Dinoflagellates!!!!!!

Discussion in 'Algae' started by OlopezNYC, Sep 15, 2012.

to remove this notice and enjoy 3reef content with less ads. 3reef membership is free.

  1. OlopezNYC

    OlopezNYC Fire Worm

    Joined:
    May 27, 2012
    Messages:
    166
    Location:
    NYC
    What a relief indeed! Lets see what happens. I'll see if it resurfaces during today's photo period. I'm running 20k setting at 50% is that alright?
     
  2. Click Here!

  3. OlopezNYC

    OlopezNYC Fire Worm

    Joined:
    May 27, 2012
    Messages:
    166
    Location:
    NYC
    They came back up in spots I siphoned it again. My powder tang died for no apparent reason. And my wrasse had a scratch that my shrimps picked on till they killed them

    My levels are rising
    Amonia 0
    Nitrite 0.1
    Nitrite 5 ppm
    pH 8.4
    Sg 1.023

    Should I do a water change ??
     
  4. OlopezNYC

    OlopezNYC Fire Worm

    Joined:
    May 27, 2012
    Messages:
    166
    Location:
    NYC
    Very little return from Dino's/diatoms whatever this stuff is.
     
  5. gabbyr189

    gabbyr189 Bubble Tip Anemone

    Joined:
    Feb 5, 2011
    Messages:
    666
    Location:
    Philadelphia
    I just visited my LFS yesterday. I must note that this is not your typical LFS. Good honest, fair, guy that will give you the hard truth. For what its worth, I trust his opinion. I overheard someone asking him about the difference between cyano and diatoms. I jumped into the conversation. He told be that on occasion he has seen diatoms with those stringy things coming out of them. I personally have never seen this, but I have only had diatoms a few times in my tank. So if they aren't coming back, they were probably diatoms, and you are probably in the clear!

    As far as the LEDs, I'm no expert in that department. I would start a new thread regarding that issue.
     
  6. Servillius

    Servillius Montipora Digitata

    Joined:
    Feb 7, 2011
    Messages:
    1,062
    Location:
    Houston, Texas.
    Yep, we nearly tore down my wife's tank trying to fight dino when it was actually diatoms. When it's diatoms, you do a 3 day lights out and as soon as a bit of light comes back on, it reappears. The result is, if the ID is wrong, you seem to never get rid of the problem and end up doing progressively crazier stuff trying to get rid of it.

    Having been through it, and having seen the stringy diatoms first-hand, I thought it best to try removing the silicates with GFO and running it a few days first.

    The thing about visual IDs is no matter how good you are, it's unreliable. When you can test, you should. In this case, a test for diatoms is to run GFO and see if it goes away.
     
  7. Servillius

    Servillius Montipora Digitata

    Joined:
    Feb 7, 2011
    Messages:
    1,062
    Location:
    Houston, Texas.
    That all said, I'd continue to be very cautious. Tis is a close call and there is a chance it's not diatoms.
     
  8. Click Here!

  9. gabbyr189

    gabbyr189 Bubble Tip Anemone

    Joined:
    Feb 5, 2011
    Messages:
    666
    Location:
    Philadelphia
    I was under the impression that GFO removes phosphate only. Diatoms feed on the silicates in the tank. Once the silicates are gone (a week or two IME), the diatoms will spontaneously go away without you lifting a finger.
     
  10. Servillius

    Servillius Montipora Digitata

    Joined:
    Feb 7, 2011
    Messages:
    1,062
    Location:
    Houston, Texas.
    Google silicate remover. Both GFO and Phosguard do it ver effectively.
     
  11. OlopezNYC

    OlopezNYC Fire Worm

    Joined:
    May 27, 2012
    Messages:
    166
    Location:
    NYC
    I started using GFO last week. im using BRS High capacity GFO. Last night I noticed that its coming back. Just like Corailline said a brown dusting, I have some Kalkwasser powder how do I dose it and is this suppose to keep my pH up ? I wanna do the black out. I gotta get rid of this stuff
     
  12. OlopezNYC

    OlopezNYC Fire Worm

    Joined:
    May 27, 2012
    Messages:
    166
    Location:
    NYC
    From what I've read GFO removes phosphates after phosphates are depleted, it will then remove silicates correct me if I'm wrong.