Dino questions

[Mattman1977]

little back ground on my tanks and myself

Tank in question is your standard 55 gal tank. No skimmer, no sump been up about 15 months, a few fish, mostly softies leathers, toadstools and what not. Did weekly water changes of around 6 gal vacuuming the sand bed. This was my first tank so I’ve been in the sw hobby around 15 months as well.

Also have a coral qt tank that’s a 20 long with a 29 gal sump and a 61 gal coral grow out tank I’m working on with sump.

Ok so I’ve been fighting Dino for at least 8 months now in the 55gal getting old fast but I like challenges. I’ve tried all kinds of things that’s been posted on different threads here with no luck, problem in my opinion is I can’t remove enough dino out of the tank during cleaning. With not having a sump I did the siphoning through a filter sock attached to a 5 gal bucket daily for 6 weeks dino was still present in the tank. Unfortunately my work picked up and I didn’t have the time to continue this. I have not tried dinox yet either.

Ok that’s a little back story. Now I planned on just keeping the fight going until I won but my boss thought I would be better off working out of a different branch 1000 miles away along with a nice raise. He made it where I couldn’t refuse. So we are moving and I get to move 3 tanks. I have about 4 months to plan this out so I am thinking about taking down the 55 and transferring the fish to the 61, it’s a 125 cut in half, the corals I’m thinking about cutting off the rocks and attaching them to 2” disc, dip them and placing in the qt tank as my softie tank has a few hitchhikers I don’t want in other tanks. The live rock will be dried out and I’ll worry about it at a latter time.

So here’s my question finally

#1 How do I keep from spreading the dino?

I know that’s kind of a loaded question but there’s a lot I don’t understand about dino still. I know it’s a bacteria and I know the conditions have to be correct for it to “bloom”.

#2 I read somewhere that dino is in the cells of coral, is this true

If it is true then is it all coral or just infected coral?

#3 is there a dip that kills it?


Sorry for the long post just wanted to give as much information as I could

Thanks for the help
Matt

 

[Jinko]

There are many types of Dinoflagellata and yes they exist inside coral polyps but those aren't the same as the ones on your sand.

The nuisance ones are caused by a build up of nutrients normally phosphate.

Are you running phosphate remover?
If not I would recommend you get some.
Are you sure it's dinos and not cyano or diatoms?

Also are you using RO water?

 

[Mattman1977]

There are many types of Dinoflagellata and yes they exist inside coral polyps but those aren't the same as the ones on your sand.

That’s awesome to hear.


[QUOTE="Jinko, post: 5983403, member: 99944"The nuisance ones are caused by a build up of nutrients normally phosphate.

Are you running phosphate remover?
If not I would recommend you get some.
Are you sure it's dinos and not cyano or diatoms?[/QUOTE]

No phosphate remover, what would you suggest for a tank with no sump.
It looks like text book dino. Air bubble in the afternoon and all. Haven’t looked at it under a microscope yet. Also when using a 100 micron filter sock in a 5 gal bucket it gets through the sock and starts to recombine. I ordered 50 micron socks after that.

[QUOTE="Jinko, post: 5983403, member: 99944"Also are you using RO water?
[/QUOTE]

Yes I have a spectrapure 90gpd system with tds meters.
175 ppm tap
4 ppm after membrane
0 ppm after di

Matt

 

[Mattman1977]

But not as worried about killing the dino as spreading the dino. As the tanks coming down soon. Rocks will be dipped and “boiled” before using again

Matt

 

[Mykesocalreef]

There is a huge thread in the algae section. First thing they mention is an ID. Via microscope or I believe a paper towel method. Check it out. Lots of good info. I had it for about a week and got rid of it. Mine was caused by the lack of nutrients I believe. Nitrates and phosphates. Started dosing both and put a UV online. Cleared it up in 2 days. Mine was the Ostreopsis strain, not sure of the spelling.

 

[Mykesocalreef]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/dinoflagellates-–-are-you-tired-of-battling-altogether.293318/

 

[Mattman1977]

Oh yeah I appreciate it. That’s one of the many threads I’ve read over these past months coming up with ideas.

I did the paper towel test and it did as dino would do, same idea as going through the 100 micron filter sock I believe.

So maybe I’m not asking the correct question. If I remove the coral from the 55 gal, remount them then dip them, coral ex, will I have to worry about spreading the dino to my other tanks?

The realtor wants the tank out of the living room to make it look larger. I agree. I have a fish room in the back of the house where my other tanks are set up so that’s where the fish and coral are going and after a few weeks in qt tank the coral will go in the 61 and the qt tank will come down so I only have 1 tank to move.

I am taking this opportunity to start a new build/upgrade after the move. Where I can have a sump with skimmer and uv sterilizer among other things.

Matt

 

[Mykesocalreef]

Oh yeah I appreciate it. That’s one of the many threads I’ve read over these past months coming up with ideas.

I did the paper towel test and it did as dino would do, same idea as going through the 100 micron filter sock I believe.

So maybe I’m not asking the correct question. If I remove the coral from the 55 gal, remount them then dip them, coral ex, will I have to worry about spreading the dino to my other tanks?

The realtor wants the tank out of the living room to make it look larger. I agree. I have a fish room in the back of the house where my other tanks are set up so that’s where the fish and coral are going and after a few weeks in qt tank the coral will go in the 61 and the qt tank will come down so I only have 1 tank to move.

I am taking this opportunity to start a new build/upgrade after the move. Where I can have a sump with skimmer and uv sterilizer among other things.

Matt

The only thing that changed was plumbing my two tanks together. Neither had Dinos prior to the tie in. Where mine came from is a mystery to me. As far as if that would work or not I really couldn't tell you. Maybe someone else will chime in with some answers.

 

[Jinko]

I don't think it's a question of where do they come from or how can I stop it spreading (algae always finds a way) as much as how do I stop the cause.

Finding out whats fueling it's growth is the big question, sometimes it can be as simple as increasing flow.

Without a sump your nutrients export is going to be limited.

 

[Mattman1977]

Hmmmm dinoflagellates is a bacteria not an algae that’s why I’m worried about spreading it.

I allowed my N and P to get to low for to long which allowed all algae to die off and gave to correct conditions for the bacteria to bloom. For a tank without a skimmer you would think I would of had high N and P.

Tank has great flow a 55 with a pair of maxspect gyre 250 plus a Tunze behind the rocks to keep things stirred up. No dead spots. But this is way off topic

Tank is coming down this weekend so I guess I’ll wing it and see what happens. Fish are going in the 61 and coral is going in the qt after dipping. Might incorporate a h2o2 dip in it as well as it kills the dino so it seems

Matt

 

[High ICP]

Any, and virtually every, new tank is going to get them

New as in under a year

They go away, and usually with nothing more than cleaning the tank regularly and regular water changes

Stopping them from “spreading” is like stopping Staph from spreading(you are covered in it).

If you have them in an established tank, then you have problems.

 

[Mykesocalreef]

Hmmmm dinoflagellates is a bacteria not an algae that’s why I’m worried about spreading it.

I allowed my N and P to get to low for to long which allowed all algae to die off and gave to correct conditions for the bacteria to bloom. For a tank without a skimmer you would think I would of had high N and P.

Tank has great flow a 55 with a pair of maxspect gyre 250 plus a Tunze behind the rocks to keep things stirred up. No dead spots. But this is way off topic

Tank is coming down this weekend so I guess I’ll wing it and see what happens. Fish are going in the 61 and coral is going in the qt after dipping. Might incorporate a h2o2 dip in it as well as it kills the dino so it seems

Matt

My tank is 100 gallon low boy frag tank. 30"x60"x12" Two 250's and two 230's flow is cranked. Did not matter still had dinos. Good luck and keep us posted on if you are able to keep it out.

 

[Mykesocalreef]

Any, and virtually every, new tank is going to get them

New as in under a year

They go away, and usually with nothing more than cleaning the tank regularly and regular water changes

Stopping them from “spreading” is like stopping Staph from spreading(you are covered in it).

If you have them in an established tank, then you have problems.

Are you talking about Dinos or Diatoms? Ive had diatoms on all 4 tanks in the beginning of every tank and they are just the ugly stage. They go through their cycle and disappear. The tank I had dinos in was 3 years old. I had them for a week total but I attacked aggressively. Some members have posted about constant wc's still not being able to remove the dinos.

 

[High ICP]

Dinos, diatoms, cyano

The uglies

It just takes one cell