LoneStarReef
Active Member
Well, the battle is almost over. It has been an exhausting month or so and I wanted to write down my experiences so others might learn. What I had learned early on was to utilize a multi faceted approach. I realize our tanks are different but hopefully this will help:
1) Balanced NO3 and PO4. I realized quickly after the dinos appeared that my Nitrate and Phosphate levels were way too low. I have read multiple times that dinos thrive in ultra low nutrient environments. Now that I have my levels a bit more in line (~3NO3 and .1PO4), it seems to have helped. I have other algae growing in my tank but I am not worried as it seems my clean up crew is happy to take care of it. For now, the "good" algae growth is kept in check and from what I understand will out-compete the dinos for food.
2) Adjusted flow. I also realized that my flow was way too low. Therefore I ramped up my Apex WAV's and increased my return pump too. Everything seems to be happier...including my fish.
3) Added biodiversity. After the dinos started calming down, I added a ton more pods and started dosing phytoplankton to increase my pod population. I will probably also add pods from Garf grunge in a few weeks. I have heard it is a good idea to refresh your pods from time to time.
4) Adjusted light schedule. I cut down on the whites and shortened the overall photoperiod. Now my lights are on for 10.5 hours. I tried the blackout periods but they would come back with a vengeance every time the lights came back on.
5) Dosed hydrogen peroxide during lights out. I started dosing 1ml per gallon at first and then doubled the dose a few days in to it and then ramped it back down. So for 2 days I did 1ml/gallon then for 3 days did the same dose twice a day and then for the last few days ramped it back down to 1ml/gallon. Also, when I scraped the glass and blew off the rocks, I dosed the H2O2 immediately after. I assume it helped to kill the free floating dinos and kept them from spreading.
6) Removed heavily affected rock and killed off algae/dinos with H2O2. There was one of my rocks in particular that was heavily infested with dinos. I went ahead and removed it and blasted it with straight H2O2 and scrubbed the heck out of it. It may have killed beneficial organisms on it but I think it was worth it to make sure the dinos were gone. Be careful and don't try to do too many rocks at once or else you might cause your tank to cycle again.
That is my experience with dinoflagellates. Hope it helps others dealing with them. I thought it would never end but now there is light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully the dinos aren't reading this over my shoulder and planning to come out in full force now just to prove me wrong. Ha!
1) Balanced NO3 and PO4. I realized quickly after the dinos appeared that my Nitrate and Phosphate levels were way too low. I have read multiple times that dinos thrive in ultra low nutrient environments. Now that I have my levels a bit more in line (~3NO3 and .1PO4), it seems to have helped. I have other algae growing in my tank but I am not worried as it seems my clean up crew is happy to take care of it. For now, the "good" algae growth is kept in check and from what I understand will out-compete the dinos for food.
2) Adjusted flow. I also realized that my flow was way too low. Therefore I ramped up my Apex WAV's and increased my return pump too. Everything seems to be happier...including my fish.
3) Added biodiversity. After the dinos started calming down, I added a ton more pods and started dosing phytoplankton to increase my pod population. I will probably also add pods from Garf grunge in a few weeks. I have heard it is a good idea to refresh your pods from time to time.
4) Adjusted light schedule. I cut down on the whites and shortened the overall photoperiod. Now my lights are on for 10.5 hours. I tried the blackout periods but they would come back with a vengeance every time the lights came back on.
5) Dosed hydrogen peroxide during lights out. I started dosing 1ml per gallon at first and then doubled the dose a few days in to it and then ramped it back down. So for 2 days I did 1ml/gallon then for 3 days did the same dose twice a day and then for the last few days ramped it back down to 1ml/gallon. Also, when I scraped the glass and blew off the rocks, I dosed the H2O2 immediately after. I assume it helped to kill the free floating dinos and kept them from spreading.
6) Removed heavily affected rock and killed off algae/dinos with H2O2. There was one of my rocks in particular that was heavily infested with dinos. I went ahead and removed it and blasted it with straight H2O2 and scrubbed the heck out of it. It may have killed beneficial organisms on it but I think it was worth it to make sure the dinos were gone. Be careful and don't try to do too many rocks at once or else you might cause your tank to cycle again.
That is my experience with dinoflagellates. Hope it helps others dealing with them. I thought it would never end but now there is light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully the dinos aren't reading this over my shoulder and planning to come out in full force now just to prove me wrong. Ha!
