Algae or dinos on acros?

[rtparty]

Dinos on corals and sand. Ostreopsis on corals and amphidinium on sand would be my guess. Need at least 400x zoom on your scope

 

[Tuffloud1]

You've got dinos

Quit feeding the dino so much extra nutrients. Cut you feedings to 1/3rd and do weekly water changes. In 6 weeks it should starve out

You start dosing a bunch live bacteria crap, you'll crash your ecosystem

It amazes me how there is so much conflicting advice in reefing.

Everywhere else, people recommend stopping water changes and increase nutrients.

Not saying you’re wrong, just that it’s conflicting to what I’ve read elsewhere.

 

[ZoWhat]

It amazes me how there is so much conflicting advice in reefing.

Everywhere else, people recommend stopping water changes and increase nutrients.

Not saying you’re wrong, just that it’s conflicting to what I’ve read elsewhere.

Its a 4-pronged approach for me. Dinos are photosynthetic.

I've always beat them by
1) reducing feedings
2) reducing light cycles / light intensities
3) upping WCs
4) dosing Mag to 1500ppm min, maxing out at 1800

 

[paul01609]

I’d get a scope see what you have
raise po4 and nitrate
might need a uv depending what sort you have
dont do water changes
i beat big A dosing water glass
dose phytoplankton
you need to out compete the Dino

 

[Tuffloud1]

Here’s the some more shots of the stuff on the rocks. If this is dino, then I have a serious problem going on because this stuff is everywhere in the rock crevices.

 

[Tuffloud1]

I’d get a scope see what you have
raise po4 and nitrate
might need a uv depending what sort you have
dont do water changes
i beat big A dosing water glass
dose phytoplankton
you need to out compete the Dino

My nitrate has always been rock solid at 25 and Phosphate stays .02-.06

You suggest raising nitrate higher?

I run filter socks and a skimmer. That’s it.

I don’t run any chaeto or algae scrubber.

 

[paul01609]

I would hang on untill some one whos More of a expert than me

 

[paul01609]

What might work for one might not work for another

 

[rtparty]

My own experience fighting dinos on multiple occasions is PO4 is more important than NO3. Get PO4 to .1 at a minimum and hold there for weeks.

Raising temp to 83 can help as well but do so slowly and carefully.

If it is indeed ostreopsis, a UV sterilizer will knock it back super quick.

Amphidinium is the bad one. Silicate dosing is about the only thing I've heard of working long term

 

[paul01609]

I beat Amphidinium as soon as that went ostreopsis taken over straight away,I’m still battling it and to me seems harder to get rid off,
it went a few weeks back and just returned again so I have had to put UV back in the tank

 

[Tuffloud1]

I beat Amphidinium as soon as that went ostreopsis taken over straight away,I’m still battling it and to me seems harder to get rid off,
it went a few weeks back and just returned again so I have had to put UV back in the tank

How did you beat Amphidinium? Any pictures?

 

[paul01609]

Raised nitrates and phos dosed sponge el by brightwell aquatics and dosed phytoplankton .
mine just stayed on the sand

 

[Tuffloud1]

I’ve never dosed phytoplankton. Is there a brand name product or do most culture their own?

 

[rtparty]

I’ve never dosed phytoplankton. Is there a brand name product or do most culture their own?

Phyto is a great way. Adding pods also helps a ton. I like Reef Nutrition for both. Find a LFS that carries them.

AlgaeBarn's Phyto is good but way weaker than Reef Nutrition's

 

[ChrisOFL]

I have a thread here about how I was able to beat dinos. Your nutrient levels are much higher than mine and would be curious to see if it works. My approach is also much simpler and worked extremely quickly for me. They have not returned and I don't expect them to either.

 

[Tuffloud1]

My own experience fighting dinos on multiple occasions is PO4 is more important than NO3. Get PO4 to .1 at a minimum and hold there for weeks.

Raising temp to 83 can help as well but do so slowly and carefully.

If it is indeed ostreopsis, a UV sterilizer will knock it back super quick.

Amphidinium is the bad one. Silicate dosing is about the only thing I've heard of working long term

Thanks for sharing your experience.

How do you think raising PO4 to .1 helped?

The only way I can think that this would work is if I’m raising PO4 for the purpose of adding additional competition to the Dino such as chaeto or another form of macro algae. The algae would then outcompete the Dino.

The part that I’m stumbling on is how does this idea work if I’m keeping nutrients elevated? Since there is always going to be nutrients in my system, why does boosting PO4 even more to feed algae outcompete Dino? If there are always nutrients there, why does algae win? It seems both would still coexist unless nutrients fell to zero, which I don’t want (starve acros).

 

[Tuffloud1]

You've got dinos

Quit feeding the dino so much extra nutrients. Cut you feedings to 1/3rd and do weekly water changes. In 6 weeks it should starve out

You start dosing a bunch live bacteria crap, you'll crash your ecosystem

How would dosing Microbacter 7 or Dr. Tim’s crash an ecosystem?

 

[thedon986]

How would dosing Microbacter 7 or Dr. Tim’s crash an ecosystem?

It won't. I dosed both during my fight against amph dino and still dose MB7 weekly. I would say you need to raise your phosphate to .07 min to .1. A level as low as .02 could be the testing variance and you could be bottomed out at zero. Phyto and pods have done the most against my dinos. A UV is best for ostreopsis, the really stringy one. And definitely get better scope pictures, need 400x minimum to diagnose what is on the sand.

 

[Tuffloud1]

It won't. I dosed both during my fight against amph dino and still dose MB7 weekly. I would say you need to raise your phosphate to .07 min to .1. A level as low as .02 could be the testing variance and you could be bottomed out at zero. Phyto and pods have done the most against my dinos. A UV is best for ostreopsis, the really stringy one. And definitely get better scope pictures, need 400x minimum to diagnose what is on the sand.

Why do you continue to dose Microbacter 7?

Are you dosing live phytoplankton? How does dosing Phyto combat dino?

 

[rtparty]

Thanks for sharing your experience.

How do you think raising PO4 to .1 helped?

The only way I can think that this would work is if I’m raising PO4 for the purpose of adding additional competition to the Dino such as chaeto or another form of macro algae. The algae would then outcompete the Dino.

The part that I’m stumbling on is how does this idea work if I’m keeping nutrients elevated? Since there is always going to be nutrients in my system, why does boosting PO4 even more to feed algae outcompete Dino? If there are always nutrients there, why does algae win? It seems both would still coexist unless nutrients fell to zero, which I don’t want (starve acros).

The current thought is dinos thrive when there is a lack of biodiversity. Making sure there is plenty of N and P will give everything a chance to multiply quick enough to compete.

As of right now, it's semi understood where, why, and how dinos take over. The common denominator in the vast majority of dino cases is nutrients dropping or being too low. My last battle showed up at .03ppm PO4. Margin of error means that I could actually be 0 or super close. I think I saw .06 for you? That means you could be closer to .02 to .03