Dino trouble

mpgrant77

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My take is in light timeout. I let my nutrients get away from me a little while back. It turned into a hair algae problem. Reducing nutrient levels and frequent water changes put the hair algae into recession but apparently opened the door for Dinoflagellets. I am assuming the algae die off presented the Dinos with what they needed to take over my tank. So I am in a 3 day black out period with heavy skimming and lots of carbon filtering. Hopefully this works.
 
Sucks that you had to do this, but I think its the best step at this point.

Good reminder for everyone to check on your magnets!
 
I've been down this road the first time in 15 years the last couple of years with my 120. Thoughts and prayers, buddy.
 
I am keeping my fuge light on constant while the tank is blacked out to help with the oxygen supply and nutrient uptake on the cheato. Also running my skimmer wet. They say to raise your ph to 8.4 which can help with some strains of dinos but I am uncomfortable with that.
 
Having the same issue, same progression with no3, GHA, and now Dino. Let me know if that blackout works. I read that elevated ph (like 8.5-8.6) and peroxide would do the trick too. Seems risky!!!!
 
I thought about the peroxide but I was waiting until after the black out. The problem with Dino's is there are so many types that all thought the data is small some so that increased PH is inhibiting others actually showed higher production levels at higher PH like 8.5. My hope is the black out will greatly dimension the problem then I will dose the peroxide to help keep it from taking hold again. Brandon what info do you have on dosing amounts. The only thing I really found was 1ml/10gallons per day.
 
That's what I did. I also dosed vodka and vinegar to try and build the good bacteria to put compete the bad dinoflagellates bacteria.
 
That's what I did. I also dosed vodka and vinegar to try and build the good bacteria to put compete the bad dinoflagellates bacteria.

Have you had any trouble since? Did you notice any adverse effects on your coral, extra junk in the skimmer, anything?
 
So I unveiled the tank today. Thank god I noticed it and let it all dry, but word to the wise on bagging your tank really good. Take the canopy off or lights and electronics out. I had considerable condensation through out my T-5 lights in the canopy. I let everything dry out before trying to start any lighting up. It seems everything came through the black out except for my yellow coris he is still MIA but I am hopeful on him. The Dino's were considerably cut down maybe 75% but not gone. I started dosing vinegar and hydrogen peroxide during the black out and will continue the peroxide for two weeks along with ramping up the vinegar. I will keep only two actinic bulbs on during daylight hours for a couple days to try and keep any kind of bloom from coming back. I took a tooth brush and brushed all my rock really good to try and loosen up all that was left and then changed my filter pad and did a water change. I am still skimming wet and will do another water change tomorrow. Tank water tests put my PO4 at .05ppm and Nitrates at around 9ppm. I guess so far so good. I will keep at it.
 
I did for a month. I really didn't want them to come back. I also dropped my po4s to zero for a couple of weeks.
 
I dosed 1ml per 10 gallons each day for two weeks. During that time I slowly ramped up my lighting from actinics only to an hour a day . . . 2 hours a day. . . .over the course of two weeks.

Shortly after that I had a cyano outbreak and one dose of chemiclean got rid of it. I have read that is common after h202 dosing.

Almost two years later and no algae, dinos, cyano since.

-Mike
 
I am just worried with the amount left over even after the blackout that I will fight a re-bloom and have to do this again so I am balancing trying to keep what I want alive, alive and what I want dead, dead. LOL. But I guess that is a reef keepers life in general.
 
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