I have almost completely eradicated dinoflagellates overnight.

[Reef Puncher]

In no expert at UV, but I'm a nerd and read a lot on the subject up to this point. There is an ideal flow rate to be calculated when trying to kill marine protests such as ich. Dinos are not as critical for flow rate because they are so small and easily irradiated by the UV.

Ideal placement is in the tank with an inlet and outlet both in the display itself and not plumbed in the sump or off a manifold. I found if marginally effective for ich until I removed it from my manifold and hooked it straight into my display.

Sizing of the UV is most important, you'll need much bigger than you thought originally, trust me. I had a 55-watt for my 215 gallon and after calculations, realized I need something in the 110 watt range with a flow of 300 gph to be effective.

Here's what I wrote for another reefer on reef2reef when he had questions on his unit:



You have a 150-watt HO Emperor you plan to use on a 300-gallon total water volume tank. Emperor suggests for killing marine protists (ich), you would need an exposure of 180,000 µWsec/cm2 running at 840 GPH to do that.

According to research by the University of Florida:

https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fa164

"Use of ultraviolet (UV) sterilization to kill theronts has been suggested, based on research involving Ichthyophthirius multifiliis (freshwater "ich"). The recommended UV dose for Ichthyophthirius theronts is 100,000 µWsec/cm2 (Hoffman 1974). However, UV doses required for Cryptocaryon irritans are anecdotal or extrapolated, and range from 280,000 µWsec/cm2 (industry numbers) to 800,000 µWsec/cm2(Colorni and Burgess 1997)."

So the extrapolated saltwater ich exposure needed to kill it with UV is anywhere from 280,000 to 800,000 µWsec/cm2. I've run with 336,000 µWsec/cm2 because I pulled that from a chart I saw many years ago for an exposure level to kill marine ich.

So to adjust Emperor's GPH from the 840 GPH needed for 180,000 µWsec/cm2 exposure to almost double the exposure suggested at 336,000 µWsec/cm2:

336,000 µWsec/cm2 ÷ 180,000 µWsec/cm2 = 1.87
840 GPH ÷ 1.87 = ~450 GPH

Running your UV at 450 GPH will effectively kill marine ich protists going through your 150-watt UV unit. The problem is most recommend at least a 3x turnover per hour for UV to be effective. Basically, the 450 GPH will kill any ich that goes through your UV, but if you don't have it turn over the tank volume at least 3x/hour, you're not killing enough of them to make a true impact to the population. For 3x turnover of your 300-gallon system, you need at least 900 GPH. So effectively, believe it or not, your unit is actually half the size it needs to be for your system as you're only running 450 GPH through it.

Again, these aren't hard rules of thumb. The 3x turnover is not a hard rule, just a suggested rule. The 280,000 µWsec/cm2 - 800,000 µWsec/cm2 extrapolated marine ich exposure value is not a hard line either, especially since it's just extrapolated from a freshwater ich exposure dose.

I just wanted to do the calculation for you to let you know where you stand and to give you comparison to suggested industry rules-of-thumb. Your own application and your intended purpose will help you decide what you really need to do. Just trying to help out a fellow hobbyist.

i know this is old but i had dino 2 days ago. today i have none. i ran the UV one night at 600gph on my 70 gallon aquarium, and the next night ran it at 380 gph. both fast turnover at 8x turnover and 5x turnover. and they are all gone. I had osteo dinos.

 

[vetteguy53081]

i know this is old but i had dino 2 days ago. today i have none. i ran the UV one night at 600gph on my 70 gallon aquarium, and the next night ran it at 380 gph. both fast turnover at 8x turnover and 5x turnover. and they are all gone. I had osteo dinos.

Was this with full light?
Are you sure dino and not diatoms?

 

[Reef Puncher]

Was this with full light?
Are you sure dino and not diatoms?

yea it was not only dinos, i know the type. it was osteo dinos. it took over my WHOLE tank. i just made a post about it.

How i beat dinos and a question. Now can i turn off my UV Sterilizer?

So I had dinos for the last month. At one point about a week ago they were so bad they started covering my corals!! my zoas wouldn't open, it looked HORRIBLE. I caused the dinos because i over filtered. I have filter socks, a small refugium, and a skimmer. I was trying to avoid No3 and PO4...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Velcro]

Yea ostreopsis can get taken out really quickly with UV

 

[testuser]

Hey guys, necro bump since I also have ostreopsis (identified by that Facebook group). I've run a UV sterilizer for 2 months now with no luck (tried a new one as well, in case if the bulb was bad). I am using the Green Killing Machine AA GKM3W Mini: and it is doing nothing for me.

I have a 4.8g AIO tank and have it running on full blast. Are there any other recommended ones I could try that would actually fit in my small tank? I get those dino webs all over, every day and it's pain. This is after I finished a battle of dinos on the sand bed with silica dosing. Thoughts on an alternative to mine that is also AIO?

 

[taricha]

Hey guys, necro bump since I also have ostreopsis (identified by that Facebook group). I've run a UV sterilizer for 2 months now with no luck (tried a new one as well, in case if the bulb was bad).

You have UV directly plumbed into a small tank vs a very susceptible dino type (all good).
Either the UV is bad or the identification is incorrect.

 

[testuser]

You have UV directly plumbed into a small tank vs a very susceptible dino type (all good).
Either the UV is bad or the identification is incorrect.

What should the expected duration be for them clearing up? I bought/replaced it with a new replacement after 1 month of no luck while having it sit in the display tank and have had the new one for 3+ weeks so far. My nitrates and phosphates are all detectable and I am currently dosing phytoplankton to avoid this mess again in the future. Attached an image of them from today for reference just to be certain.

 

[Reef Puncher]

What should the expected duration be for them clearing up? I bought/replaced it with a new replacement after 1 month of no luck while having it sit in the display tank and have had the new one for 3+ weeks so far. My nitrates and phosphates are all detectable and I am currently dosing phytoplankton to avoid this mess again in the future. Attached an image of them from today for reference just to be certain.

So i am in this post way up top. i thought i had taken my dinos out in 2 days because i did a blackout and UV and i didnt see any for a while but apparently they just went into like a hibernation with the blackout, because they came right back. also i found out i had prorocentrum and the UV did nothing really, i ended up ditching the UV and just doing DINO X.....it killed all the dinos....this time it really did but it killed my corals too lol.

For you, ostreo really can be solved with UV . if its not solving the problem, or at least really reducing their numbers, then you either
A.) need to move your pump in and out of your display tank, dont draw water from sump.
B.) need to upgrade your wattage, or your bulb is bad
C.) need to make sure your running proper speed, gph, too fast and there isnt enough contact time. 50-200gph is good for most people, but it really depends on size of tank and UV.

if i had to guess i would guess your wattage isnt enough or the bulb sucks that your using. you should be seeing a decrease.

If you dont have corals you could always use dino X. or if you do have corals, move them to a quarantine tank, and then use dino X. just dont use it with corals in there.

 

[testuser]

So i am in this post way up top. i thought i had taken my dinos out in 2 days because i did a blackout and UV and i didnt see any for a while but apparently they just went into like a hibernation with the blackout, because they came right back. also i found out i had prorocentrum and the UV did nothing really, i ended up ditching the UV and just doing DINO X.....it killed all the dinos....this time it really did but it killed my corals too lol.

For you, ostreo really can be solved with UV . if its not solving the problem, or at least really reducing their numbers, then you either
A.) need to move your pump in and out of your display tank, dont draw water from sump.
B.) need to upgrade your wattage, or your bulb is bad
C.) need to make sure your running proper speed, gph, too fast and there isnt enough contact time. 50-200gph is good for most people, but it really depends on size of tank and UV.

if i had to guess i would guess your wattage isnt enough or the bulb sucks that your using. you should be seeing a decrease.

If you dont have corals you could always use dino X. or if you do have corals, move them to a quarantine tank, and then use dino X. just dont use it with corals in there.

Appreciate the reply. I had prorocentrum as well, and I resolved that with silica dosing over the course of a month. It caused a diatom bloom and once I stopped dosing, everything went with it. I recommend that the next time you have the sand dwelling ones. It has worked consistently. Dosing phytoplankton and making sure nitrates and phosphates are detectable are good things to do as well.

Ostreopsis on the other hand is a huge pain for me haha. I'll reply to each of your letters:

A. I'm not sure what you mean by move the pump in and out of the display tank. Mine is an all in one, 7.5" piece with a pump on top which draws water from the bottom.
B. The recommendation is 5 gallons per watt, and I have a 4.8g tank and my all in one UV sterilizer is 3W. I thought that the first one I had was going bad, so I bought a brand new one after running it for a month. Same results after a few weeks so far.
C. This is probably my issue, but I struggle with this. It is analog with zero indication of what translates to however many GPH. My only metric is that at full speed, it's 50GPH. I currently have it on full speed though, so I would imagine that means it is currently 50GPH

For reference, I am using the 3W submersible one: https://www.aa-aquarium.com/gkm

 

[Reef Puncher]

Appreciate the reply. I had prorocentrum as well, and I resolved that with silica dosing over the course of a month. It caused a diatom bloom and once I stopped dosing, everything went with it. I recommend that the next time you have the sand dwelling ones. It has worked consistently. Dosing phytoplankton and making sure nitrates and phosphates are detectable are good things to do as well.

Ostreopsis on the other hand is a huge pain for me haha. I'll reply to each of your letters:

A. I'm not sure what you mean by move the pump in and out of the display tank. Mine is an all in one, 7.5" piece with a pump on top which draws water from the bottom.
B. The recommendation is 5 gallons per watt, and I have a 4.8g tank and my all in one UV sterilizer is 3W. I thought that the first one I had was going bad, so I bought a brand new one after running it for a month. Same results after a few weeks so far.
C. This is probably my issue, but I struggle with this. It is analog with zero indication of what translates to however many GPH. My only metric is that at full speed, it's 50GPH. I currently have it on full speed though, so I would imagine that means it is currently 50GPH

For reference, I am using the 3W submersible one: https://www.aa-aquarium.com/gkm

holy crap a 4 gallon tank? i didnt even know ppl did nanos that small haha. yea am to this day still dosing silicates because im terrified if i stop they will come back. oddly enough i NEVER saw any dinos on my sand even with prorocentrum. they grew on my rocks. the reason my sand was always clean is because of my CUC. i have 4 giant conch snails who turn over alot of sand, but the main star is my diamond goby. that guy keeps my sand pristine.