In need of advice

[skyking]

Hey there folks,
I seem to be having an issue that I cannot pinpoint. Im getting a brown/rust colored algae over my sand bed. its filmy, not dusty or stringy. I also see bubbles attached to the algae. My snails are dropping like flies but my other inverts and fish seem to be just fine. My Kenya tree is melting but other corals seem ok. Ive not changed my routine or started new foods. I just very recently dialed back my lighting (LED'S) and cut back on feeding to once a day in the hopes of solving the issue. Thoughts?


My 150 is 3 years old. I use RO/DI and run a calcium reactor. I also use a dual chamber GFO and Carbon reactor with one chamber filled with GFO and the other empty. Reed Octopus Skimmer is working fine.

1 Flame Angel, 1 Yellow Tang, 1 Longnose Butterfly, 1 Magnificent Foxface, 2 Benghazi Cardinals, 2 Clowns, 1 six-line wrasse, and 3 firefish.

Salinity 1.026
PH 8.15
Phospates ZERO
Alk 9.0
Calcium 420
Temp 79
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[jj ocean]

That would be dinoflagellates. The picture helps ID, but the fact your snails are dropping is a dead give away for dinos. There are different strains of dino that appear for different reasons. You'd need someone to ID it under a microscope to know the exact strain. Google the remedies and causes. My experience is that they are a pain to deal with and eliminate. Increasing flow, making sure light bulbs are fresh, keeping Alk high, keeping Ph high, making sure RO TDS is zero and lowering phosphates is how I've dealt with it. It won't clear overnight ... takes some time.

 

[willie1983]

Following because im going thru the same problems

 

[russ-iv]

+1 to dinos

can try peroxide, although shrimp are sensitive to it
can try upping ph 8.4+
ozone
uv
blackout for 3 days - hit or miss
replace or sterilize substrate
blues will limit growth 70%

usually a combination of the above will work, albeit not immediately. will be a long battle.

i just ran peroxide on a doser and waited a couple months

 

[jj ocean]

Here's a great thread on dinos over on Reef Central ... http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2307000">http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2307000</a>

Long read, but worth it.

 

[skyking]

Thanks for the response guys. Gonna give it a whirl with a multi-pronged approach. I sure wish there was some kinda "magic bullet" for this stuff. Ive had this issue once before and I tried the H2O2 route. It killed it but also bleached my corals and anemones.

 

[jbadd99]

http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?t=101190">HERE</a> is a thread where a couple of us were battling the same thing.

In the end I resorted to a couple 3-4 day blackouts and 20mL of peroxide twice a day. End result - no more dinos and no tank losses either.

 

[lsu_fishfan]

What are you using to test PO4?

I just had dinos growing over one of my coral and killing it. I was able to catch it before it got bad by adding phosgaurd to reduce the phosphates.

 

[ricky5415]

Hanna checker works pretty good for PO4 testing

 

[willie1983]

I've tried the 3 day black out approach and so far i haven't saw any dinos i also switched my leds to blues and limited the whites to 1 hr just to be on the safe side then ill slowly up the on time so i can monitor to see if it comes back...thx for the info everyone

 

[skyking]

Started today.
3 day black-out
GFO and Carbon
Dosed H2o2
Manual removal of excessive Dino's
Upon return from a trip I plan on raising ph using Kalkwasser. (Wanted to be home to monitor)
Wish me luck

 

[tbub1221]

skyking;1078644 wrote: Started today.
3 day black-out
GFO and Carbon
Dosed H2o2
Manual removal of excessive Dino's
Upon return from a trip I plan on raising ph using Kalkwasser. (Wanted to be home to monitor)
Wish me luck

Lmk how it works out for you

 

[jbadd99]

skyking;1078644 wrote: Started today.
3 day black-out
GFO and Carbon
Dosed H2o2
Manual removal of excessive Dino's
Upon return from a trip I plan on raising ph using Kalkwasser. (Wanted to be home to monitor)
Wish me luck

Oh yeah, when you do a water change (which I did during the blackout), dose it with peroxide as well, same dosage you have been doing on your tank.

 

[skyking]

So far so good. After a "84" hour black-out, ALL the algae has disappeared. Even the light film that covers the glass. I have only used blues as lighting since uncovering the tank. Still dosing H2O2 at 15 ml's/day. Cut back on feeding and am currently trying to use kalkwasser to get my PH up. Im ultra conservative using this stuff since I don't understand it completely and am having difficulty raising the PH. All said, the dino's are gone.......for now.

 

[willie1983]

skyking;1079727 wrote: So far so good. After a "84" hour black-out, ALL the algae has disappeared. Even the light film that covers the glass. I have only used blues as lighting since uncovering the tank. Still dosing H2O2 at 15 ml's/day. Cut back on feeding and am currently trying to use kalkwasser to get my PH up. Im ultra conservative using this stuff since I don't understand it completely and am having difficulty raising the PH. All said, the dino's are gone.......for now.

Glad to hear that mines subsided but recently reappeared i did the same things as you (only 3 days)and i didn't dose peroxide my next round ill give that a shot next round

 

[skyking]

Well guys,
Bad news. They came back. Im tired and frustrated with this stuff. It killed my Longnose and Magnificent Foxface. Ive since removed my sandbed again and am back to bare bottom. As much as I like my sand, bare bottom tank looks like the way to go for me.

 

[jbadd99]

skyking;1084868 wrote: Well guys,
Bad news. They came back. Im tired and frustrated with this stuff. It killed my Longnose and Magnificent Foxface. Ive since removed my sandbed again and am back to bare bottom. As much as I like my sand, bare bottom tank looks like the way to go for me.

How much came back? I had to do 3 months worth of blackouts and peroxide dosing to eradicate them all.

 

[skyking]

Enough to recover my sand bed.

 

[snowmansnow]

Hey man. I've been fighting the same stuff. And the tide has finally turned, even though it's still there.
Hang in there.



So long, and thanks for all the fish.

 

[skyking]

Thanks Snow.