D@^^# Dinoflagellates!!!

[Shawnts106]

Im sooooo sick of dealing with this algae!

Yes, its Dinos, not Cyno, its dark dark coffee colored and thick mats... mats so think I can peal it off the rocks... clean and clear!


if you look very closely it has tiny, wispy hairs...


HOW THE HECK DO I GET RID OF THE JUNK!

I skim 24/7 with an ASMG2X on my 75gallon


Running phosban

THE STUFF WONT GO AWAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!
its driving me MADDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I feed little.

I have SPS, SOFTIES and LPS... all of which are doing wonderfully!
everything has great PE and color...

IM SICK OF THIS ALGAEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lighting is T5's overdriven on an Icecap 660ballast
3 T5 bulbs, 1 VHO actinic

12 hours a day... possibly the problem... ?


geeze, now I sound stupid.. "I RUN MY LIGHTS ON 12 HOURS A DAY, WHY DO I HAVE ALGAE?"

geeze, how can I go about fixing this problem>?

 

[poormanisme]

I just recently got rid of dinos in my tank by taking out all of the rock and putting it in a rubbermaid tub covered for 2 weeks. I took the rock out 3 times over those two weeks to scrub the dying stuff off. I then razored all the algae off of my glass and scrubed any rock that was attached to the corals, cleaned my pumps, siphoned as much scrap as i could out of my system.
So far they have not returned. I wonder why everyone is having such problems with dino's recently? There have been quite a few post on quite a few boards addressing this very issue. There has to be some reason why we are all getting this crap.

 

[Shawnts106]

Interesting way to have handled your dino problem, but I can not do that, I have too many corals that have grown and attached themselves to rocks to do this...

I have a bubble coral that I have had for 4 years, that is completely attached to a peice of live rock , and a monti cap that is over a foot in diameter... no way I can pull all my rock out and do this.. theres got to be a better way!


Well, Glad to hear Im not the only one with the problem!

 

[A sea K]

I think I have the same thing. Tank has been going good for about 7 months then BAMO, brown rust all over rocks and substrate is double layer with green stringy hairy mess over the brown. Stirred the sand saturday PM and sunday AM still looked good till lights on and BAMO It's baaack! I cant believe how fast this stuff spreads.

I did some searching and came up with this for my course of action.
Increase circulation; this was already planned but my speacial order plumbing parts have not arrived and the LFS did not have any decent power heads.
Modify skimmer; also already planned and did not get the desired results( this is not good )
Remove Rowaphos; added a second reactor and am running carbon in both.
Manual removal; set skimmer as wet as possible, scrub off gunk w/toothbrush (in tank), stir sand deep and agressive (I have shallow sand so this wont work for DSB), let things settle for a bit then blow off rocks w/powerhead, replace all mechanical filtration (100 micron socks) and replace lost water due to wet skimming. I will do this daily if needed (really need that skimmer working)
Reduce lighting; cut back light duration 1 hr a day and see how things go. Will do a 48hr blackout if neccasary and slowly bring lights back to full photo.
Reduce feeding.
No water change; everything I read said this will fuel the probrem by adding trace elements beneficial to the Dino growth. Really wish I had known this sooner as it was my first course of action before I realized what the real problem was.

Not entirely sure it is Dino but am taking steps to rid myself of this plague just in case. I caught this pretty early I hope and early intervention should help.

Also hope my skimmer starts working better, I believe this is very important.

 

[alan214]

Re: D@^^# Dinoflagellates!!!

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9216009#post9216009 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Shawnts106
Im sooooo sick of dealing with this algae!

Yes, its Dinos, not Cyno, its dark dark coffee colored and thick mats... mats so think I can peal it off the rocks... clean and clear!


if you look very closely it has tiny, wispy hairs...


HOW THE HECK DO I GET RID OF THE JUNK!

I skim 24/7 with an ASMG2X on my 75gallon


Running phosban

THE STUFF WONT GO AWAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!
its driving me MADDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I feed little.

I have SPS, SOFTIES and LPS... all of which are doing wonderfully!
everything has great PE and color...

IM SICK OF THIS ALGAEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lighting is T5's overdriven on an Icecap 660ballast
3 T5 bulbs, 1 VHO actinic

12 hours a day... possibly the problem... ?


geeze, now I sound stupid.. "I RUN MY LIGHTS ON 12 HOURS A DAY, WHY DO I HAVE ALGAE?"

geeze, how can I go about fixing this problem>?

Just a quick question. What are you using for top-off water? Assumng you're using RO/DI, have you checked the TDS content lately?

 

[Shawnts106]

Yes, Im useing a RODI unit, KENT modified...
2 60gpd membranes, 1micron solid block, carbon block, HI-S Silimax DI cartridge.. the RO membrains are HI-S membranes

No I have not check the TDS lately, but I know its not up, I just replaced my cartridges not to long ago... I do believe Im safe there.

 

[Shawnts106]

byumpy byumpidey

 

[reefkoi]

Well I beat them little suckers. I started using Prodibio, and I increased circulation. I feel the prodibio is more important but ofcourse flow is also very important. Do you have high flow?
It was a nightmare and I didnt think it would ever go away. Just look at your entire system and fix things if they arent up to par, and really check into prodibio, you can simply do the biodigest to start with and give it a few weks to a month
Dinos wont go away immediately but once they start to die off it does go pretty darn quick.