Algae help needed

[ReefMadness]

that may work but I would microscope those dinos to rule out some treatment methods. amphidinium are more common and considerably easier to deal with than the prorocentrum I fought for over a year.
otherwise, affordable jebao uv sterilizers can be found on eBay that only require a pump and rather than nutrient loading the system the better road to me is just to start the stability routine through an easily repeatable feeding regimen and perhaps a new fish or 2. instability may well have got this mess started and doesn't help remedy it.

[Llorgon]

Originally Posted by ReefMadness

that may work but I would microscope those dinos to rule out some treatment methods. amphidinium are more common and considerably easier to deal with than the prorocentrum I fought for over a year.
otherwise, affordable jebao uv sterilizers can be found on eBay that only require a pump and rather than nutrient loading the system the better road to me is just to start the stability routine through an easily repeatable feeding regimen and perhaps a new fish or 2. instability may well have got this mess started and doesn't help remedy it.

I will have to pickup a microscope and look into those uv sterilizers. I don't have much room under the tank/in the sump so hopefully I can find one that fits.



Adding a couple fish is a good idea. Dinoflagellates are only toxic to snails, correct?

I'm sure instability started this. It's a relatively new tank and I am new to reefing. Figuring out what instability caused this seems to be tricky though.

[ReefMadness]

Originally Posted by Llorgon

I will have to pickup a microscope and look into those uv sterilizers. I don't have much room under the tank/in the sump so hopefully I can find one that fits.



Adding a couple fish is a good idea. Dinoflagellates are only toxic to snails, correct?

I'm sure instability started this. It's a relatively new tank and I am new to reefing. Figuring out what instability caused this seems to be tricky though.

a new system lacks chemical and biological stability right out of the gate because of all the varying stages your rock and substrate (if you have any) are at in terms of maturing.
a lot of progress can be made with just rock solid consistent feeding and resisting the temptation to change things.
dinos described are toxic to "inverts" and I can confirm snails are on the list but I'm not entirely sure if it affects crabs or otherwise.
there is no catch all solution for beating dinos which is why I recommend scoping them. from there you can at least make decisions based on others success instead of spending, causing instability and getting frustrated.

[Llorgon]

Originally Posted by ReefMadness

a new system lacks chemical and biological stability right out of the gate because of all the varying stages your rock and substrate (if you have any) are at in terms of maturing.
a lot of progress can be made with just rock solid consistent feeding and resisting the temptation to change things.
dinos described are toxic to "inverts" and I can confirm snails are on the list but I'm not entirely sure if it affects crabs or otherwise.
there is no catch all solution for beating dinos which is why I recommend scoping them. from there you can at least make decisions based on others success instead of spending, causing instability and getting frustrated.

That makes sense. My tank has been running since June. So still maturing. I am trying not to change too much at once. I am blowing off the rocks more and added a filter sock. Also went from feeding 1/4 cube once a day to feeding twice a day. Hopefully to try and bring nitrate and phosphates to not be 0.


I finished my 3 day blackout and the tank looks a bit better. Fish are fine, but corals aren't happy. My red plating montipora is losing tissue and my big green sps is looking very white. My tyree toadstool also isn't opening yet... Hopefully they will come back.

[Llorgon]

Update time. Picked up some phosphate and nitrate dosing from Frogger and he let me borrow his spare Hanna phosphate checker! Thanks Frogger!!

Been dosing nitrates and phosphates for the last week. I think I need to up the dosage since nitrates still reading under 5ppm and phosphates have gone from 10ppb to 15ppb. Might up it to dosing in the morning and at night.

As for the Dino's themselves, they are still there...but I am seeing more hair algae. Although it's brown until I blow off the rocks.

So far the Dino's have taken its toll on my cleanup crew and some of my corals. I lost my big green SPS, plating montipora and forest fire Digi after doing the 3 day blackout.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

[Frogger]

I don't think you need to go any higher on the dosing. The idea is to get readable amounts.

Right now without your cleanup crew your hair algae will take over your tank if your nutrients get any higher.

Did you get the UV sterilizer? Black Friday is less than a week away.

[Llorgon]

Originally Posted by Frogger

I don't think you need to go any higher on the dosing. The idea is to get readable amounts.

Right now without your cleanup crew your hair algae will take over your tank if your nutrients get any higher.

Did you get the UV sterilizer? Black Friday is less than a week away.

From reading through the massive thread on battling dinos on reef2reef they seem to recommend ≥0.10 ppm PO4 and ≥5-10 ppm NO3. Seems to be the parameters people have the most success with. From what I can read the GHA is a sign that the tank is leveling out. There is usually a increase in the dinos, then the other algaes slowly start to grow and out compete it. I will have to try and slowly add a few cuc members back as the other algae grows to battle it. But I will wait for more of the dinos to go away first.


I haven't picked up a UV sterilizer yet. I need to get my hands on a microscope first so I can see what kind of dinos I have. Apparently there is one type that doesn't get into the water column and UV sterilizers aren't useful for it. Plus I was hoping to get some hanna test kits on black friday. Will have to see.

[ReefMadness]

Originally Posted by Llorgon

From reading through the massive thread on battling dinos on reef2reef they seem to recommend ≥0.10 ppm PO4 and ≥5-10 ppm NO3. Seems to be the parameters people have the most success with. From what I can read the GHA is a sign that the tank is leveling out. There is usually a increase in the dinos, then the other algaes slowly start to grow and out compete it. I will have to try and slowly add a few cuc members back as the other algae grows to battle it. But I will wait for more of the dinos to go away first.
I haven't picked up a UV sterilizer yet. I need to get my hands on a microscope first so I can see what kind of dinos I have. Apparently there is one type that doesn't get into the water column and UV sterilizers aren't useful for it. Plus I was hoping to get some hanna test kits on black friday. Will have to see.

R2R is also where I got my information and how I decided on treatment. it's great that you're going follow up on the microscope which is really the most important part.
as you mentioned a UV will be very effective on water column species like amphidinium and you may not even need any further treatment. this is obviously what you're hoping for as some of the people I followed had horrible issues for months and once they added the UV were able to clear their tank in the first few nights.
Unfortunately, UV will have little to no effect at all on prorocentrum which stay in the substrate and where you're better off to establish an environment that encourages algae growth that is too nutrient rich for dinos. this can (and did in the case of my tank) take months where you have a really poor looking tank that is overrun with algae if you don't have something that eats a lot of it.
Also, I don't know if I mentioned it earlier but you can cut a little of the toxicity your inverts take on by running a little activated carbon in the meantime.
good luck!

[Llorgon]

Originally Posted by ReefMadness

R2R is also where I got my information and how I decided on treatment. it's great that you're going follow up on the microscope which is really the most important part.
as you mentioned a UV will be very effective on water column species like amphidinium and you may not even need any further treatment. this is obviously what you're hoping for as some of the people I followed had horrible issues for months and once they added the UV were able to clear their tank in the first few nights.
Unfortunately, UV will have little to no effect at all on prorocentrum which stay in the substrate and where you're better off to establish an environment that encourages algae growth that is too nutrient rich for dinos. this can (and did in the case of my tank) take months where you have a really poor looking tank that is overrun with algae if you don't have something that eats a lot of it.
Also, I don't know if I mentioned it earlier but you can cut a little of the toxicity your inverts take on by running a little activated carbon in the meantime.
good luck!

I'm thinking I might try bringing a sample of the dinos to J&l and see if I can get an ID that way. Then I don't need to go out and buy a microscope. I was looking in the tank last night and I do see some dinos floating in the water. Not sure if that means they are the water column species though.



I have been looking into UV sterilizers. I have very limited room under my tank, but I found a few in tank UV sterilizers that aren't expensive and have decent reviews. So I might try that if it turns out the dinos are the ones in the water column.


I have found I am having trouble getting my nitrate and phosphate up and keeping it up. The stuff I got for dosing is supposed to be quite potent, but man, am I using a lot of it twice a day and numbers aren't really moving. Although I think this is to be expected for awhile.

[Llorgon]

Question. Would a 9W in tank UV sterilizer be too small for my 75 gallon tank. I found a slightly used one for $35. Just wondering if it would be too small to be any good or not.