Dinoflagellates

[rob189]

Hi guys.

Im battling with dino's at the moment. Long story short, i messed around with the nutrient balance and have been trying to fix it. Due to this lockdown, i'm unable to do waterchanges (not that i do them anyway)

What i did: added AF po4 remover (about 1/3 recommended amount). It nuked some of my digi's over night and had ceazy burnt tips on my sticks. I then panicked and removed the po4 remover and dosed some phosphates as well to try save my sticks. This was about 2 months ago. I then fed heavily for a while to to inflate my nutrient levels. What i shouldve done was just let my alk drop a bit to help with the burnt tips.

Then lockdown began (started 5 weeks ago for us here in SA). The dino's started at around this time. Tried to combat it by using the p04 remover again. This stopped its growth but didnt kill it. No3 sitting at around 25-30ppm from heavy feeding.

To drop the nitrates now (to try balance po4 and no3, which im hoping will solve my dino problem), ive started carbon dosing. Only doing 100ml per week of vinegar/glucose mix. Started it about 4 days ago. Also stopped the po4 remover at the same time

Tested this morning: po4: 0. No3 25 ish.

Now for my question: is there actually the proper way to get rid of dino's? Theres a ton of mixed info flying around. Some say pump up the nitrates. Others say drop those phosphates as low as you can.

Ive been dino's once before by doing a 4-day blackout, but im not too keen to do that again. Would rather beat it the right way.

Some background info on my tank:
800L mixed reef tank
Curve 9 skimmer
Chaeto in refugium
5 radion gen 2's over the DT


Thanks

 

[Michael Hoaster]

The challenge with dinos is there are many species, and many different treatments. I'd be happy to share what worked for me. The majority of things I did were based on Nature, rather than man-made chemicals. I used a multi-pronged attack to go after it from different angles.

A lot of folks are terrified by them, like they are an alien species that cannot be beaten. There's certainly plenty of horror stories out there. Though technically not an algae, I decided to treat it like one and apply the basics of algae elimination: reduce their food source, increase predators and increase competition for nutrients. Now that I think about it, this strategy would work for any living thing.

First, I researched what worked for other people, and made a running list of things that made sense to me. (A lot of it didn't) I also noted the dinos I had did not kill fish or snails that ate it, so I knew that I could include predation in my plan. A good plan is essential. You don't beat dinos overnight. You have to figure out what is having an effect, and gradually wear them down to the point where you have them on the ropes, then hit 'em with a final knock-out punch. I'm talking months here, not days or weeks.

I started with UV, which seemed to work for a lot of other dino-sufferers, and I already had one on hand.

Then I went after its food source. There is much disagreement over what they feed on. I side-stepped this issue by applying a simple idea: you are what you eat. Where do you think is their most concentrated food source? The water column? The sand? No. It's in the dinos themselves! So I did manual removal every other day. This one is tough because it comes back so fast, it can be discouraging. But no matter what their food source is, you are removing it.

For predation I added multiple species of reproducing snails. My favorite: Mini Strombus, sold by Indo-Pacific Sea Farms (ipsf.com) I added 1000 pods, Aquarium Depot(.com). I don't think many people realize that pods are voracious algae eaters. I added mollies from my LFS. Since they are prolific live-bearers, you can buy males and females, and you'll soon have an army of tiny eating machines. The fry are not distracted with mating, like adults, so their only concerns are eating and not getting eaten. I never fed them. Their only food source was dinos and other algae.

For competition I employed Ulva, a very fast growing macro algae. It's a greedy nutrient piggy. Put it in high light, let it grow, then export some, and keep some to keep it going.

I continued with manual removal, and watched and waited. I could see that it was gradually working. In the meantime, I worked out what I was going to do for the knock-out punch.

Once I saw that it was getting close to gone, I hit it with a four day blackout. I wrapped the tank with craft paper, so no light could get in. For the final flourish I did a large water change.

I've been dino-free ever since. I hope this helps. Good luck!

 

[bertoni]

I agree that there are a lot of species of dinoflagellates, and that's likely one reason that various strategies work in different tanks.

How much Chaetomorpha is being harvested out of the system, and how often? If it is growing rapidly, it can absorb a lot of nutrients.