Dinoflagellates.
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karimwassef
Active member
I don't have a dino infestation, but dinos are always present... waiting in the corners for me to screw things up so they can mount a revolt and take over again. Paranoid much?
First, they send their cyano friends to check things out. If the cyano find enough dirty gunk, death or waste, they call over their nasty dino buddies who come to dig in.
Strangely enough, my corals do produce mucus more than I'd expect. Maybe the battle goes on in the invisible space but I don't see any dinos.
I turn off my skimmer at night now when I dose my phyto. I also turn off my UV by day. The corals seem to like it, so we'll see how well that goes.
First, they send their cyano friends to check things out. If the cyano find enough dirty gunk, death or waste, they call over their nasty dino buddies who come to dig in.
Strangely enough, my corals do produce mucus more than I'd expect. Maybe the battle goes on in the invisible space but I don't see any dinos.
I turn off my skimmer at night now when I dose my phyto. I also turn off my UV by day. The corals seem to like it, so we'll see how well that goes.
Billybatz9
New member
Culturing it is soooo easy, fast, and a great way to save. From a small amount, I'll have a gallon of phytoplankton in 5 days. I just can't culture copepods for the life of me.I'm starting my own culture too. I have a 600gal tank, so that's 60ml a week... I want to move to 60ml a day, but that's $$$ expensive unless I can culture a lot.
My skimmer is also a beast. Even adding the phyto with my skimmer off for 6 hours, my skimmate liquid still has a green tint ...But it's still worth it for the portion that gets consumed.
karimwassef
Active member
I'm working it, but I can't keep the culture fully suspended. There's material that keeps ending up on the bottom of the container and I have to shake it daily.
It's ok, but I need it automated.
It's ok, but I need it automated.
Billybatz9
New member
So what's the plan for attack now? Avoid dirty method and dose phyto?
Quiet_Ivy
New member
I'm just discouraged. I'm running out of low tech-low cost options, things are getting worse and even if I do beat the dinos down my sandbed is going to be SO full of cysts.
I was keeping NO3 at 5ppm, the spike to 15 was a mistake. Phos at about .05 I was dosing NaNo3 at about 3ppm *daily*, and a (land plant based) P fertilizer weekly. Currently nitrate is still about 15 which is very odd. P undetectable.
ivy
Quiet_Ivy
New member
Well, the dirty method Does work even if we don't know exactly why, so I don't think ditching it is justified at this point. Definitely dose phyto, live if at all possible.
Reefing is the definition of empirical science (We do stuff this way and it works but we don't really know why and can't prove it)
ivy
Billybatz9
New member
Do you run any type of Chaeto?
Billybatz9
New member
Can dinos cause bubble tip anemone to split ? My bubble tip which wasn't that big split last night. Could it be because of dinos?
bheron
Active member
So you dont use tre dirty method, or rather, keeping enough waste in there for the good algae and other good life to thrive?
seamonster124
New member
In my experience dino ex does not kill snails, and it is useless against Dinoflagellates Ostreopsis
seamonster124
New member
Can anyone ID this?
With naked eye it looks like spider web attached to SPS.
With naked eye it looks like spider web attached to SPS.
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Billybatz9
New member
How do I really know if these are dinos, except that they've been in my system for like 4 months now.
seamonster124
New member
How do I really know if these are dinos, except that they've been in my system for like 4 months now.
Cant see photo. You may want to load image to imgur.com and pasting image URL here
How do I really know if these are dinos, except that they've been in my system for like 4 months now.
Taste them.
PorkchopExpress
New member
Can anyone ID this?
With naked eye it looks like spider web attached to SPS.
calothrix perhaps?
Billybatz9
New member
Billybatz9
New member
Are diatoms just as hard to get rid of? I just really really want this crap gone.
jason2459
Well-known member
I'm not seeing major issues with that. Maybe some diatoms if you are referring to the little bit of rusty color stuff. Making sure your DI output is 0TDs can help. Also, GFO may help if it's a silicate issue. Personally I think it looks good based on that picture alone.
