How do I get rid of dinoflaggelates? PLEASE HELP!
- Thread starter cdeakle
- Start date
Delbeek and Sprung in TRA Vol I suggest dosing kalkwasser and also using activated carbon. Raising the pH to 8.4 to 8.6 and maintaining it at a high level should cause the Dinoflagellates to crash in about a week. It's related to nutrient accumulation so strong skimming is mandated. Sprung in his new Algae book recommends against doing water changes. HTH.
Chooch,
Thanks for the input. I have been trying to raise my ph but somehow cant get it above 8.2. Looks like Ill have to start dosing Kalk.
Never would of thunk of that one. Ill give it a shot. My skimmer is already running wet. I can see about using carbon as well.
I just cant belive these are still a pain in my side. I already have tried or use:
-Over 30 hours total darkness
-Over 48 hours total darkness
-Skimming wet
-RO/DI water (0-1 TDS)
-Chemi-Clean
-Installed a refugium, Macro on the way!
-I don't have phosphates but I have some phosban on the way just in case.
I plan on giving carbon a try and I'm still trying to raise my ph. I will hold off on water changes and give that a shot. what else can I do??????
Thanks for the input. I have been trying to raise my ph but somehow cant get it above 8.2. Looks like Ill have to start dosing Kalk.
Never would of thunk of that one. Ill give it a shot. My skimmer is already running wet. I can see about using carbon as well.
I just cant belive these are still a pain in my side. I already have tried or use:
-Over 30 hours total darkness
-Over 48 hours total darkness
-Skimming wet
-RO/DI water (0-1 TDS)
-Chemi-Clean
-Installed a refugium, Macro on the way!
-I don't have phosphates but I have some phosban on the way just in case.
I plan on giving carbon a try and I'm still trying to raise my ph. I will hold off on water changes and give that a shot. what else can I do??????
I went approx. 60-64 hrs. TOTAL darkness. That means the one and only side exposed to light was covered with 2 layers of beach towel and the other 5 sides are built into a wall cabinet system. Then I did a 20% WC, vaccuuming the top layer of the sand. Then I removed the towels and there was probably some ambient room light that got in for about the next day and a half. Tonight was the first that the lights have been on in several days. I let them on for one hour... I'm actually gonna shut them off as soon as I make this post. No sign of Dino's(knock on wood). All the fish and 2 of the 4 shrimp are confirmed alive, although I think the other two are as well as they're peppermints and probably just hiding. The mushroom rock is very shrivelled up, but I'm expecting it to come around. Tomorrow I'll leave the lights on for 2 hrs, and add an hour each day till it's back up to 12hrs. day. As soon as I see them trying to make a come back I'm gonna go lights out for another 48+ hrs and do the water changes all over again. I havn't been keeping a super close eye on my pH, but I have been adding more Kalk than usual.
Puff, my suggestion is that you gradually build up your lighting rather than just go 6hrs of MH right away. Maybe even start off with 30 min a day and build in half hour steps every day? I'd also def suggest trying to get some Kalk in your system.
As far as no water changes... that makes NO sense at all and unless there's logical reasoning behind it I wouldn't even consider it. The problem is a build up of nutrients, so how would that remotely help out the situation?! It would just allow them to sustain themselves easier when the lights go out, IMO. I think lights out + removal of nutrients(skimming, WC, carbon) + boosted pH(Kalk) is the one, two, three punch that these suckers need to get it through their heads that they're not wanted! Just my $.02, maybe I'm wrong.
Puff, my suggestion is that you gradually build up your lighting rather than just go 6hrs of MH right away. Maybe even start off with 30 min a day and build in half hour steps every day? I'd also def suggest trying to get some Kalk in your system.
As far as no water changes... that makes NO sense at all and unless there's logical reasoning behind it I wouldn't even consider it. The problem is a build up of nutrients, so how would that remotely help out the situation?! It would just allow them to sustain themselves easier when the lights go out, IMO. I think lights out + removal of nutrients(skimming, WC, carbon) + boosted pH(Kalk) is the one, two, three punch that these suckers need to get it through their heads that they're not wanted! Just my $.02, maybe I'm wrong.
I agree with Jandree on total darkness for that time period. Julian obviously knows his stuf but it seems illogical to me that you would have all that dead matter (dinos plus whatever organics released when they disintegrate) in the water column to possibly fuel new algae growth. If you don't do a water change I'd suggest running your skimmer very wet to pull as much crap out as possible.
420puff,
Don't give up, man. I had the exact thing you did (search out my nightmare here on RDO). At the time my tank was about 4 months old. I got an aweful outbreak of brown/green snot dinos. Here is what I did and it took over a month to clear it up:
All my params were excellent and no Phospates could be measured
Siphon out all snot strings every day
Ran my skimmer 24/7
Stopped all additives (like DTs Phytoplankton)
I did 20% water changes daily with 0 TDS RO/DI and IO
Dark for 2 days at a time and then 4 hour light days then back to dark
Drip kalk to raise Ph to 8.6 (monitor this closely)
Added PhosBan just in case
Ran TLF carbon and changed it twice a week
Fed my fish about 1% of normal diet and used NO Frozen/Meaty foods
Removed EVERYTHING that didn't need to be in the tank (dead snails, etc)
It finally went away but it was the hardest thing I ever battled with my tank. Don't give up!
Good luck.
Don't give up, man. I had the exact thing you did (search out my nightmare here on RDO). At the time my tank was about 4 months old. I got an aweful outbreak of brown/green snot dinos. Here is what I did and it took over a month to clear it up:
All my params were excellent and no Phospates could be measured
Siphon out all snot strings every day
Ran my skimmer 24/7
Stopped all additives (like DTs Phytoplankton)
I did 20% water changes daily with 0 TDS RO/DI and IO
Dark for 2 days at a time and then 4 hour light days then back to dark
Drip kalk to raise Ph to 8.6 (monitor this closely)
Added PhosBan just in case
Ran TLF carbon and changed it twice a week
Fed my fish about 1% of normal diet and used NO Frozen/Meaty foods
Removed EVERYTHING that didn't need to be in the tank (dead snails, etc)
It finally went away but it was the hardest thing I ever battled with my tank. Don't give up!
Good luck.
Thanks for the encouragement mooner!
Im already doing or have done most everything on your list. We will see in another week or two how things are going.
This has got to be the worst battle ever, twice as bad as the hair algae epidemic I had before......
Im already doing or have done most everything on your list. We will see in another week or two how things are going.
This has got to be the worst battle ever, twice as bad as the hair algae epidemic I had before......
Hi !
First post....eeek !
Just to say that many here have been saying TDS 0 or 1 ppm, to demonstrate how pure their supply is. That is a little illusory.
I have 0-1 microS/cm measured via a carefully calibrated conductivity meter, and in excess of 2 ppm silicates (Salifert).
It was a bit of a shock ! 8O
Conductivity meters are great....but unless you know what ions are doing the conducting, you cannot convert from conductivity to ppm that easily, or at all. In the case of silicates, they hardly show. I would imagine that most conductivity meters assume that the sample has a chemical composition resembling "tapwater", and convert accordingly. But that's not a good assumption with RO or DI water.
I do recommend (after my little surprise) that folk also test individually for nutrients. Don't trust anything ! Ever !
kim
First post....eeek !
Just to say that many here have been saying TDS 0 or 1 ppm, to demonstrate how pure their supply is. That is a little illusory.
I have 0-1 microS/cm measured via a carefully calibrated conductivity meter, and in excess of 2 ppm silicates (Salifert).
It was a bit of a shock ! 8O
Conductivity meters are great....but unless you know what ions are doing the conducting, you cannot convert from conductivity to ppm that easily, or at all. In the case of silicates, they hardly show. I would imagine that most conductivity meters assume that the sample has a chemical composition resembling "tapwater", and convert accordingly. But that's not a good assumption with RO or DI water.
I do recommend (after my little surprise) that folk also test individually for nutrients. Don't trust anything ! Ever !
kim
I got bad dinos in my tank last year. I am sure you can read my post if you do a search on dinos. I ended up breaking down my tank and starting over. I had a 75 and went to a 40 and 20 untill I got the funds together for the 150 I have currently.
I think the most effective way to remove them is through, light, and U/V. I actually ended up trying ozone and eventually U/V.
My problem was the rate they grew. No matter how I got rid of them or how long I left the lights off they came back, in a matter of days. On everything but especialy the sand. Then all over the rock. I would blow it all off everday and end up with more the next.
I think getting rid of them in a larger tank in much more of a hassle then getting rid of them in a small tank. I also think my problem was my sand. The only thing I didn't try was removing of vacuuming all the sandbed. I should have done this as I feel the tank had alot of detritus trapped in the bed which was feeding the dinos but preventing me from treating them. I tested 0 P02 and 0 Nitrate but still couldnt get rid of them.
It may sound weird but if you use a DSB I would recommend vacuuming the bed in small portions each day untill it is detritus free. reducing the photoperiod and using carbon for awhile. If I remember correctly dinos arn't a true algea but actually a bacteria which is why I think U/V may be effective.
I think the most effective way to remove them is through, light, and U/V. I actually ended up trying ozone and eventually U/V.
My problem was the rate they grew. No matter how I got rid of them or how long I left the lights off they came back, in a matter of days. On everything but especialy the sand. Then all over the rock. I would blow it all off everday and end up with more the next.
I think getting rid of them in a larger tank in much more of a hassle then getting rid of them in a small tank. I also think my problem was my sand. The only thing I didn't try was removing of vacuuming all the sandbed. I should have done this as I feel the tank had alot of detritus trapped in the bed which was feeding the dinos but preventing me from treating them. I tested 0 P02 and 0 Nitrate but still couldnt get rid of them.
It may sound weird but if you use a DSB I would recommend vacuuming the bed in small portions each day untill it is detritus free. reducing the photoperiod and using carbon for awhile. If I remember correctly dinos arn't a true algea but actually a bacteria which is why I think U/V may be effective.
These pictures show a very diminished algae as I have had the lights off for 30 hours. If I turn them back on you can almost watch the algae grow/spread and create bubbles. There isn't that much on my rock, but it goes crazy on the sand.
The algae is string like except on the rocks where I have blown it off leaving a brown residue. I wish my pictures were better because I would like confirmation that I have dinos. Can someone confirm that it is not diatoms at least? I am 3 weeks into cycling my tank.
I will try and get better pictures if these are too plain.
Thanks!
The algae is string like except on the rocks where I have blown it off leaving a brown residue. I wish my pictures were better because I would like confirmation that I have dinos. Can someone confirm that it is not diatoms at least? I am 3 weeks into cycling my tank.
I will try and get better pictures if these are too plain.
Thanks!
Attachments
Sponsor Reefs
We're a FREE website, and we exist because of hobbyists like YOU who help us run this community.
Click here to sponsor $10:
