[Myka]

Since I am limited to 15,000 characters per post I have to continue with Dinoflagellates here.

Dinoflagellates:

Dinoflagellates can be difficult to identify because they come in many colors. Generally, the description would be "snotty" or "gooey". They usually have air bubbles in them, which is probably the best stab at an ID you can take.

In the life Kingdoms, dinoflagellates don't fall into any of the four typical Kingdoms (animal, plant, fungi, bacteria), they are of a weird Kingdom called Protist. This group isn't well defined, and I would have a tough time describing. There are many different types of dinos from parasitic to symbiotic. In fact, zooxanthallae are a type of dino. If you live on the coast you have probably heard of "Red Tide" which refers to a time when dinos have infected the areas shellfish and made them toxic to eat.

So, you have Dinos. Most of the time in our reefs the nuisance dinos we get feed off nutrients and light and most of them release toxins as they reproduce to impede or kill corals and invertebrates. If you have dinos you should be sure to use lots of carbon to help absorb these toxins.

Using the methods described above to lower nutrients is a good place to start - paying particular attention to phosphate. GFO will be a powerful opponent to the dinos. Siphoning of the dinos everyday will also help, as well as adding a filter sock (of the smallest micron you can find) to catch the little bits that come off. Since dinos are also fairly dependent on light you can reduce the photoperiod or even leave the lights off on FO or FOWLR tanks.

If you are really having trouble getting rid of the dinos you can try elevating the pH. It seems that some people have had success battling dinos this way, but not all have. The tactic is to raise pH to 8.4-8.6 and hold it there until the dinos recede. Even if they do recede it may or may not be a cure. You can raise pH by using commercially available pH buffers like "pH Up" or by using kalkwasser. Be careful to raise pH slowly, and test frequently to make sure you don't go too high as a pH greater than 8.6 will often cause stress to your tank's inhabitants.

It will be tough to keep pH high with chemicals when it wants to naturally fall lower. You will have to test a few times per day, and probably dose a few times per day or more to keep the pH steadily elevated. I suggest the use of a calibrated digital pH meter since test kits are notoriously inaccurate and difficult to use for this repeated application. This method can take several weeks to work and is usually a real pain in the butt to do which is why I suggest nutrient reduction first. Some people luck out, and have a real easy time getting rid of the dinos with an elevated pH though, so it's worth a try if all else fails!