I have almost completely eradicated dinoflagellates overnight.

[Velcro]

Super interesting thread. I am also dealing with Dino's at the moment and have read countless threads now on what people are doing. sounds like N/P dosing, UV and Macro Algae in different combos are what people are doing to get results. Looking at buying a UV Sterilizer to start this journey...

Only question i have is are you guys placing the pump on the sand or leaving it higher in the water column?

Doesn’t really matter where you put it. If it’s the type of Dino that goes into the water column at night then it will make its way to the in. If it stays on the sand bed at night it won’t matter if the pump is low.

 

[BurgerFish]

So, dinos are back (100% on sand). No changes in the tank (no WC, no dosing, nothing, except UV removal), they just go back after 2.5 months.

I installed back UV in the filter chamber area and ready to syphon it. I think, UV must be running all the nights forever, if not, dynos will always go back again.

No real cure, except closing the tank.

 

[Velcro]

So, dinos are back (100% on sand). No changes in the tank (no WC, no dosing, nothing, except UV removal), they just go back after 2.5 months.

I installed back UV in the filter chamber area and ready to syphon it. I think, UV must be running all the nights forever, if not, dynos will always go back again.

No real cure, except closing the tank.

Why not just keep the uv on?

 

[BurgerFish]

Why not just keep the uv on?

I'll will keep the UV on, no choise.

For nano thank is more heat, more maintnance, more expensive, some pods and good bacteria will be killed.

 

[XxJDMcivicEK9xX]

Welp just got mine installed tonight. Hopefully it goes well!! If this works, the plan will be to re plumb the pump down to the sump, to get it out of the tank, but the UV Sterilizer will stay mounted right there so it can return the water directly back to the tank.

 

[sensei]

I have been experiencing a problem with my zoas since last 10 days.

There are not opening completely, I made 3 consecutive Water Changes but it did not help. I only dose 2 part and Vodka.

now I have a lot of rocks with bubbles and this kind of rusty algae that after reading this thread I believe it is Dinos,
Can you please confirm if this is dinos??

my system is big with 600g of Water.
I am thinking of blowing rocks and putting a UV lamp to treat this.

Thanks for your help

 

[XxJDMcivicEK9xX]

As an update to my last post, after 3 weeks of running the UV Sterilizer plumbed directly into the DT, I noticed no results. This has led me to do more research, and I have narrowed it down to I have the Amphidinium Dino Species (not sure if large or small), which do not make their way into the water column at night. I have ordered a microscope to confirm my suspicion on the species and it will be here Tuesday. In the mean time, I Re plumbed my UV Sterilizer into my return pump as I like the ongoing benefits that it has besides just killing Dino's. from the research I have done, along with keeping the N and P up, some hobbiests are having luck with dosing silicates to create a Diatom bloom to compete with the Dinos to eradicate them. that may be my next route but I want to research it a bit more before putting my next plan of attack into motion

 

[Radman73]

55w will be delivered to me today. 220 DT so might be a little undersized but at less than $90, there's not much risk and it may just means it takes longer. I confirmed via microscope that I have Ostreopsis so the UV should hopefully do the trick. The buggers have likely killed 3 corals and agitated several more. Thankfully I haven't invested much in corals yet and I'm wondering if they're the reason for the lack of growth. Thought I was battling cyano for the longest time but I've always had what I now know to be classic signs of dino's. Thanks for this thread, good to know at least one of the less expensive UV's do actually work. I went to BRS first and saw one for $725. My wife would have said yes, as I always get anything I "need" for the tank without question, but she wouldn't have been happy lol!

I'm curious about how many of us who have dino's started off with dead rock. I bleached and then acid washed my pukani because of PO4 concerns. I'm wondering if adding some Florida LR and sand to my fuge would be beneficial just from the diversity it brings. That and the bad hitchhikers would already be isolated. Too bad I can't find that refugium mud stuff anywhere these days, I'd give it a try too.

 

[ReefWithCare]

Lack of biodiversity and very clean systems tend to lead to dinos in dry rock and dry sand starts. I felt given what I spent to resolve my dino issues I was just better off going with LR.

I did get a very powerful and oversized AquaUV and it only suppressed the dinos not eliminated them. Things didn't really get better for me until I added IPSF's sand activator and mud. GARF had mentioned the same resolution to my dino was introducing biodiversity with mud, but I wasn't too keen with going with them because I know a lot had changed with them after their founder passed away. IPSF also mentioned to me not to worry about the dinos with the mud and sand and they were right on the money. Real Reef Rock claims biodiversity, but everyone ships it dry or damp in a box so I was very questionable about it. Florida LR, getting LR at the LFS, or purchasing from a trusted hobbyist is your best best.

If I could do it again, I would have just gone 1/2 or 1/3 LR and the rest dry rock and would have cured the LR in a vat for 6 weeks old school style. That's honestly what I did over 15 years ago when I first reefed with Fiji rock and never had an issue other than too much coraline growth and a few free corals I wasn't too fond of lol. The rock came with tons of pods so I didn't have to go purchase pod packs from a vendor. The fish literally ate off the rock all day and it really made the tank self sustaining. I listened too much on BRS's 160 series and should have went with my gut...especially after hearing that WWC just does LR and a giant skimmer (AKA Berlin Method) like I did over 15 years ago :-/.

 

[sensei]

Lack of biodiversity and very clean systems tend to lead to dinos in dry rock and dry sand starts. I felt given what I spent to resolve my dino issues I was just better off going with LR.

I did get a very powerful and oversized AquaUV and it only suppressed the dinos not eliminated them. Things didn't really get better for me until I added IPSF's sand activator and mud. GARF had mentioned the same resolution to my dino was introducing biodiversity with mud, but I wasn't too keen with going with them because I know a lot had changed with them after their founder passed away. IPSF also mentioned to me not to worry about the dinos with the mud and sand and they were right on the money. Real Reef Rock claims biodiversity, but everyone ships it dry or damp in a box so I was very questionable about it. Florida LR, getting LR at the LFS, or purchasing from a trusted hobbyist is your best best.

If I could do it again, I would have just gone 1/2 or 1/3 LR and the rest dry rock and would have cured the LR in a vat for 6 weeks old school style. That's honestly what I did over 15 years ago when I first reefed with Fiji rock and never had an issue other than too much coraline growth and a few free corals I wasn't too fond of lol. The rock came with tons of pods so I didn't have to go purchase pod packs from a vendor. The fish literally ate off the rock all day and it really made the tank self sustaining. I listened too much on BRS's 160 series and should have went with my gut...especially after hearing that WWC just does LR and a giant skimmer (AKA Berlin Method) like I did over 15 years ago :-/.

Thanks for your explanation,
Can you please tell me how do you cure the LR old school style??

 

[drawman]

Thanks for your explanation,
Can you please tell me how do you cure the LR old school style??

Throw it in a bin with saltwater (heater and pump, etc) and change out the saltwater every week or so and measure nutrients. You can add some food or ammonia to get a cycle going as well.

 

[sensei]

Throw it in a bin with saltwater (heater and pump, etc) and change out the saltwater every week or so and measure nutrients. You can add some food or ammonia to get a cycle going as well.

Thanks Tim,
but if you do it this way with heater then you kill the rock?
I thought the idea of adding Live Rock was to introduce the diversity and keeping things alive is not it?

 

[Radman73]

Got it installed this morning. Advantage of working from home, no commute! Well, other than to Lowe’s to pick up the tubing. Completely redneck/ghetto(may as well insult as many as possible) install for now as I have it sitting on top of my canopy. Used stainless hose clamps above the water line and zip ties below.

Eventually, I’d like to place the feed pump in my external overflow, just don’t have room in there right now, and place the outlet in the skimmer section. Need to check the rating of my pump too. I may have way too much flow.

Edited to add: It's a Sicce pump that has adjustable flow rate, so yay! Turned it down some for now. At some point, I'll need to do a bucket test with it to get an exact number. Max flow was ~700gph, which seemed high. Complete guess, but I probably have it at around 500gph if it's at all linear from 700-225.

 

[drawman]

Thanks Tim,
but if you do it this way with heater then you kill the rock?
I thought the idea of adding Live Rock was to introduce the diversity and keeping things alive is not it?

The temp should be maintained at the same temp you would keep your reef (ie 76-80 degrees). It all depends on what you want to keep alive and where the rock came from. If you have coral/coralline algae on the rock then it will die/die back from lack of light. If you're trying to maintain sponges they may die back some but should be fine for a few weeks/months imo.

A lot of the live rock from years ago was shipped with wet newspaper, etc and there was a lot of die back. People would cure it for a couple weeks/months so that they would not ammonia spike their tank.

 

[sensei]

The temp should be maintained at the same temp you would keep your reef (ie 76-80 degrees). It all depends on what you want to keep alive and where the rock came from. If you have coral/coralline algae on the rock then it will die/die back from lack of light. If you're trying to maintain sponges they may die back some but should be fine for a few weeks/months imo.

A lot of the live rock from years ago was shipped with wet newspaper, etc and there was a lot of die back. People would cure it for a couple weeks/months so that they would not ammonia spike their tank.

Thanks Tim,

I am trying to cure some live rock now. my idea was to leave it 72 days in a dedicated rock quarantine fishless tank to be sure no ich cyst or other fish disease is in rock and carried to my tank. this rock is for a FOWLR tank. The rock came from ocean here in central america, it was never dry I made sure to bring it with sea water. It is full of coralline ( has 3 different colors of coralline), it has beautiful macro algae , sponges and is full of life. I placed one radion led lamp on top of tank so that coraline and other live diversity does not die.

this is the set up:

rock photos:

I am even thinking that it may be a great addition to main reef system. I had some probelms with DINOS. My 600g system has 2 tanks attached, I started with dry rock only, so I am thinking that the peninsula smaller tank attached to main dt could house around 75 pounds of this rock to add diversity, but I am a little afraid to introduce coral pests.

can you please give me your opinion about all this??

 

[drawman]

Thanks Tim,

I am trying to cure some live rock now. my idea was to leave it 72 days in a dedicated rock quarantine fishless tank to be sure no ich cyst or other fish disease is in rock and carried to my tank. this rock is for a FOWLR tank. The rock came from ocean here in central america, it was never dry I made sure to bring it with sea water. It is full of coralline ( has 3 different colors of coralline), it has beautiful macro algae , sponges and is full of life. I placed one radion led lamp on top of tank so that coraline and other live diversity does not die.

this is the set up:

rock photos:

I am even thinking that it may be a great addition to main reef system. I had some probelms with DINOS. My 600g system has 2 tanks attached, I started with dry rock only, so I am thinking that the peninsula smaller tank attached to main dt could house around 75 pounds of this rock to add diversity, but I am a little afraid to introduce coral pests.

can you please give me your opinion about all this??

Overall I think that's a wonderful setup and you have some great rock there. I think it would be wonderful rock for your reef as well. With that Rock I agree I would have a light, heater, and flow. The only other things I would recommend would be waiting 76 days instead of 72 and ideally the tank would be 10 ft away from other tanks. Great setup and nice work!

 

[sensei]

Overall I think that's a wonderful setup and you have some great rock there. I think it would be wonderful rock for your reef as well. With that Rock I agree I would have a light, heater, and flow. The only other things I would recommend would be waiting 76 days instead of 72 and ideally the tank would be 10 ft away from other tanks. Great setup and nice work!

Thanjs for your answer Tim,
my only concern for a reef tank would be introducing pest. this rock is full of life. I can look for crabs, mantis, but I am more woried on flat worms or other pests that would eat coral.
yesterday I saw this nudi in that tank with the LR, I am not sure if this ones are the bad ones that eat coral? do you know?

I do not have any coral in there but I am not sure if pest for acros, zoas or other coral can survive in a quarentine tank with out coral for 76 days?
when people say that it is good to have diversity in a tank to avoid Dinos, is it just bacterial diversity or other kind of life that come in live rock as well?

I made sure rock was never dry. it came in a bucket with sea water directly from the sea. do you still think I have to measure nutrients regularly in this LR quarentine setup?
please give me your thoughts about this

Thanks again

 

[Big G]

Thanjs for your answer Tim,
my only concern for a reef tank would be introducing pest. this rock is full of life. I can look for crabs, mantis, but I am more woried on flat worms or other pests that would eat coral.
yesterday I saw this nudi in that tank with the LR, I am not sure if this ones are the bad ones that eat coral? do you know?

I do not have any coral in there but I am not sure if pest for acros, zoas or other coral can survive in a quarentine tank with out coral for 76 days?
when people say that it is good to have diversity in a tank to avoid Dinos, is it just bacterial diversity or other kind of life that come in live rock as well?

I made sure rock was never dry. it came in a bucket with sea water directly from the sea. do you still think I have to measure nutrients regularly in this LR quarentine setup?
please give me your thoughts about this

Thanks again

Looks like the bad ones that eat coral. The only ones I'd leave in my tank would be the "nigra" black nudis that eat sponges.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Diatom filter?

-Back in the day, Vortech Diatom filters were used which wa similar to a canister unit but had a micron bag and a special powder AKA diatom powder which polished the water and trapped minute particles making the water crystal clear

 

[CherBear811]

If it's the type of dino that goes into the water column at night I would highly recommend trying the 55 watt jebao for around $70 on amazon. I am using a quietone 317gph pump set in the lowest flow to feed it.

I have a nano, and was thinking of adding a 36 watt uv (which still seems like overkill) and feeding it with about 80 gph... Would that be about right?