I am having a problem with a dino plague in 55 gallon tank where my only filtration is the scrubber. It seems like the only usable advice for getting rid of the crap includes lights out and increased filtration (protien skimmer etc) but what do you do when the lights ARE your filtration?
Here is what I am fighting:
I tried everything I could think of (increased PH via kalk, manual removal, H2O2 treatment, lights out for a week) but nothing kills this shit. Suggestions?
I am actually satisfied with your identification in the first photograph. It is very characteristic of dino's! Hate this thread redirects aquarists to square one. The frenzy with running an ATS has led to forgoing some fundamentals.
According articles on Reefkeeping.com, dinoflagellates are effectively treated by increased pH on about half of cases. However I would also run skimmer during treatment of dino's. You need to remove particulate when it dies. How do you intend to do this? Hmmm
Removing food particulates does not remove N or P. If you do use a skimmer to remove food particles, you still need to increase removal of N and P.
If you just remove enough N and P from the beginning, you can leave all the food particulates (and food DOC) in the water to feed the corals.
The dying dinoflagellates particles is not likely a good food source.
Why not, especially for phyto-loving gorgs, and algae-hungry copepods.
Hydrogen Peroxide dosing has shown to be effective on dino outbreaks. It will also kill sponges and "pods" so buyer beware.
I pulled the whole thing apart and cleaned the crap out of everything including removing ALL the sand. I then kept everything in 5 gallon buckets in the dark and treated it with H2O2 for a couple weeks, including filling the tank up with tapwater and 32 ounces of H202.
Then I drained the tank, filled it back up with fresh RODI water and salt, then put everything back in. I am thinking it might have been my deep sand bed supplying nutrients, it was mostly well rinsed galveston sand.
I think the organism was actually what is called "golden alga" (a type of dino) its possible I picked it up from sand/rock/peppermint shrimp I got off the beach here.
It has been a while now and everything seems ok. Hopefully it will stay that way. Scrubber is still working great and never any signs of N or P.
If you used sand from the beach in Galveston, you probably got silica sand rather than aragonite sand. This result sounds like all the dire warnings I've heard about using silica sand.
I am not convinced that quartz sand is any more dangerous than a quartz sand based tank (every glass tank ever made) or the silicone based sealant, which is likely more soluble than either, and seals just about every glass tank ever made.Originally Posted by MorganAtlanta
I have read discussions and arguments on both sides about this issue, and most of the warnings I have read against quartz sand have been made much the same way warnings against witchcraft were made in Salem, with nothing resembling proof and lots of mindless fear. However, many of the arguments I have read for why quartz sand makes no significant impact on free silicates in a reef tank tend to be well thought out, logical, and even include a bit of proof via chemistry.
In the end I am not sure what the issue was, my sandbed was too deep, and it may have had rotting organisms, even though it was throughly rinsed in freshwater, dried out for weeks, and then rinsed again before being put into the tank. I do think its likely that the organism originally came into the tank via something in galveston, but what that was I still dont know.
I recently found out I was using refractometer that was causing my tank salinity to be WAY high. That could have even been a significant part of the issue. In the end there is just no telling.
Dino's or diatoms cannot grow if N and P are low.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote