Dinoflagellates.

[DNA]

It looks like diatoms to me.

 

[cal_stir]

according to this, the closest thing I could find was diatoms.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-12/feature/index.php

Its like a brown filamentous algae on my glass, near dust like. Depending on how thick it is, comes off like dust.

This also appeared a week after using chemi-clean. No trace of cyano anywhere.

Snails are all over it too

+1 diatoms, I had them for about 8 weeks, for the first few weeks they were harboring some dinos. I let the green micro algae grow on the glass for 4 or 5 days at a time to out compete them.
IMO they are a very good sign that you are winning the battle.

 

[Adrnalnrsh]

+1 diatoms, I had them for about 8 weeks, for the first few weeks they were harboring some dinos. I let the green micro algae grow on the glass for 4 or 5 days at a time to out compete them.
IMO they are a very good sign that you are winning the battle.

Thanks for the confirmation everyone.

I feel I am winning the battle even with brown glass.

Sometimes I see a little green algae on the glass but it goes away quickly if I skip my NeoPhos dose.

I can't seem to keep phosphates in this tank.

My corals are doing excellent even when the bottom piles up with detritus.

Corals that have gone to complete **** have a little spark of life in them.

Should also mention my PH is staying up high even when my ATO reservoir was empty for 3-4 days. (contain kalkwasser)

 

[Adrnalnrsh]

This is from back on page 62...



I can't edit that post, so here's a correction in the interest of accuracy:

Corals keep their symbionts nitrogen-limited to force them to pump out sugar, and as much as half of this sugar goes towards making mucous -- which sounds a little disgusting until you consider that mucous is the front line of coral's immune system. They secrete mucous to lift bacteria off their surface, and the coral polyps (or sometimes the CUC) will eat the mucous to ingest the bacteria. If a coral is under serious threat, it can detach the mucous in hopes that the pathogenic bacteria will drift harmlessly away.

Just saw this and had to share. Looks to me like Dinos harbouring Bacteria

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/357617-nasty-algae-not-dinos-what-is-this-gunk/?p=4956666

 

[DNA]

.
A week after I added new live rock my tiny SPS corals started to grow at full speed.
This followed more than half a year of absolute zero growth.
I have repeated this three times now so it's a key element on how dinos affect coral health.
There has been no visual effect on the dinos or plankton and the usual reef tank parameters have not changed.

I don't think anyone has the facts on this so good theories are wanted.

 

[Billybatz9]

I would like to grow my biodiversity. What kind of supplements, pods, and etc.. should I add?

 

[cal_stir]

I would like to grow my biodiversity. What kind of supplements, pods, and etc.. should I add?

Copepods, amphipods and phytoplankton.
I like Reef cleaners Pods+
http://www.reefcleaners.org/aquarium-store/pods
A diverse assortment of crabs and snails as well.

 

[DNA]

Did one more of those wonderful and elaborate tests of mine.
I placed a square plastic on the sandbed and left it there for couple of days.

Yesterday I removed it and today I have a perfect square free of dinos, but edged by dense mat of dinos.

 

[karimwassef]

Pic? We're the edges buried in the sand or raised?

 

[DNA]

The plastic square was just sitting on top.
I have a pic, but no means to show it right now.

 

[karimwassef]

just based on description, it sounds like it's flow based. The edge would likely experience slower flow?

 

[DNA]

It's a square 3" by 3" totally free of dinos.

Almost all the dinos left the sandbed yesterday.
They could have resettled there today if they wanted, but it has an invisible barrier.

It's another piece in the puzzle. If I only had a savant to put them all in place.

 

[Billybatz9]

I am going to try to aiptasia-x the sandbed covered in dinos and see how that goes.

 

[cal_stir]

I am going to try to aiptasia-x the sandbed covered in dinos and see how that goes.

If the dinos are threatened they might encyst and come back later.

 

[cal_stir]

I did an experiment today, I vacuumed the surface layer of my sand bed into a 5 gal pail and pour the contents of the pail through a 10uM filter sock, squeezed a sample out and put it under the microscope. I found 0 dinos but
I did find a lot of critters in the form of pods, shrimps, etc., very small small in size. I found a dozen or so in a drop of water.
I think this is a key to eliminating dinos.

I would like others with microscopes to do the same type of sampling of their sand and skimmate and post their results.

 

[Billybatz9]

If the dinos are threatened they might encyst and come back later.

How, if they are covered in the white ooze? Wouldn't it kill a lot of them.

 

[Billybatz9]

I did an experiment today, I vacuumed the surface layer of my sand bed into a 5 gal pail and pour the contents of the pail through a 10uM filter sock, squeezed a sample out and put it under the microscope. I found 0 dinos but
I did find a lot of critters in the form of pods, shrimps, etc., very small small in size. I found a dozen or so in a drop of water.
I think this is a key to eliminating dinos.

I would like others with microscopes to do the same type of sampling of their sand and skimmate and post their results.

Where did you gt the 10um sock?

 

[DNA]

.
A week after I added new live rock my tiny SPS corals started to grow at full speed.
This followed more than half a year of absolute zero growth.
I have repeated this three times now so it's a key element on how dinos affect coral health.
There has been no visual effect on the dinos or plankton and the usual reef tank parameters have not changed.

I don't think anyone has the facts on this so good theories are wanted.

Since nobody seems to have a clue here are some of mine.

The live rock brought in Symbiodinum dinflagellates desperately needed for coral health and growth.
The dinos are not producing any toxins any more.
New bacteria brough in with the live rock is suppressing or neutralizing the dino toxins in the water column.

From my experience the current growth period will last around 3 months before everything will start to go downhill.

 

[Quiet_Ivy]

Since nobody seems to have a clue here are some of mine.

The live rock brought in Symbiodinum dinflagellates desperately needed for coral health and growth.
The dinos are not producing any toxins any more.
New bacteria brough in with the live rock is suppressing or neutralizing the dino toxins in the water column.

From my experience the current growth period will last around 3 months before everything will start to go downhill.

Too many possibilities.
Live rock was full of ciliate/bacterial predators that took a while to be poisoned off
Live rock had lots of decaying organics that the corals enjoyed
Decaying organics plus new bacteria unbalanced the scale from dinos

I am surprised the rock from the unicorn tank didn't work..I thought that was an excellent idea. Perhaps the rock has to be a certain percentage? EG 50% new rock, remove old. Certainly you can't do that with fish in the tank.

I'm 2 days into a 3 day blackout. Having a huge explosion of dinos, unsure why. I suspect something big and unseen has died. Could be the serpent star. Adding rock is the only thing left to try. STILL have 0 nitrates and phosphates. Pods have been a bust. Phyto isn't doing anything either.

Ivy

 

[Quiet_Ivy]

Did one more of those wonderful and elaborate tests of mine.
I placed a square plastic on the sandbed and left it there for couple of days.

Yesterday I removed it and today I have a perfect square free of dinos, but edged by dense mat of dinos.

Chemical signalling. Someone on another forum posted that their dinos would reform into a ball after being suctioned into a pail. Tried this myself, and fer gosshakes, they do. Mildly creepy actually.

I will bet you a Canadian 2-dollar coin that the square will get covered within a day or two.

ivy