Hey guys I'm new here on reef2reef. I have a 220 gallon mixed reef with candy cane coral, green torch, yellow polyps, montipora, and maxima clam..When I started my tank I used reef cleaner dry rock. Used local fish store live rock to seed tank. To lower nitrates after cycle I added sugar. Nitrates lowered but ended up getting black cyanobacteria so I weaned off and tank was doing great with corals and clam. I purchased a bad coral from fish store and without treating I put it in my tank. It bleached rapidly for no reason. Kept moving it but didnt matter. I went on vacation that week but figured if I lost it I tried. Little did i know that coral carried in dinos. When i got back my tank was covered in dinos full blown bloom. Killed off a ton of things. Too try curing did many water changes but still was there. I did chemiclean. Seemed like dinos left but then tank covered in green cyanobacteria. Then after that hair algae then bubble algae. At this point my water levels were right on point but corals still weren't back right. During all this my maxima clam was still doing great and growing. Nitrates were about 15 ppm. Checked about 2 months ago and nitrates are 0 ppm all on it's on. Other parameters are great as well. Add baking soda to maintain alkalinity between 8 to 10. Ph around 8.2. Temp. 78. Calcium 425. Started using carbon reactor to combat toxins from dinos. Used gfo in hopes to starve out bubble algae and nuisance. Used microbactor 7 to try to restore bacteria populations. Now I have some type of mucus algae/ dino growth all over my rock and I cant stop it and not quite sure what it is. Believe it is dinos though. Any thoughts on what it is and how to get rid of it? I've been fighting this stuff for over a year and ready to have a nice reef again. I've kept many tanks but dinos are a whole nother ball game to battle.
Possibly Dinos Help!!
- Thread starter Snooty
- Start date
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Welcome to Reef2reef.
What’s your no3 and Po4 at currently.
Could use a better picture, but it looks like chrystophytes not a dino.
The cause is usually the same. Ultra low Po4 and in some cases no3.
Typically nutrient dosing and bacterial supplements along with manual removal methods. Somtimes biodiversity.
Fwiw , they are actually common in tanks like cyano. They just need the right conditions to bloom.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/dinoflagellates-–-are-you-tired-of-battling-altogether.293318/
What’s your no3 and Po4 at currently.
Could use a better picture, but it looks like chrystophytes not a dino.
The cause is usually the same. Ultra low Po4 and in some cases no3.
Typically nutrient dosing and bacterial supplements along with manual removal methods. Somtimes biodiversity.
Fwiw , they are actually common in tanks like cyano. They just need the right conditions to bloom.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/dinoflagellates-–-are-you-tired-of-battling-altogether.293318/
Phosphates barely even register on hanna meter. Using api test kit for nitrates just to get ball park idea. Was around 15 but now is straight yellow so 5 or less. My water changes didn't seem to be the cause in reduction though. More so tank started skimming more and cleaned itself up to non traceable levels. I know too clean can be a problem. But I hate the thought of overfeeding or dosing phosphorus to increase nitrates and po4 but have seen that as common recommendations. Yeah I know the first time the outbreak was dinos. When I went back to check pet store their whole coral system had crashed to from that same shipment. This time didn't know. All rocks just feel slimy and like mucus. Corals keep dying but maxima is doing wonderful. It's madness lol.
