|
|
|
#1
12-30-2002, 03:10 AM
|
|||||
|
|||||
Dinoflagellates ... is there an end to this nightmare
Has anyone here had a dinoflagellate bloom in their tank, and lived to tell the tale?
I thought I've lived through the worst cyano blooms, but this is far worse. It clogs my powerheads, shuts down my calcium reactor, and clogs my overflow to the point that the tank ... well, almost overflows. I thought I was having this because maybe my pH was too low, but pH is 8.3 during the day, dips down to 8.1 at night. That doesn't seem very low to me ... ? What else can I look for? NO3=0.0, PO4=0.1 ...
__________________
-- Tony My next hobby will be flooding my basement while repeatedly banging my head against a brick wall and tearing up $100 bills. Whee! 
|
|
#2
12-30-2002, 03:41 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
According to Sprung & Delbeek, keeping your PH at atleast 8.4 or higher with a Dkh of 12 for a week using Kalk will cause the bloom to crash.
__________________
Chris
|
|
#3
12-31-2002, 06:51 AM
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
Dinoflagellisticexpihalidocious .... this is really quite atrocious....
  :x
__________________
-- Tony My next hobby will be flooding my basement while repeatedly banging my head against a brick wall and tearing up $100 bills. Whee!
|
|
#5
12-31-2002, 07:07 AM
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
How do you know they are dino's? I've only ever heard of them.
Likely you found this already, but hope it might help: http://www.reefs.org/library/article/t_crail.html
|
|
#6
12-31-2002, 01:05 PM
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
I don't think I could photograph it very well. It looks an awful lot like cyano, but cyano has more cohesiveness. This, basically, is brown stringy "snot." Like cyano, it creates an awful lot of bubbles. It covers everything (and I mean everything ....even fish fins are not immune!) It builds up to the point it breaks off, then it floats and creates a thick mat atr the surface, which gums up the strainer on the overflow).
The annoying part is, you siphon it all out, and within hours it's back again. At least with cyano it gives you a day or two. Yesterday, I siphoned my tank clean three times. I can't pronounce the word "dinoflagellates." Hence, my late night delerium ode to Mary Poppins... I'm trying the kalk right now. My first attempt, I obviously didn't do enough, so now I've replaced all my topoff with kalk and we'll see what this does. (DI-no-FLA-gel-ITS? Hmmmm) Not much to do, but muddle my way through this like with any kind of bloom, and hope it peaks (and ebbs) soon....
__________________
-- Tony My next hobby will be flooding my basement while repeatedly banging my head against a brick wall and tearing up $100 bills. Whee!
|
|
#7
12-31-2002, 01:57 PM
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
Tony, which tank is it in? ...and are you sure that you're getting a positive reading for phosphate? (especially with the bloom, the reading should be 0) Have you made any maintenance changes to the tank lately?
Mitch
|
|
#8
12-31-2002, 05:18 PM
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
Hi Tony,
I feel your pain. I had this problem at the beginning of October and my tank looked like hell. This stuff is nasty. I upgraded the pump on my skimmer and increased my alkalinity and slowly won the war. One morning I woke up and it was gone. It was like Christmas in October! Good luck! Christy 
__________________
Christy's Reef Blog My 180 Build Every electronic component is shipped with smoke stored deep inside.... only a real genius can find a way to set it free.
|
|
#10
12-31-2002, 08:28 PM
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
Just tested the alk; it's 3.8 meq/l which is, I think, about 10.6 dKH...
__________________
-- Tony My next hobby will be flooding my basement while repeatedly banging my head against a brick wall and tearing up $100 bills. Whee!
|
Linear Mode
