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AudraMurphy

Dinoflagellates and Aquascaping

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AudraMurphy
, 04-16-2013 at 09:22 AM (5441 Views)
Hello All,

I have a question about getting rid of dinoflagellates and aquascaping my aquarium.

A Little Background
I have a 100 gallon aquarium that was given to my church in September 2010. It was originally purchased as a freshwater aquarium and was turned into a saltwater aquarium be the previous owner. When it was given to us it had two Marineland hang on back filters with bio-wheels. It came with sand, rocks, and fish. Since then I have added the sump and overflow box. I also added about 60 pounds of rock and Tropic Eden sand about a year after we got it up and running. I'm not sure how much rock I started out with but I'm just guessing I have about 90 pounds of live rock right now. I have a 20 gallon refugium with a 4" sand bed and chaeto. I have an INS 135 Reef Dynamics Protein Skimmer. About a month ago I purchased and installed three Ecotech XR30W (gen 2) lights.

Livestock
2 Ocellarus Clownfish
1 Sailfin Tang
1 Yellow Tang
1 Rusty Angelfish
1 Clarkii Clownfish
1 Engineer Goby
1 Starkii Damsel

At least 80 snails
At least 20 blue leg hermit crabs
6 Emerald Crabs
3 Porcelain Crabs
1 Red Mithrax Crab

2 Rocks covered with palythoas
9 Bubbletip anemones
1 Torch Coral
10 mushrooms
2 Ricordia
1 Frogspawn
1 Goniopora

Water Testing
I usually test my water on a weekly basis but because of home and work responsibilities have not been able to be as consistent. I use the API test kits and test for pH, Nitrate, Nitrite, Ammonia, Phosphate, Carbonate Hardness, and Copper. I test Calcium using a Hanna Checker. My last test results from weekend before last follow:

Salinity: 1.028
pH: 8.4
Nitrate: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Copper: 0 ppm
Phosphate: 0 ppm
Carbonate Hardness: 9 dKH
Calcium: 480


Problem
I have been fighting a battle with cyanobacteria for quite a while (maybe a year). A while back a friend recommended that I used something called Red Slime Remover by UltraLife. I used it according to the directions and the cyanobacteria "disappeared" by the next day. A couple days after using the Red Slime Remover I noticed a brown algae "take the place" of the cyanobacteria. I didn't know what it was and unfortunately didn't get it identified right away. When I noticed it getting progressively worse I started searching. I finally determined that it was dinoflagellates and read that it was not an easy thing to get rid of and was the cause of some getting out of the hobby. I don't know if the stuff I added caused the dinoflagellates or if it was just a coincidence. One post I read suggested leaving the lights out for three days. This made a huge impact but did not totally get rid of it. I've read that I should do frequent water changes and I've read that I shouldn't do water changes at all. I've also read that raising the pH will help. I've thought about sucking it out and run that water through a filter sock and then return that water back into the aquarium until I have sucked as much off the rocks and sand as possible.

I have wanted to redo the aquascaping in the aquarium and I just purchased 50 pounds of BRS Fiji Dry Live Rock and BRS Tonga Shelf Dry Live Rock. I was hoping to tackle this project this weekend. I also purchased the BRS 2 Part Calcium & Alkalinity Total Package with Dosers

Questions

1. I will be taking out my rocks and placing them in buckets of water taken from the aquarium. Prior to taking them out I am going to try sucking off as much of the dinoflagellates as possible. Is there something I can dip the rocks in or something I can do to remove that stuff off my rocks and keep it coming back?

2. I planned on sucking out the top layer of sand that has the dinos that I can see on it. Originally when I planned on changing my rockwork I was going to put in the rocks, push sand out of the way so that the rocks sat directly on the glass so that my goby couldn't dislodge any rocks, and put crushed coral on top. But now with this problem I don't know what to do about the sand. Should I take it out and just use the crushed coral?

3. Should I hold off on re-aquascaping until I have this problem under control? Would continuing with this project make the problem worse?

I apologize for the length but I wanted to make sure I provided all the information I could. Thank you so much for any help you can provide!

Audra

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Categories
‎ Questions - Need some input

Comments

  1. cfsindorf's Avatar
    check out fauna marin algae x from BRS. I have used it in my reef with stellar results.
  2. AudraMurphy's Avatar
    Awesome!!! Thanks a bunch!! I'll be ordering it today (once it's back in stock). Should I wait to redo my aquascaping and substrate before I treat it?
  3. melev's Avatar
    I'd feel more comfortable if I could see the problem before giving you specific advice on Dinoflagellates. But if you actually do have them, siphon out what you can and replace the lost water with more saltwater -- don't recycle the water.

    When dinoflagellates appeared in a few spots in my 400g, I used 3% Peroxide, the stuff we buy at the market and put on cuts and abrasions. Determine the total water volume of your system minus displacement of rock and sand. 1ml per 10g of water, dosed daily into the sump for eight days in a row. This should remove it from your tank.

    If you want to aquascape during this clean up process, I would siphon out some water out of the tank into a barrel, then violently shake off the rocks in the barrel of used water, and put it into your tank where desired. You could make supports under the rock, like cutting 2" or 3" diameter PVC that are 2" tall. Use these circular pillars to stabilize the rock, and then add sand around the PVC to hide it. If your fish tries to dig, it won't be able to undermine the aquascaping.

    Unless you really like the look of crushed coral, I wouldn't use it.
  4. AudraMurphy's Avatar

    I tried attaching the file but it just showed me a little box with an "x" in the middle. I've included the link just in case the picture doesn't show up when I post.

    https://www.dropbox.com/s/hudh8u8bw9...le%20Dinos.JPG

    I took this picture this afternoon. This picture was taken after I shut the lights off for three days. Prior to this it was a whole lot worse. It would "go away" at night but late in the afternoon it would be just a bit worse than the previous day. This stuff was all over my rocks and sand as well as on some of my corals.

    Thank you so much for all your help!!
    Audra
  5. melev's Avatar
    Yes, it looks like dinoflagellates to me as well. Try the peroxide method.
  6. Alaska_Phil's Avatar
    I'll second Marc, that definitly looks like dinos. I had huge problem with them years ago. Finally got rid of them by elevating the pH using Kalk for a couple weeks. I didn't keep it up long enough the first time and had to repeat the process a couple weeks later. I've read that only works for a couple of the hundreds of varieties though. I also experienced a huge hair algae outbreak as soon as the dinos were gone, but that's another story.
  7. AudraMurphy's Avatar
    Thank you so much!! Is there a particular time of day I should dose?
  8. melev's Avatar
    I don't believe it matters, but I tried to do it about the same time of day to stay on routine.
  9. AudraMurphy's Avatar
    Thank you all so much!! I started dosing today. So we will see what happens.
  10. AudraMurphy's Avatar
    Well, it looks like it worked. The eight days of dosing ended late last week and I don't see any dinoflagellates in my aquarium any more. Again thank you so much for your help!!!
  11. melev's Avatar
    Congratulations!
  12. Alaska_Phil's Avatar
    Awesome!

    Now keep wet skimming and doing water changes. I ended up with a massive hair algae outbreak right after I killed the dino's. I'm guessing it was from all the nutrients relased by the dying dino's.