doesnt grow all over my rocks, but only at one specific spot, and i keep sucking it up every single week. I'm really getting tired of it, because this algae is super unattractive, and it grows incredibly fast. It simply just grows back in 3 - 4 days! Its insane... Do you guys have any tips on removing this algae otherwise, or do i have to keep trying to make my nutrient levels lower? :-/

 

Dinoflagellates are the stuff nightmares are made of. Please post some photos for proper identification. there are many types and yes, it can be toxic to inverts that eat algaes.

NOW, how does one kill it? the ONLY way from my very recent experience is to hit it several different ways.

1. period of lights out for a MINIMUM of 72 hours. I MEAN BLACKOUT. I put a box over my 5 gallon tank in a dark room, no light. I had to do this twice. that brown snot came back.

2. Elevate your PH and Maintain it at 8.4 or above. Shoot for 8.5 to 8.6. I used pickling lime in water to elevate it. I recommend you at least have a properly calibrated handheld PH meter like a pinpoint or milwaukee. I maintained it with using the limewater as top of. In a tank your size, a little will do it so be careful. I made the solution too strong the first week and had to water it back down. After 2 weeks of this, I just let it come back down naturally.

3. I dosed the new Continuum bacter clean M product for 2 weeks after the black out and extreme PH. I posted a review in the Marine Depot's Forum.

 

Thank you so much, will definitely follow your advice. Limewater? Thats awesome, never heard of that, gonna try it. I have my pH at 8.0 - 8.1 at the moment, i'm never able to get it higher (Water in my area has a low pH and generally soft water). I'm gonna dose Fauna Marine Algea X, as i've heard it works against dino, and it has good reviews. Yeah, these algaes are a true nightmare... I'll post some pictures tommorow or something, but i've just sucked up some few snots of it I'll make sure to post a picture ASAP!

 

I too had this problem. I took a two tiered approach. I put my tank on complete light deprivation. Wrapped the whole tank in black 4mil plastic and duct taped it. At that time I elevated my Mg levels in the tank.

This did the trick for my 40 gallon tank. Now, like others I just fight with hair algae and the occassional bubble algae.

 

bigdubb! haven't seen you post in some time. Do you have a picture of your set up? didn't mean to highjack...