Dinoflagellates.

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

Ooh I'm probably way late on this, but don't do it! Aiptasia x is supposed to act like a glue; you don't want to glue your sandbed. At best you'll make an unholy mess, at worst you'll nuke your tank chemistry and kill off your sandbed. If you absolutely have to please try a small section first..

hth
Ivy
 
Ooh I'm probably way late on this, but don't do it! Aiptasia x is supposed to act like a glue; you don't want to glue your sandbed. At best you'll make an unholy mess, at worst you'll nuke your tank chemistry and kill off your sandbed. If you absolutely have to please try a small section first..

hth
Ivy

Quiet Ivy,
You are not late. I tried a little section on a rock first. Thank god you came in time. lol Will update on how that section is doing tomorrow. The dinos are getting out of hand.
 
In order...

Stop chemicals + stop carbon dosing = stop killing their competition
Lights off + slow flow high power UV + heavy skim ... Dead dinos + export dead dinos
Pods + Phyto + refugium = rebalanced nature
Feed more = healthy bacteria & algae reset.
 
I will bet you a Canadian 2-dollar coin that the square will get covered within a day or two. ivy

Today the dinos have settled once more and the square is still there, just like yesterday, shining bright in contrast to the rusty surroundings.

---

Nice suggestions on the live rock by the way.
 
Today the dinos have settled once more and the square is still there, just like yesterday, shining bright in contrast to the rusty surroundings.

If you've invented dino-repelling plastic you can retire rich. :)

Hm, I wonder if I can tape some plastic to my glass.

Ivy
 
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

Wow, that's some freaky..whatever that is. The margins are so clear and defined it looks like a sponge or other bigger organism, with dinos on top. I'd love to see that stuff under a microscope. Did you direct them to this thread?

My dinos look a bit similar (but way messier):
sunday%20tank%20001_zpsj3bvygwl.jpg
[/URL][/IMG]

Ivy
 
Wow, that's some freaky..whatever that is. The margins are so clear and defined it looks like a sponge or other bigger organism, with dinos on top. I'd love to see that stuff under a microscope. Did you direct them to this thread?

My dinos look a bit similar (but way messier):
sunday%20tank%20001_zpsj3bvygwl.jpg
[/URL][/IMG]

Ivy
Mine was very similar with but more dark.

I might of mentioned it.
 
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Is 3 days lights out sufficient or should I go for 4

3 to start with, depending what else you have in there. Sk8r recommends not going 100% dark if you have fish. I'd also set your skimmer to run wet and possibly add carbon. If you can't find filter socks locally, the stuffing sold for plush animals works really well to catch everything. You will want to replace it pretty much daily if there's a huge die off.

Did the aiptasia x do anything good?

hth
ivy
 
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Maybe you folks on this thread can help me out. What algae is it that you can see when you shut all the pumps off and inject air bubbles? I can't see it with my eyes, but if I inject a bunch of microbubbles and shut the pumps off you can see the bubbles form strands.

Any help would be appreciated

v/r

Jason
 
Maybe you folks on this thread can help me out. What algae is it that you can see when you shut all the pumps off and inject air bubbles? I can't see it with my eyes, but if I inject a bunch of microbubbles and shut the pumps off you can see the bubbles form strands.

Any help would be appreciated

v/r

Jason

Well, I get a clear snot like formation with very short strands on my glass. It's NOT the usual yellow tinted stuff I have everywhere else and I can only see it when my skimmer's having conniptions and ejecting microbubbles. It's impossible to get a good picture of it and it doesn't really feel like anything.

That said, I don't know that it's dinoflagellates. Many types of green algae can be clear before they get going with the chlorophyll. Hydroids can be clear and have long filaments. It could even be a bacterial overgrowth (not likely in my tank but if you are carbon dosing perhaps in yours). Is it bothering any of the animals in your tank?

not too specific on a rainy, cold Labour Day
Ivy
 
.
The square is still there.

Last year I did jet another of my brilliant tests.
I siphoned off the top layer of sand into a bucket and let it dry out killing loads of dinos.
Some months later I dumped all the sand back into the tank, knowing there were lots of toxins going in with it.
A Royal Gramma and a pair of Mandarins died in the days that followed.
Much of the dino population disappeared as well.

The square test and the dead dino tests are virtually the same.
I'm theorizing that Ostreopsis dinoflagellates can't tolerate their own toxins.
This is the limiting factor on dino densities I've been looking for since day one.
In the ocean dino blooms get much denser than in reef tanks because the vast ocean carries and dilutes the toxins from the dead dinos.

Did we just reach another milestone?
 
Not convinced yet?

Many of us have seen their dinos bloom right after water changes.
The toxins got dilluted.

The dirty method: Turn off the skimmer and filters and let the toxins build up.
The clean method: Kill the dinos with UV and let the toxins build up.
 
3 to start with, depending what else you have in there. Sk8r recommends not going 100% dark if you have fish. I'd also set your skimmer to run wet and possibly add carbon. If you can't find filter socks locally, the stuffing sold for plush animals works really well to catch everything. You will want to replace it pretty much daily if there's a huge die off.

Did the aiptasia x do anything good?

hth
ivy

Aiptasia X Killed the Dino sections that I treated.
 
After 3 days lights out, sand bed is free of dinos. However, after 3 hours of lights on today, I am starting to notice bubbles on my rocks starting to form. It held them back a little, but they will come again.
 
They're opportunistic feeders. They live on light and killing other plankton or eating waste.

They can go without light indefinitely- certainly outlast anything you're trying to keep alive.

Lights out just forces them into the water column so you can take action on them.

What are you doing to extract them during the lights out?
 
They're opportunistic feeders. They live on light and killing other plankton or eating waste.

They can go without light indefinitely- certainly outlast anything you're trying to keep alive.

Lights out just forces them into the water column so you can take action on them.

What are you doing to extract them during the lights out?

Skimmer and carbon..

Before I did lights on, I did a water change also.

I see brown formation on rocks now. No bubble. But drown formation, looks like diatoms. But I know it's not. It's the beginning of hell.
 
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