Squidmotron
New member
Similar experience here.
dino experiment
- Thread starter t4zalews
- Start date
Similar experience here.
can you guys elaborate on your amino regime, or did i miss it in earlier posts? i read this thread front to back, but it's been several months. thanks.
Squidmotron
New member
I basically had given up on fighting dinos but my internet searches revealed a large number of people for whom insane nutrient reduction schemes hadn't worked. It just wasn't possible to get nutrients out well enough to kill the dinos. I would literally remove or blow off as many as I could every day. I tried everything. Lots of carbon, GFO, the aluminum version of phosphate media, lanthanum chloride, hydrogen peroxide, extended pH raising, periods of intense water changing, periods of no water changing (which worked better btw), reduced feeding, lights out. I tried a UV sterilizer. I had macroalgae. Etc. Basically I tried it all using "traditional" methods. Measurements never showed nutrients. I got the more precise kits and the phosphate test showed nada even then. (ah, yes, but everyone would declare. "Your dinos are just using them up too fast!"... which is odd... even during lights out period I didn't get any nutrients "released").
During this time, I noticed two things:
1) When I once moved a dino covered rock into a holding tank that is not well-maintained and has no nutrient reduction scheme (it is covered with green algae), the dinos vanished with like 12 hours. Not a spec to be seen anywhere or ever again.
2) Feeling confident I then gave a zoa to a friend who runs basically a soft coral tank. He had no dino outbreak whatsoever. He had measurable nitrates and phosphates always. His only mechanism of nutrient reduction is a protein skimmer. I was so jealous. This guy who works 1/10th as hard on his tank as mind had a beautiful tank that looked healthier than mine.
So, being desperate and already having dead corals, I tried a different strategy -- to actually raise my nutrients a bit. I unplugged all filtration except for my protein skimmer and I trimmed back my macroalgae to a very small amount. I had a large 5 or 6 day blackout period, except during this period I turned on the lights for 5 minutes each morning and fed the tank and fish every day. And at night a couple of times a week I dosed some nutritive supplement like aminos or plankton. I turned on resumed normal tank maintenance except this time I was not super scared about feeding my fish or tank too much. I used food like it was actually a good thing to be putting in my tank.
I did get some green film algae eventually. And no dinos.
So now what I do is that I just sort of want the green film algae around and ONLY PERIODICALLY use things like GFO to keep things I check or from getting to ugly in that direction. I do not aggressively attempt to manage my nutrients like a control freak anymore.
..
Now I want to make it very clear this is an anecdote. It is not scientific. It could be something else entirely that threw my tank into balance. And I am not challenging the consensus that limiting nutrients is generally your best bet for fighting problem algae. Just that, for whatever reason, I couldn't do it.
thanks for elaborating. it's crazy how different some of the methods seem to be for getting rid of these things. there's clearly a lot more science behind it than my brain (and i'm sure many others) can comprehend.
Squid, that's where I am now, trying to increase nutrients to encourage green algae. Did you test for nitrates/phosphates? I'm curious to know what levels you achieved. The list of things you tried pretty much mirrors my efforts.
I have been dosing Red Sea aminos about every other day. I even took the skimmer offline for a week. So far, the dinos have been getting worse, but I've also left the lights on. I'm going dark for the next couple of days and will continue to keep nutrients going in the hope that when the lights go back on, I can get a dusting of green.
I have been dosing Red Sea aminos about every other day. I even took the skimmer offline for a week. So far, the dinos have been getting worse, but I've also left the lights on. I'm going dark for the next couple of days and will continue to keep nutrients going in the hope that when the lights go back on, I can get a dusting of green.
Spyderturbo007
New member
I don't have anything to add because luckily I haven't encountered Dinos yet, but I just wanted to wish you all the best of luck. Hopefully with enough collaboration and some resolve everyone's tank will be looking great.
Now I must go back to figuring out why all my corals are pale.
Now I must go back to figuring out why all my corals are pale.
t4zalews
65g Ritteri Tank
I don't have anything to add because luckily I haven't encountered Dinos yet, but I just wanted to wish you all the best of luck. Hopefully with enough collaboration and some resolve everyone's tank will be looking great.
Now I must go back to figuring out why all my corals are pale.
Probably lack of food, feeding is a your friend not enemy. Just make sure you have good filtration and clean up crew
If they show up again I may take you up on that offer. Do you happen to think that there is any credence to the speculation that they are thriving in nutrient poor tanks but are out competed when the levels are more favorable to algae growth ? As I think back to my old tank I had them when I was running gfo and biopellets with an oversized skimmer. At the time I couldn't grown any macroalgae, but after I took the gfo and biopellets offline I started growing cheato like crazy and never saw the dinos again.
Pants
Member
Oh they definitely get outcompeted at higher nutrient levels. Its long been documented in the literature and I deal with the practical effects of it every time I try to isolate a new strain of dino. If you wanted to dose your tank with nitrates and phosphates or silica you'd have an entirely different algae problem to deal with.
So with the gambierdiscus what nutrient (or all 3) do you recommend? I've taken out my gfo and started dosing kno3 a couple weeks ago. No effect yet. Phosphates read 0.06 and nitrates 2.5 ppm today. Continue higher? Add silica? Is there a silica compound you would recommend?
Pants
Member
I think that is something you're just going to have to experiment with. Start small and increase if needed. As far as what to dose it depends what you have easy access to.
It needs to be diluted down a lot.
t4zalews
65g Ritteri Tank
I wouldn't raise the nitrates above 5.
Here is a microscopic video of my dinos. I used my 10 year old's plastic toy microscope holding my phone's camera up to the eye piece. Quality is not great but you can see them. It ranges from 30x, 100x to 400x. You can see a "swarm" at the 0:32 mark.
http://s186.photobucket.com/user/bradjenks/media/DinoflagellateVideo_zpsa554a0ff.mp4.html
http://s186.photobucket.com/user/bradjenks/media/DinoflagellateVideo_zpsa554a0ff.mp4.html
no lights and no food for 3 days will be a stress to most fish but not life threatening, in my opinion. if you have fish that need food a few times daily, you might consider taking them to a holding tank or something.
i have tried it, and it did not work to rid the dinos. when you do it, be sure to tape black plastic bags around your tank to block light and stop trace element dosing.
greetings martin
i have tried it, and it did not work to rid the dinos. when you do it, be sure to tape black plastic bags around your tank to block light and stop trace element dosing.
greetings martin
