Get rid of Hair Algae and other Nuisance Algae

[Myka]

Woohoo!! My first sticky on this forum!

I added some info near the top of the Guide about detritus...thanks to kwirky for (unintentionally) reminding me! I will likely add more and more to this Guide as I remember little bits and pieces.

[Myka]

Updated.

[daniella3d]

congratulations! but what about dino? I guess it should be included as well.

Originally Posted by Myka

Updated.

[Myka]

Dinos are not an algae (neither is cyano), and the treatment isn't the same as the rest (cyano is treated like algae). This guide was originally for hair algae at a time when there seemed to be TONS of people having hair algae issues, so it was easier to write this than answer the same question day after day. I added cyano and diatoms to the list simply because they are treated the same way as hair algae.

I could add a section for dinos. That's easy enough. I don't have time to do that today, but hopefully tomorrow. I will have to change the title of the thread!

[reefwars]

cyano is a bacteria right??


in what catagory would dinoflagellate be classified??

dinoflagellate:any of numerous one-celled aquatic organisms bearing two dissimilar flagellae and having characteristics of both plants and animals. Most are microscopic and marine. Botanists place them in the algal division Pyrrophyta, and zoologists claim them as members of the protozoan order Dinoflagellida. Dinoflagellates range in size from about 5 to 2,000 micrometres (0.0002 to 0.08 inch). Nutrition among dinoflagellates is plantlike, animal-like, or mixed; some species are parasitic or commensal. About one-half of the species are photosynthetic, but even among these many are also predatory.


i always put them in the same class as algae but i knew cyano wasnt but i didnt know that dino's werent hummmlearn something new everyday

ive always been under the impression that when dino's takeover your tank its very hard to get rid of , my friend last year had his tank completely run with it and it nearly broke him down i think he has taken down his tank since then and never did get rid of it completely ive been lucky and have not had to deal with it yet...knock on wood lol

[daniella3d]

I know it's a dinoflagellates but it should be in the same topic as algae as it is a common problem with similar effects as algae and often confused for algae. I mean there should be some inclusion in a sticy threat for dino and cyano as well, otherwise if the person's problem is not an algae, he or she will be on a dead end with this thread. Or maybe another new thread for dino and cyano but that would be more confusing I would think since most people put all of these in the same bag.

Just my thoughts.

Reefwars: From what I read there are a few strains of dino and some react really bad to high PH and some are not affected. I got rid of mine in 3 days gone for 4 months now, never saw it again. Honestly it is easy to treat that way, does not affect the other creatures in the aquarium if done slowly and a PH of 8.4 is not that drastic, but it was enough for me. You might want to tell your friend to try that and see if it work for him. I am 100% positive on the ID on mine because I have a microscope and use it to ID everything I can before treating. Mine looked like little grain of corn. Under the microscope, the cyano look very very much like a hair algae!

Originally Posted by Myka

Dinos are not an algae (neither is cyano), and the treatment isn't the same as the rest (cyano is treated like algae). This guide was originally for hair algae at a time when there seemed to be TONS of people having hair algae issues, so it was easier to write this than answer the same question day after day. I added cyano and diatoms to the list simply because they are treated the same way as hair algae.

I could add a section for dinos. That's easy enough. I don't have time to do that today, but hopefully tomorrow. I will have to change the title of the thread!

[reefwars]

quote:

Reefwars: From what I read there are a few strains of dino and some react really bad to high PH and some are not affected. I got rid of mine in 3 days gone for 4 months now, never saw it again. Honestly it is easy to treat that way, does not affect the other creatures in the aquarium if done slowly and a PH of 8.4 is not that drastic, but it was enough for me. You might want to tell your friend to try that and see if it work for him. I am 100% positive on the ID on mine because I have a microscope and use it to ID everything I can before treating. Mine looked like little grain of corn. Under the microscope, the cyano look very very much like a hair algae![/quote]


i think he has sold his tank now this was last year

i really need to invest in a microscope , i was never that good at biology but am finding alot of it very interesting now adays, i was always a fish person but since starting reeftanks i wish i had of paid better attention in school lol

and i agree that a different thread would probably confuse people and when someone has these problems they usually look in the algae problems catagory

i find all this so fasinating now its a shame i didnt when i was younger

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by daniella3d

I know it's a dinoflagellates but it should be in the same topic as algae as it is a common problem with similar effects as algae and often confused for algae. I mean there should be some inclusion in a sticy threat for dino and cyano as well, otherwise if the person's problem is not an algae, he or she will be on a dead end with this thread. Or maybe another new thread for dino and cyano but that would be more confusing I would think since most people put all of these in the same bag.

Just my thoughts.

Reefwars: From what I read there are a few strains of dino and some react really bad to high PH and some are not affected. I got rid of mine in 3 days gone for 4 months now, never saw it again. Honestly it is easy to treat that way, does not affect the other creatures in the aquarium if done slowly and a PH of 8.4 is not that drastic, but it was enough for me. You might want to tell your friend to try that and see if it work for him. I am 100% positive on the ID on mine because I have a microscope and use it to ID everything I can before treating. Mine looked like little grain of corn. Under the microscope, the cyano look very very much like a hair algae!

just out of curiosity where i have never had to treat for dino's do you raise the ph during the night when its low? or do you just gradually raise it during the day and i know it has to be down slowly to prevent ph shock thans

[daniella3d]

with that stuff it raise the ph during the day. At least that's what I did and only to 8.4 and amazingly it did the job fast and for good.

I am not sure if this stuff was able to keep the ph at 8.4 at night but at night I think the dino does not multiply. I also used a little hang on tank Marinland filter with a micron cartridge. That was to catch any free swimming dino.

I did not need to use a lot of that stuff to raise my ph in my 75 gallons. I was going to raise it to 8.5 but when I saw the dino disapearing I just kept the ph at that.

Originally Posted by reefwars

just out of curiosity where i have never had to treat for dino's do you raise the ph during the night when its low? or do you just gradually raise it during the day and i know it has to be down slowly to prevent ph shock thans

[Myka]

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. 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.

Essentially, dinos are treated like hair algae, diatoms, and cyano primarily (but not solely) by nutrient reduction. Elevating pH is another stab to take at it, but can be risky and often ends up with dinos coming back when the pH is again lowered if the nutrient issue hasn't been resolved.

Originally Posted by daniella3d

I know it's a dinoflagellates but it should be in the same topic as algae as it is a common problem with similar effects as algae and often confused for algae. I mean there should be some inclusion in a sticy threat for dino and cyano as well, otherwise if the person's problem is not an algae, he or she will be on a dead end with this thread.

I already explained that the thread was originally just "How to get rid of Hair Algae", but many people would ask "What about X?" So I would add a tid bit here and there. I also already explained that I will include more details about dinos and cyano if you would like (even though the treatment is essentially the same as hair algae). So I'm not sure what you're arguing here...?? Have some patience I will add more in the next while.