Dinoflagellates

Discussion in 'Algae' started by Newreef15, Oct 22, 2009.

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  1. Newreef15

    Newreef15 Horrid Stonefish

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    Dinoflagellates

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    Scientific Description- Light brownish menace. It looks like snot growing up from the rock or sand, with trapped air bubbles in it. Not to be confused with algae that has an air bubble that has landed on it, dinos make them. Not all species of dinos are bad the one pictured is though, and has caused many aquarists to tear down their tanks.

    i have this in my tank have any of u guys had this before and if so how did you get ride of it. my tank is 5 months old
     
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  3. dees reef

    dees reef Feather Duster

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    It is hard to get rid of. Check your water pharms; The culprit is there. Fix that and half the battle is over the other half is usually manual removel. You can gently scrub your rock with a tooth brush in your water change water. I would scoop out the sand, and replace it. You can also try leaveing lights off for a few days to see if that helps.
     
  4. Tangster

    Tangster 3reef Sponsor

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    I find Ozone to do the best at keeping water quality up so as to starve them out.. Take a power head several times a day to the rocks and sand anywhere you see them and blast them into the water column then get the water quality up and skim well and feed little .

    It's all part of a new tank I was doing battle with them myself on a tank I set up in Mid April past I cranked up the Ozone and wet skimmed blasted the rocks and kept my ORP at 400 or as close to that as I could I also blasted the corals several times aday and now the Dino flagellates are about 90% done for. nothing like they where a few weeks back and should be total history in a day or so .

    Clean nutrient free water is the best weapon , People get into the most trouble when trying to feed corals to death with their meaty foods , phytoplanktons and a turkey baster and cutting off circulation pumps when feeding . Thia allows the food and waste to settle onto the rocks and sand .
     
  5. omgiv

    omgiv Coral Banded Shrimp

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    I don't want to highjack this thread but I am battling this as well and was wondering how you get ozone into the water? This is something I am totally unfamiliar with and am interested in learning. Thanks!!!

    Regards,
    Ivy
     
  6. schackmel

    schackmel Giant Squid

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    well I had dino last summer really bad. First thought it was just a cyano outbreak but it did not go away and started to kill my corals.

    I did many things to get rid of it, it takes a while and is not an easy thing to do.

    I first started out by cutting my feeding down by half the amount. Depending on how much you are feeding you may need to get it more. I raised the kH to 11, mg was in line and raised pH to 8.4 to 8.6 (higher the better) I installed a phosban reactor, placed carbon etc. Make sure your skimmer is working properly (mine had a snail shell caught and was not working) I also replaced all my UV sterillizer bulbs

    I then turned off ALL, ALL my lights for 7 days. I have MH and T5 and LED's and my tank was clams, SPS and LPS (and they did very well). This included the moon lights. After this time I started to turn on my lights again, first just my T5's and then the MH the next day. I only turned on my lights for an hour the first day and then incresed it over the next 10 days (to allow coral to adjust)

    everything came through it fine (my large 11 inch clam was gapping a bit but was ok)

    I am looking at getting an ozone machine for my tank sometime...that really helps I hear (but expensive and dangerous if you dont know how to dial it properly)
     
  7. omgiv

    omgiv Coral Banded Shrimp

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    Thanks for the reply Schackmel. How did you get your Ph up that high without affecting your other levels. I have read dosing kalkwasser, but doesn't that also raise calcium and alk? Thanks!!!

    Ivy
     
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  9. DevotedLionfish

    DevotedLionfish Fire Shrimp

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    i have alot of these
    ive been leaving my lights off for about 5 days now and im going raise my ph to .85 - .87 by using limewater and manually siphon some out and also put carbon
     
  10. Newreef15

    Newreef15 Horrid Stonefish

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    if i do this will it kill my fish and or coral

    and wont it just come back when i turn on the lights
     
  11. DevotedLionfish

    DevotedLionfish Fire Shrimp

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    im not sure
    my friend did this and it worked for him
    it didnt kill his fish or his coral.
    im still kind of scared of doing this but i have i have nothing in my tank cause its still cycling
     
  12. schackmel

    schackmel Giant Squid

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    no, your fish and corals will not die if you turn the lights off. Like I said I have a 135g tank with SPS, LPS and clams including 11" clam. I have dersea, crocea, and maxima clams.

    I did not have 1 fatality from the lights being off. In fact if you DO NOT fix it, it will kill your corals and your crabs/snails. I did loose a bali green slimer before doing this due to the dino all over.

    Dino gets nutrition from certain things....Lights, overfeeding etc. Have you noticed that dino is less in the am when the lights are off and get worse through out the day

    You need to control other factors before turning lights off. Place the phosban, cut back your feeding and raise ph

    I read an article by Bob Fenner and he recommended raising the Ph to at least 8.4 through several means. The mean I used was I dosed with aqua-vitro 8.4 and then I did a kalk slurry. I tested EVERY LEVEL, (mg, calcium, kh, ph) every day before I dosed. It was not an easy task trust me...but it worked for me