A newbies experience with dinoflagellates.

[GaZZaW]

Hello everyone,
As a newbie reefer of six months I thought id share my path so far, hope its not too boring
After the cycle of the reefer 425xl a few fish were added, the standard clowns and cardinals. I also got a scooter blenny by accident (beginners mistake but shes still there and doing fine but that's another story), and a couple of beginners corals, leather cabbage, gsp.
From about 3 months in I had been struggling a little with brown algae. not too bad and from all I had researched I guessed it would go eventually. Guess what, it didnt.. it just got worse. Regular syphoning, cleaning the rocks that could be removed at every water change, 10% every week.
LED lighting (Giesseman Vervve) 50% blues 30% white 0% red. water parameters all in line with what I had learned over the year of research previous to actually getting a tank.
but still getting worse..what was i doing wrong. I kept calm and read some more and realised the algae was dinoflagellates.. OH NO!! Slime with bubbles everywhere.what id read about other reefers with this made my heart sink, was i going to have to start again?
My last resort was purchasing a bottle of Fauna Marin Dino X.
I didn't have time to start dosing a few weeks ago but read the instructions and it said, run blue light for no more than 10 hours and white no longer than 6 hours, so I set that up first. I was running on a 12 hour cycle, 1 hour sun up and 1 sun down and moonlighting till an hour after i went to bed.. yes i can see all you experienced guys shaking your heads i turned moonlighting off completely by the way.
After my week away (family looking after tank for top off and feed) I noticed something. was this algea receding? filter socks blocking!! huh? after that another water change, Dinos just releasing and floating around, got out as much as I could.. this stuff was melting like snow in the sun, I couldn't believe it, Yesterday evening water is crystal and algae is gone and i didn't dose a drop.
Moral of the story. Don't forget to learn about the photo period of your reef tank, and Dinoflagellates are not the end of the world.
I hope this helps any other beginners.
Happy Reefing

Gary

 

[Medic755]

So you did dose the dino x?

 

[GaZZaW]

Nope, still in the bottle.

 

[Medic755]

Interesting. I cut the photo period to 4 hours from 10 and suctioned out the sand bed. Seems to be receding now.

 

[Pockets]

I had a tank crash few months ago when I was on the road working cane home to dynos and hair algae bomb. I almost have it under control I've been carbon dosing vinigar also using phosgaurd and a vigorous water change schedual dusting rocks with a turkey baster and plucking as much out by hand as I can. Everything's starting to look normal again. Just gotta stay on top of it.

 

[Fr4nkthet4nk]

I have tried everything. 3 and half day blackout, H2O2, reducing the light and other stuff and guess what nothing worked. I will try this 50% blue and 30% white and cut the hours the lights are on. I will let you know.

 

[SantaMonicaHelp]

Hello everyone,
As a newbie reefer of six months I thought id share my path so far, hope its not too boring
After the cycle of the reefer 425xl a few fish were added, the standard clowns and cardinals. I also got a scooter blenny by accident (beginners mistake but shes still there and doing fine but that's another story), and a couple of beginners corals, leather cabbage, gsp.
From about 3 months in I had been struggling a little with brown algae. not too bad and from all I had researched I guessed it would go eventually. Guess what, it didnt.. it just got worse. Regular syphoning, cleaning the rocks that could be removed at every water change, 10% every week.
LED lighting (Giesseman Vervve) 50% blues 30% white 0% red. water parameters all in line with what I had learned over the year of research previous to actually getting a tank.
but still getting worse..what was i doing wrong. I kept calm and read some more and realised the algae was dinoflagellates.. OH NO!! Slime with bubbles everywhere.what id read about other reefers with this made my heart sink, was i going to have to start again?
My last resort was purchasing a bottle of Fauna Marin Dino X.
I didn't have time to start dosing a few weeks ago but read the instructions and it said, run blue light for no more than 10 hours and white no longer than 6 hours, so I set that up first. I was running on a 12 hour cycle, 1 hour sun up and 1 sun down and moonlighting till an hour after i went to bed.. yes i can see all you experienced guys shaking your heads i turned moonlighting off completely by the way.
After my week away (family looking after tank for top off and feed) I noticed something. was this algea receding? filter socks blocking!! huh? after that another water change, Dinos just releasing and floating around, got out as much as I could.. this stuff was melting like snow in the sun, I couldn't believe it, Yesterday evening water is crystal and algae is gone and i didn't dose a drop.
Moral of the story. Don't forget to learn about the photo period of your reef tank, and Dinoflagellates are not the end of the world.
I hope this helps any other beginners.
Happy Reefing

Gary

Hi Gary,

Thank you for sharing!
Very useful information...good to know
Is this your first tank?

Zhenya

 

[Medic755]

Well it's back. Not nearly as bad. A very slight amount on the sand, and two nickel sized sections on the rocks. I suctioned the rocks and then blasted them. pH is still between 8.15-8.35. Phosphate 0.02 via Red Sea. Nitrate between 12-16 via Red Sea. I put my lighting back to its normal cycle as well. Ideas?

 

[GaZZaW]

Hi Gary,

Thank you for sharing!
Very useful information...good to know
Is this your first tank?

Zhenya

Yes First Tank..

 

[Fr4nkthet4nk]

This solution didn't work for me.

 

[ncaldwell]

If you have small spots on thw rock you could try diluting a small amount of the H2o2 with no flow and just hitting them. Read up on it but it's pretty easy for spot treatments