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Unread 09/23/2018, 02:39 PM   #1
fishkeeprian
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What causes dinos and how to cure

Hello,

I have been battling Dinos for a few weeks. I do 10% waterchanges and siphon out as much as I can during water changes.

My current parameters are

Alk 7
Cal 460
Mag 1260
Nitrates 2.5
Phos 0.018

There is loads of info but my mind is getting scrambled.
What should I be doing now?

Thanks


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Unread 09/23/2018, 03:13 PM   #2
taby15
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Following along


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Unread 09/23/2018, 03:37 PM   #3
Michael Hoaster
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There's a good thread on this in the chemistry forum. One of the trickiest things about dinos is that there are several kinds, that require different cures. This has created huge confusion. When I had them, I researched different methods and made a list of things to try. I tried several things. UV sterilization seemed to work the best for whatever kind of dinos I had.


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Unread 09/23/2018, 05:15 PM   #4
cdavmd
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Start here.....

Dinoflagellates – Are You Tired Of Battling Altogether?
https://www.*********.com/index.php?...ther%3F.293318


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Unread 09/23/2018, 05:22 PM   #5
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Sorry here’s link that works

Dinoflagellates – Are You Tired Of Battling Altogether?

https://www.*********.com/threads/di...gether.293318/


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Unread 09/23/2018, 05:26 PM   #6
taby15
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If that's a link to another reefing forum, the link won't work


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Unread 09/23/2018, 05:34 PM   #7
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Oh I didn’t realize that. Sorry


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Unread 09/23/2018, 06:59 PM   #8
top shelf
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I have had dinos twice now, the first outbreak covered the sand and the second which was worse covered the sand and rocks. It was my understanding it can be a cause of excess nutrients, an imbalance between nitrate and phosphate, and a few other reasons I dont recall. As mentioned with all the different causes there seems to be a lot of confusion so the cure may be a bit of trial and error.

For the first round I cut back on feeding to every other day or every couple days till eventually it receded. No lights out, no siphoning, kept up with my 4g a week wc and in a few weeks it was gone.

The second and most recent happened after a massive clean out of my sump. The tank was almost a year old so I thought I would clean the sump. Personally never again. I think in this case all the algae was out competing for nutrients. Mind you this is only my speculation. I siphoned for a few days then gave up. I cut back on feeding again, hadnt done a wc in almost 3 weeks, I noticed as the algae was slowly growing back in the sump the dinos were receding.

This was only my experience with it and what I did to fix it, your experience may vary. Good luck


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Unread 09/23/2018, 09:12 PM   #9
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No need to apologize. No harm no foul.


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Unread 09/23/2018, 11:02 PM   #10
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Just so I don't have to type the same info over and over again, read this thread on reefcentral where I talked somebody through their dinos problem. The thread is only a couple pages and can be considered a summary of the multi-hundred page threads about it on this and the other forum.

The first step is identifying which strain you have. You cannot come up with a battle plan until you know which strain you are dealing with. A $10 plastic microscope from Amazon is enough, but of course if you have access to a better microscope that will be easier. That other thread links to a good place to help ID the dinos from pictures, but if you post the pictures here I'll confirm the strain for you.


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Unread 10/19/2018, 02:13 PM   #11
fishkeeprian
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sfdan View Post
Just so I don't have to type the same info over and over again, read this thread on reefcentral where I talked somebody through their dinos problem. The thread is only a couple pages and can be considered a summary of the multi-hundred page threads about it on this and the other forum.

The first step is identifying which strain you have. You cannot come up with a battle plan until you know which strain you are dealing with. A $10 plastic microscope from Amazon is enough, but of course if you have access to a better microscope that will be easier. That other thread links to a good place to help ID the dinos from pictures, but if you post the pictures here I'll confirm the strain for you.
This is under my microscope, is it dinos and what strand?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/dw2gkvu1a4...10027.mp4?dl=0


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Unread 10/19/2018, 02:31 PM   #12
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Can you get a little more zoom or a little more focus? Hard to see at this quality.


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Unread 10/19/2018, 04:45 PM   #13
fishkeeprian
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sfdan View Post
Can you get a little more zoom or a little more focus? Hard to see at this quality.
Is this any better it goes out of zoom but the beginning is fairly clear?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/j65hy4syme...10225.mp4?dl=0


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Unread 10/19/2018, 05:16 PM   #14
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Ok if you can't get any more zoom or focus, record a video with fewer of them so they aren't piled on top of each other. That way I can more clearly see the motion of them. The motion does look like Ostreopsis, but again, very hard to tell.


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Unread 10/20/2018, 01:31 PM   #15
fishkeeprian
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sfdan View Post
Ok if you can't get any more zoom or focus, record a video with fewer of them so they aren't piled on top of each other. That way I can more clearly see the motion of them. The motion does look like Ostreopsis, but again, very hard to tell.
Here's another video

https://www.dropbox.com/s/odanidwk1q...02828.mp4?dl=0


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Unread 10/20/2018, 01:35 PM   #16
fishkeeprian
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Another video

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qmep9t1unt...03240.mp4?dl=0


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Unread 10/20/2018, 01:48 PM   #17
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Picture

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0389my2s9h...04630.jpg?dl=0


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Unread 10/20/2018, 01:56 PM   #18
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This is the best close up video I can do

https://www.dropbox.com/s/igwtm165oq...05238.mp4?dl=0


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Unread 10/20/2018, 02:13 PM   #19
sfdan
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Very good video. The dominant dino is definitely Ostreopsis. Read this thread for my advice in how to deal with them.

The bad news is they are toxic and can do a lot of damage, but the good news is there are very good treatment methods that have a high track record of success against them.


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Unread 10/20/2018, 02:52 PM   #20
fishkeeprian
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sfdan View Post
Very good video. The dominant dino is definitely Ostreopsis. Read this thread for my advice in how to deal with them.

The bad news is they are toxic and can do a lot of damage, but the good news is there are very good treatment methods that have a high track record of success against them.
So i read the thread and the main things are uv and higher nutrients. My phosphates are at 0.05 and my nitrates are at 2.5ppm. My water volume is 200l what size uv should I get? Thanks


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Unread 10/20/2018, 03:21 PM   #21
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As a lazy American I'm going to do all the math in gallons but you'll get the gist.

A good rule of thumb is 1/2 to 1/3 watt of UV per gallon, so for your size tank I think an AquaUV 25 watt unit would be the right size. 18 watts would also probably work, but 25 watts is a safer bet. You are welcome to use other brands as well but all my units are AquaUV and they are the only brand I can personally recommend, and I do highly recommend them.

I'd probably start out running 200 gph through the UV and see if that is effective. If not, try 250gph. If not, try dropping down to 150gph. See the advice in the other thread about UV placement. You are looking for the sweet spot of enough tank turnover to make sure enough dinos are getting into the UV, but slow enough speed that the UV is effective at killing them. Just having a UV sterilizer is not enough, you need the right flow rate.

Raise your phosphates to 0.1 and get your nitrates up to 10. See examples in the other thread of how to dose them. The fact that your nitrates and phosphates are both above 0 is a good sign that the dinos haven't completely taken everything over.

The thing with Ostreopsis is when they are blooming and you are not doing the right things, it seems like they cannot be beaten as they destroy your tank. But once you get the right attack plan and start to control them, they can be basically gone in a week. But it may take a while to find the right attack plan.... It took me about a month of playing with my UV sterilizers, flow rates and flow patterns before I had the right combination to destroy them.


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Unread 10/20/2018, 04:25 PM   #22
fishkeeprian
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Thanks.

I've turned my skimmer off to help bring up nutrients.

I will get a uv probably 36w unit.


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Unread 10/21/2018, 01:31 AM   #23
fishkeeprian
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sfdan View Post
As a lazy American I'm going to do all the math in gallons but you'll get the gist.

A good rule of thumb is 1/2 to 1/3 watt of UV per gallon, so for your size tank I think an AquaUV 25 watt unit would be the right size. 18 watts would also probably work, but 25 watts is a safer bet. You are welcome to use other brands as well but all my units are AquaUV and they are the only brand I can personally recommend, and I do highly recommend them.

I'd probably start out running 200 gph through the UV and see if that is effective. If not, try 250gph. If not, try dropping down to 150gph. See the advice in the other thread about UV placement. You are looking for the sweet spot of enough tank turnover to make sure enough dinos are getting into the UV, but slow enough speed that the UV is effective at killing them. Just having a UV sterilizer is not enough, you need the right flow rate.

Raise your phosphates to 0.1 and get your nitrates up to 10. See examples in the other thread of how to dose them. The fact that your nitrates and phosphates are both above 0 is a good sign that the dinos haven't completely taken everything over.

The thing with Ostreopsis is when they are blooming and you are not doing the right things, it seems like they cannot be beaten as they destroy your tank. But once you get the right attack plan and start to control them, they can be basically gone in a week. But it may take a while to find the right attack plan.... It took me about a month of playing with my UV sterilizers, flow rates and flow patterns before I had the right combination to destroy them.
While I wait for my uv other than raising up my nutrients should I be doing anything else?


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Unread 10/21/2018, 02:57 AM   #24
sfdan
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fishkeeprian View Post
While I wait for my uv other than raising up my nutrients should I be doing anything else?
A few things that will help in the short term but not the longer term:
- Siphoning them out
- 1-3 day blackouts
- Basting your corals to get the dinos off of them

Also once you fire the UV up, make sure you have fresh carbon running to absorb whatever chemicals the dying dinos will release. Generally a good practice anyways to change your carbon more frequently when dinos are blooming.


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Unread 10/21/2018, 08:07 AM   #25
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Just wait them out. Have patience.


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