dinoflagellates

[Satori]

Has anyone had luck with removing dinoflagellates? It's the clear slimy snot looking stuff. I've had a little bit hanging on for the last year and a half. It's definitely not a nutrient issue, as I only feed the fish 1/2 cube of frozen brine shrimp per week, if I remember.

According to The Reef Aquarium once it's established it can live on next to nothing, even just the trace elements in the water. The book suggests raising the pH above 8.4 for a week using a kalkwasser drip. I did it for 5 days but it didn't do anything.

Water changes don't work since that just replenishes trace elements.

Any other suggestions?

 

[Pyrrhus]

Running carbon?

 

[Satori]

24/7 in the sump baffles.

 

[Pyrrhus]

How often are you changing the carbon?

Heavy skimming and Ozone should help, and maybe siphoning into a filter sock in the sump to avoid have to add new water.

Best course of action seems to be dripping kalk to raise ph and precipitate metals/phosphate.

You could also try not running the lights for a few days to see if you can starve it for light faster than your corals.

 

[Satori]

I should probably change the carbon more often. I only change it about every 2 weeks.

As for skimmer, I have a ER 8-1 on a 55. No ozone though.

That's a good idea about the lights, I think I'll try leaving them off.

 

[Satori]

Ok, I'm keeping the tank dark to see how that works. How long can the lights be off as far as the corals go? Would two days be too long?

 

[Pyrrhus]

no, not at all, most could probably go a week or more without severe damage, but I would try no more than 3 days.

 

[Satori]

Cool, thanks. If it looks like it's making a dent in the dinos I'll leave them off for up to 3 days.

 

[Satori]

Well, I kept my lights off for a few days. The dinos didn't miss a beat, but check this out: in the afternoons and evenings when the tank was dark, I got cyano on parts of the sand. In the mornings it was gone, but would come back by noon. I turned the lights back on today and the cyano was gone in an hour.

I'll start a new thread to see if one of you with a colorimeter can test my water for phosphates.

Thanks,
Mike