Dinos gone— but what now?

[Crashjack]

First I want to thank all of the major contributors to the monster dino thread. I finally beat dinos with increased nitrate and phosphate levels (I used Seachem Flourish Nitrogen and Phosphorus), removal of dinos with water changes, addition of a UV sterilizer, and then a several day blackout once the other steps had eliminated nearly all of the dinos.

After the dinos were gone, my phosphates spiked to around .30 ppm, and my nitrates to around 25 ppm. I’m now left with a tank full of the prettiest, most lush hair algae you’ve ever seen. On Monday, my phosphates had gone down to around .09 ppm, and my nitrates were d0wn to around 6 ppm (these reductions occurred naturally). Unfortunately, my lawnmower blenny either got sick from the toxins or has had a very prolonged battle with intestinal parasites that I haven’t been able to cure. The once gluttonous LMB now ignores everything but what I feed the tank and microalgae on the glass so he is no help. I’ve got snails and hermits, but they aren’t going to put a dent in this overgrowth. I also have a kole tang in quarantine, but there is no guaranty the tang will eat hair algae. Should I just allow the hair algae to run rampant and see if my nitrates/phosphates continue to fall? What if nitrates/phosphates fall back to zero... should I bring the levels back up and continue to feed the hair algae? I’ve taken care of the big problem, but now I’ve got to deal with the lesser problem.

 

[RobZilla04]

The new problem is the elevated nitrates/phosphates are being tied up in the hair algae. Test kits are going to give false readings. The hair algae consumes the nutrients almost immediately when they hit the water column. Reduced feeding, manual removal, an algae scrubber or macro reactor may help, dropping the white channel lights to 0%, GFO in a reactor, large water changes, patience and determination are all ways to combat GHA. Most of us have been there. This stuff is tough.

Try not to leave die off in the tank as the nutrients are released back into the water for the rest of it to use to continue to thrive. Turn off the flow and remove as much by had as you can. Use a tooth brush to scrub other sections followed by a water change. Running GFO in a reactor changed out weekly (if the problem is serious) or bi-weekly (if the problem is moderate) to ensure it is always active in stripping phosphates. You can look into organic carbon dosing to help with the nitrates, although from experience once phosphates drop and the balance between nitrates/phosphates is achieved, the problem begins to recede.

Finally there are products on the market (Vibrant & Fluconazole) which others have used successfully to eradicate algae problems quickly. There is a lengthy Vibrant threat (150+) here on this forum along with many about Fluc. I suggest trying the first set of methods before Vibrant/Fluc.

 

[Cscultho]

I battled the dreaded dino for a couple months and ended in a similar situation as you. I CAUTION you to not use any chemicals to battle the hair algae. Its very easy to get stuck in a big loop of chasing issues. Fluconazole triggered a terrible dino outbreak in my tank and i dreaded that experience. It killed everything good in my tank and dino thrived. IMO the best way to go about it is the natural way. -- water changes, fish and cleanup crew.

 

[fishbox]

My problem is that I have dinos and a severe GHA problem at the same. My N&P are both at 0. I was going to start dosing N&P to bring them up a bit but now I'm wondering if just getting rid of the GHA will do the tricks.

 

[Cscultho]

Remove as much GHA as possible manually (pulling, scrubbing and reduced feeding, water changes) and see where your N&P settle out. Once you have as much GHA removed you will more than likely start to see N&P readings. But you must stay on top of water changes and manual GHA removal otherwise it will start to grow out of control again. Find that balance for your tank. This is a big science project.

This is a very slow process and dont expect quick results.....slow and steady. Chemicals are a quick fix but that goes against what ive learned and practice in this hobby. Fast can only lead to bad stuff.

 

[tastyfish]

You've done the hard part which is to beat back the dinoflagellates, and now what you have is actually really good. Your tank ecosystem is resetting. Competing algae and organisms are able to get a foothold.

Work on reducing your nitrates and phosphates, use CUC and work your way through it. It's all good and the more competitive organisms you get growing, the better. This will reduce the opportunity for the dinoflagellates to return.

After my dinos were knocked back, I had diatoms, followed by a brown fluffy algae, followed by GHA and then coralline.

I can't emphasise enough how important it is NOT to intervene with chemicals or any shock treatment. Like it or not, dinoflagellates are still in your tank and will take advantage of any gap in the ecosystem.

So, slowly, slowly work though it and deal with the water parameters.

 

[SDboatguy]

I'm in the same boat as you. Except while I have been fighting DINOs ,I've had GHA,red turf, green bubble, diatoms and coraline going off. 3-4 weeks of not cleaning the glass and I could hardly see in the tank....Seems like all the nasty stuff loves my tank ( and all the ACROs I HAD) Still adding P&N to keep levels up, running UV and manually removing all the offending algae and now cyano, looking into a massive CUC and some pods now... GOOD LUCK !!
ps. I love this hobby don't you ??

 

[fishbox]

ps. I love this hobby don't you ??

I actually do [emoji23]

 

[RobZilla04]

You cannot have minimal (0 No3 & 0 Po4) and have GHA. Those nutrients are being soaked up by the algae thus they DO NOT show up the test kits. Look at your tank. The GHA is the nitrates and phosphates.

 

[fishbox]

You cannot have minimal (0 No3 & 0 Po4) and have GHA. Those nutrients are being soaked up by the algae thus they DO NOT show up the test kits. Look at your tank. The GHA is the nitrates and phosphates.

Yes I'm aware that the GHA is absorbing N&P. I just didn't think of manually removing it to get the N&P back up to help with the Dino battle before I started dosing N&P. Sometimes I miss the obvious lol. I originally had super high N&P. They were so high they didn't register on any of my test kits. So I added a cheato reactor which got my levels to a good place for a couple months (although the cheato never grew). Then all of the sudden my #s dropped to 0 and the dinos and hair algae kicked in. I removed the reactor since.
And my apology to the OP as I don't want to hijack the thread

 

[Crashjack]

I agree that my tests likely read low because nutrients are being taken up so quickly. My fear with actively reducing nitrates/phosphates is creating an environment for the dinos to come back and thrive in. I have a fairly light bioload and though I feed 3 times per day, I don’t feed heavy. I don’t have a scrubber or macro reactor but do grow chaeto in my sump. I might try taking my white LEDs down to 0% but still have T5s (2 Blue Plus bulbs and 2 Coral Plus bulbs). I have some Chemiclean that made my dinos disappear for about 2 days. However it sounds like any sort of chemical treatment should be avoided at this juncture.

 

[tastyfish]

I agree that my tests likely read low because nutrients are being taken up so quickly. My fear with actively reducing nitrates/phosphates is creating an environment for the dinos to come back and thrive in. I have a fairly light bioload and though I feed 3 times per day, I don’t feed heavy. I don’t have a scrubber or macro reactor but do grow chaeto in my sump. I might try taking my white LEDs down to 0% but still have T5s (2 Blue Plus bulbs and 2 Coral Plus bulbs). I have some Chemiclean that made my dinos disappear for about 2 days. However it sounds like any sort of chemical treatment should be avoided at this juncture.

You can't effectively treat dinos with chemiclean, a blackout, H2O2 or Vibrant alone. It may be effective at knocking them back, but it leaves the gap in the ecosystem which they will rapidly expand back into.

This is why so many cases of dinoflagellates return and why many reefers end up stripping down and starting again or even leave the hobby.

Build your ecosystem. Encourage other (nuisance) algae, in the knowledge that they are competing with the dinoflagellates and are usually much easier to deal with.

Remember: Nothing good ever happens fast in a reef tank

PS: Kill the white light if you've recently had dinos, outside of red, it's probably the most usable spectrum for many photosynthetic species.

 

[Crashjack]

You can't effectively treat dinos with chemiclean, a blackout, H2O2 or Vibrant alone. It may be effective at knocking them back, but it leaves the gap in the ecosystem which they will rapidly expand back into.

This is why so many cases of dinoflagellates return and why many reefers end up stripping down and starting again or even leave the hobby.

Build your ecosystem. Encourage other (nuisance) algae, in the knowledge that they are competing with the dinoflagellates and are usually much easier to deal with.

Remember: Nothing good ever happens fast in a reef tank

PS: Kill the white light if you've recently had dinos, outside of red, it's probably the most usable spectrum for many photosynthetic species.

Yeah, the Chemiclean was before I delved into the monster dino thread. I was in the hobby back in the mid-90's through early 2000's before starting back last summer and thought I had seen about everything. When the dinos started, I assumed it was a type of cyano I had never encountered so treated as such... boy, was I wrong.