Dinos?? or Diatoms

[Shirak]

Trying to help out the LFS. These things act like Dino's.. disperse when lights out regroup with lights on. Strands with encased gas bubbles if they sit long enough. I pulled some out with a turkey baster into a baggie and the water was brownish.. it cleared up in an hour or so and this stuff clumped together. I am however uncertain because of the shape under the scope (photos below) at 40x 100x and 400x. I have video too. They seem quite mobile and swim around freely. Seems to like the sand but in the tank shot can see it's starting to go up the side of the acrylic.

 

[Irishman]

There is a Dino support group on FB you can join and post those pics up. They’ll give you some answers as well. I’m not to versatile in this stuff yet.

 

[Shirak]

There is a Dino support group on FB you can join and post those pics up. They’ll give you some answers as well. I’m not to versatile in this stuff yet.

Thanks! Will check it out!

 

[Idoc]

Well the good news...no Dinos in those scope pictures! Those look like a type of diatoms.

 

[taricha]

Diatom. Likely navicula http://cfb.unh.edu/phycokey/Choices...unicells_symmetric/NAVICULA/Navicula_key.html

 

[Shirak]

Thanks for the replies! So I guess next question.. They don't want to go away, it's been months..How to get rid of them?

 

[Irishman]

They take a while to go away. You can change your feeding and run GFO reactor to help combat it.

 

[Shirak]

Thanks for the help! Picking up silicate test kit and will add GFO. The Chaeto died from lack of nutrients and when I checked last week nitrates and phosphates were 0, so I think the problem is silicates in the source water. I am thinking exporting the diatoms would reduce silicates in the system as long as not adding more down the road.

 

[Idoc]

Thanks for the help! Picking up silicate test kit and will add GFO. The Chaeto died from lack of nutrients and when I checked last week nitrates and phosphates were 0, so I think the problem is silicates in the source water. I am thinking exporting the diatoms would reduce silicates in the system as long as not adding more down the road.

I would be very careful attempting to reduce the diatoms with GFO until after you have dosed up your nitrates and phosphates to around 5ppm and .08ppm, respectively. Then let the system sit at this level for awhile to promote other algae growths. Reducing the diatoms without nitrates/phosphates to encourage other algae growth will often open the door for a massive dino bloom. Right now, the diatoms could be holding the dinos back from occurring in your system by out-competing them fir nutrients.

 

[dbaussiereef]

I have experienced exactly this trying to get rid of Diatoms with my first tank, you learn !

 

[Djwhitterz]

Sorry to hijack this post I also have Ultra low nitrate and phosphate with a diatom bloom.
Tanks been running 6 months and I have chaeto.
Is there a specific way to slowly rise nitrates as I'm trying to undo my mistake. I assume feeding extra will help but is it that the only/best way. I also want to avoid a dino outbreak once the diatoms have burnt out.

 

[Djwhitterz]

Also is there a way to remove silicates without affecting other nutrients?

 

[Treenk]

What kind of livestock do you guys have? What kind of sand? What kind of salt do you use? What kind of things do you have that eat diatoms, and what kind of algae are you trying to replace it with? When diatoms go what's next gha, dinos, cyano, coralline? If you have chaeto that's eating your nitrates which isnt a bad thing maybe your chaeto is overcoming your bio load?

 

[Shirak]

Also is there a way to remove silicates without affecting other nutrients?

Not that I am aware of other than exporting the diatoms out of the system and removing the silicates they have incorporated. I plan to have the LFS gravel vac through a filter sock and then put the water back into the system. The sock should collect them. When I tried to test using the coffee filter method they were removed.

 

[Shirak]

What kind of livestock do you guys have? What kind of sand? What kind of salt do you use? What kind of things do you have that eat diatoms, and what kind of algae are you trying to replace it with? When diatoms go what's next gha, dinos, cyano, coralline? If you have chaeto that's eating your nitrates which isnt a bad thing maybe your chaeto is overcoming your bio load?

Noted on the risk of the diatom removal with such low nutrients. I did start the young guy at the shop tossing in a few large pellets/day. They had stopped feeding anything a while back. It's a 60g system with just a few softie frags such as GSP, mushrooms, leathers and a few LPS - small branch hammer and a couple small bubble. They tossed in a few astrea and nerites along with a small wrasse and tang. The chaeto has been gone for a little while now so I plan to retest nutrients soon. I could also dose it with neonitro and neophos. I am thinking a UV on the return might be a good way to go as well.

I did ask about the water they were using and according to the guy there.. it's supposed to be RO but... he says no soooo ..

 

[ScottB]

I would be very careful attempting to reduce the diatoms with GFO until after you have dosed up your nitrates and phosphates to around 5ppm and .08ppm, respectively. Then let the system sit at this level for awhile to promote other algae growths. Reducing the diatoms without nitrates/phosphates to encourage other algae growth will often open the door for a massive dino bloom. Right now, the diatoms could be holding the dinos back from occurring in your system by out-competing them fir nutrients.

@Shirak please take this advice to heart. Diatoms are just a phase. Can be a long phase, but they don't harm anything beyond aesthetics. What you will really hate yourself for, is allowing dinoflagellates to take hold.

 

[Shirak]

@Shirak please take this advice to heart. Diatoms are just a phase. Can be a long phase, but they don't harm anything beyond aesthetics. What you will really hate yourself for, is allowing dinoflagellates to take hold.

Will do for sure. These guys have only done fish only with a few inverts here and there with the fish. So this frag tank is new to them. Fortunately it's a separate system. Alk was low (6) so I have them putting in a little 2 part a few times a week based on my calculations to get it to 8.5. Will retest NO3 and PO4 later today and see where we are at. Think I will bring the NeoN and NeoP with me too. What do guys think about an inline UV? I am concerned with the poor quality source water. They were doing lots of water changes so I had them stop that as they were just adding new silicates.

 

[Idoc]

Sorry to hijack this post I also have Ultra low nitrate and phosphate with a diatom bloom.
Tanks been running 6 months and I have chaeto.
Is there a specific way to slowly rise nitrates as I'm trying to undo my mistake. I assume feeding extra will help but is it that the only/best way. I also want to avoid a dino outbreak once the diatoms have burnt out.

Easiest easy to increase nitrates and phosphates is to dose them. I dose Loudwolf Sodium Nitrate and Seachem Flourish Phosphorous.

 

[Shirak]

Hmm so doing a little research. If they run GFO on the water before mixing salt in. That should remove phosphates and silicates.

 

[ScottB]

Hmm so doing a little research. If they run GFO on the water before mixing salt in. That should remove phosphates and silicates.

Shouldn’t the rodi system be removing all of that?
Are they measuring TDS coming out of rodi?