Dinoflagellates / No Light

[sweetpea]

Here's a link to my posts on a WW forum:

 

[dakota9]

Hi Tracy! I thought I had Dino a few months back, my fix was to leave the lights off one day, then hook up my magnum diatom filter to the vacuum hose. I blew the rocks off with a turkey baster and vacuumed the entire tank for over an hour, then did a 50% water change, and the problem never came back. I acted fairly quickly when a problem arose, so I'm thinking I caught it in the early stages.

Hope to meet you sometime!

Dakota

 

[fishgardener]

What is a diatom filter? I realize it must filter diatoms someway, but how? How do you know if you have diatoms?:confused2:

 

[sweetpea]

Thanks a bunch for your post, Dakota! I was really pleased by the difference after the days w/o light, but now the prob. seems to be coming back (just a little). However, my issue had been going on for a while (since I thought I was having some wierd algae outbreak), so I figure it'll probably take some extra effort to beat completely?

 

[sweetpea]

fishgardener;123180 wrote: What is a diatom filter? I realize it must filter diatoms someway, but how? How do you know if you have diatoms?:confused2:

Diatoms show up as a brown film on glass, rocks and sand and is a normal stage in the early life of your tank.

I don't have a diatom filter, so I looked them up online. Looks like they get their name from the filter media they use - diatomaceous earth. Have a look:

 

[dannybradley]

Diatoms are fed mainly in part by silicate. If your water source is anything other than 0TDS R/O DI you stand a good chance of getting a bloom. The main source of silicate in our tanks is tap water. Unless your name is Dakota9, as his tap is apparently connected directly to Mt. Olypmus.