Reefer 350 Dino help

[Jube-Jube]

Have a approx 7 mos old reefer 350 in my office currently having what I would call a mild to moderate dinoflagellate outbreak ( confirmed via microscope ) 

tank cycled well and went through a small diatom bloom several months ago followed by some green hair algae 

currently running

2 AI hydras 8 hour light schedule ( reduced intensity ) with no red/green channel ) and 2 hour ramp up in morning and 1 hour down in evening - does get some morning natural light from office windows 

took out heater - now running at 76 F plus or minus 1-2 degree ( finally had to remove the heater after battling temperature fluctuations with highest temp hitting 84 by mid afternoon )

filter floss - 

carbon

refugium - have been unsuccessful at keeping cheato alive so currently empty except for rock 

Tunze ATO 

using rodi BRS 6 stage 

one of my clients has been running testing for us consistently getting low kh levels after a water change using Red Sea blue bucket mixed to 1.025 specific gravity 

consistently  0 nitrates 

gave up trying to test phosphorus 

dino showed up after I had pulled carbon and added phosgaurd for 3 days... I understand I dropped the only nutrient in the tank and they prefer low nutrient systems 

 

current inhabitants - snails, blue legged hermits, 

2 cleaner shrimp 

3 Bangai cardinals

1 Royal gramma

2 clowns

coral includes GSP ( doing fine, ) pulsing Xenia ( currently a bit closed but was previously open ), Zoas ( some of which are open and other not), ricordia ( doing great and growing ) and a green finger leather ( doing great ) 

 

i added the carbon back when the Dino’s showed up, have stopped cleaning and am overfeeding trying to get my nutrients back up for the last 3 weeks - I think I’m seeing some regression of the Dino’s on the glass. My question is what are the current thoughts on using phytoplankton and copepods to battle Dino’s ? And do phytoplankton need nitrates as well? If so what is a safe way to dose nitrates? Also does anyone else have a kh problem with the Red Sea salt? 

 

 

 

[Clown79]

I just had dino's in my 25g and 2.5g

 

 

Do you know the strain of dino's?

 

The main cause of dino's is lack of nutrients, that's the perfect condition for them to thrive. Also lack of biodiversity.

 

Main competitors for dino is copepods.

 

Phosguard is not going to help but actually aid in dino production.

 

I got rid of mine by doing the following:

 

-Cut photo period to 6hrs and dropped intensity.

 

- Every day to every other day I sucked out the dino's with a Turkey baster, I'd run that water through a filter sock, and returned the water to the tank.

 

- changed floss every 2 days(or when brown)

 

- changed carbon every week(used less but changed more often) this prevents dino toxins killing livestock

 

- did NO waterchanges until dino's were gone(1 month) dino's love new water

 

- dosed copepods to the tank

 

- started dosing phytoplankton every other day

 

- fed tank coral food daily.

 

- I only dosed alk and ca 2 part to maintain parameters.

 

Once my phos was up to 0.08 and nitrates at 5 I didn't see a change.

 

My phos always read 0. I will only use a hanna checker now for phos because it reads the lowest range of phos.

 

Unfortunately dino's take a lot of work but it can be beaten.

 

I now run my tanks with high phos, no dino's and everything looks better than ever before.

 

As for alk being low, have you monitored it from waterchange to waterchange to see daily drops?

[Jube-Jube]

I’m not sure the strain as I have no comparison but I’m thinking osteopsis ( with my luck so far it definitely is ... I suppose it’s better to work through this now rather then when the tank is full of coral ) pics and vid if upload correctly  I seem to have a mix of osteopsis and amphibium 

[Jube-Jube]

Video if this works ...

 

Spoiler

 

 

[ninjamyst]

I beat dino in my reefer 350 by dosing nitrate directly.  A lot of people say to just feed more but IMO that also adds unwanted bad stuff.  By dosing nitrate directly, you can control the nitrate level exactly.  I used https://www.amazon.com/Spectracide-Stump-Remover-Granules-1-Pound/dp/B004GVYXKC/ref=asc_df_B004GVYXKC/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=167116476898&hvpos=1o3&hvnetw=g&hvrand=9530043739457876110&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9021757&hvtargid=pla-308729748429&psc=1 .  Search for thread on R2Reef on dosage instruction.  It's fairly straightforward.

 

I also added chaeto and lots of pods.  To get chaeto to grow, dose ChaetoGro https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/chaetogro-refugium-fertilizer-brightwell-aquatics.html .  My chaeto would turn white but now that I dose ChaetoGro, they grow crazy and stay bright green.  

 

 

[Tamberav]

I beat mine using manual removal....changed out filter floss...sucked them out...and used DIY coral snow to help remove the via skimmer.... gone in 4 days. I think the fact I didnt have a sand bed helped with removal..I cranked up the flow and blew their asses right off and into the filter.

[Clown79]

16 hours ago, Jube-Jube said:

Video if this works ...

 

 

16 hours ago, Jube-Jube said:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

Looks liks Ostreopsis.

 

It's what I had. they are resilient buggars. Number one cure for this strain - out competing it with biodiversity and nutrients. They thrive on ultra low to no nutrient systems, they love vitamins and additives. They multiply with no phosphates in the water so phos reducers are the worst. Peroxide doesn't kill them, they actually multiply from it.

 

I documented in my journal every step I took to get rid of them.

 

 

[Jube-Jube]

Thanks 😉 gonna keep working on getting nutrients up - I’m definitely lacking in biodiversity  had a small pod bloom the first time I tried adding cheato - they have since died off, have a few bristle worms and asterina starts but they disappear when the tanks levels aren’t right ( I’ve noticed now they are the first ones to disappear... I actually had a flatworm outbreak ( boss allowed a client to add rock and a few corals without dipping first - sigh ... gave her a lecture on why I quarantine and dip everything ) prior and have not seen a single one in the last month since the Dino’s started - they didn’t appear to be bothering coral so I wonder if they were algae eaters.