What snails/inverts would be best to accomplish this? I cannot get turbos around here, but i could mail order them if they are far superior to astrae, which i can get around here. I was planning on also getting an algae blenny(lawnmower). Conch would also be a possiblity. What about an abalone? any opions would be great, I need to know kind of asap as im about to order. thanks.
need to get rid of dyno and hair algae?
- Thread starter reefNewbie
- Start date
Dinoflagellates are toxic and I would recommend postponing the addittion of an inverts until you get it under control. I battled with dino's for months and finally was able to get them under control by dripping kalk. I maintained my PH at 8.6 during the day and 8.4 in the evening. I also limited my light cycle to around 5 hours a day for the atinincs and 4 for the MH's. I lost all my shrimp, abalones and urchins during the bloom however all other inverts seemed unaffected (snails, anenomes, conches...etc).
I tried everything to get rid of my dino bloom from using activated carbon, water changes (which had the oppisite effect) to actually removing all the sand from the tank. But I had the best and almost immediate results by just maintaining a high PH. After a couple of weeks there was no sign of Dinoflagellates, however during that time if the PH ever dropped below 8.2 I would start to see signs of them.
Hopefully this info helps, let us know how it works out.
I tried everything to get rid of my dino bloom from using activated carbon, water changes (which had the oppisite effect) to actually removing all the sand from the tank. But I had the best and almost immediate results by just maintaining a high PH. After a couple of weeks there was no sign of Dinoflagellates, however during that time if the PH ever dropped below 8.2 I would start to see signs of them.
Hopefully this info helps, let us know how it works out.
I don't like hermits but they do help with the hair algea. I would go through reeftopia.com and get their 99$ package but substiture some of the hermits for snails. I would also add a cucumber and a few fighting conchs.
No clean up crew will really eat the dino, sorry.
No clean up crew will really eat the dino, sorry.
--120 Turbo Snail [astrae] Thats whats in there . Now howcome some places interchange astrae and turbo. Arent the turbo the mexican and the astrae the conehead?
http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Dis ... pCatId=563
http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Dis ... pCatId=571
http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Dis ... pCatId=563
http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Dis ... pCatId=571
Tony,
Get the Turbo snails they do a better job and are hardier than the Atraeas.
Also get some more of those urchins. It would help to have at least one good filament algae eating fish (your Yellow tang will ignore that stuff). Most tangs from the genus Acanthurus will graze on it. Look for the Convict tang (Acanthurus triostegus) or any others from this genus that are healthy and eating upon purchase. Expect a few days of fighting with your Yellow tang - maybe.
Get the Turbo snails they do a better job and are hardier than the Atraeas.
Also get some more of those urchins. It would help to have at least one good filament algae eating fish (your Yellow tang will ignore that stuff). Most tangs from the genus Acanthurus will graze on it. Look for the Convict tang (Acanthurus triostegus) or any others from this genus that are healthy and eating upon purchase. Expect a few days of fighting with your Yellow tang - maybe.
I personally don't care for hermits. I like astrea snails over turbos as the turbos eventually get huge and become clumsy, knocking things over. I perfer cerith, astrea, strombus varia, and a couple of fighting conch/cucubers.
Unforchantly As your tank changes more or less algea will grow. Right now you may be able to feed a hundred little snails where when things slow down a dozen or less might be sufficiant. I usually buy a bunch every year or two and let them sort them selves out.
The longest living ones seem to be the ceriths and strombus as they keep reproducing. For hair algea honestly the best method is a few good water changes and a tooth brush. If you can take all the heavly coated rock out of the tank and scrub it in a bucket of salt water with a tooth brush to remove all the hair algea it will not come back atleast right away.
Unforchantly As your tank changes more or less algea will grow. Right now you may be able to feed a hundred little snails where when things slow down a dozen or less might be sufficiant. I usually buy a bunch every year or two and let them sort them selves out.
The longest living ones seem to be the ceriths and strombus as they keep reproducing. For hair algea honestly the best method is a few good water changes and a tooth brush. If you can take all the heavly coated rock out of the tank and scrub it in a bucket of salt water with a tooth brush to remove all the hair algea it will not come back atleast right away.
yea im not doing that again, already did that and it all came right back, it was such a waste of 6 hours. I think ill try a convict, blenny, astraeas, turbos, pacific conch and see how that goes. One of them has to take a liking to it. hopefully. I already have a few ceriiths and strombellas. Actually the only thing that is eating it that i can see is my damn urchin. I wish now i didnt get rid of 6 of them. I had 6 massive ones that i got rid of because they piss me off. always knocking things over. But they do a good job of keeping the rocks clean.
pcragg, yes that is all that lettuce nudis eat. You'll need to return him to the lfs, or come up with a steady supply of the stuff to keep him happy.
As far as dinos and hair algae... the trick for hair algae is filtering tap water, aggressive protien skimming and good flow.
I defeated dinos by continuing my weekly w/c, changing activated carbon every five days, running phosban, changed out every six weeks, and reducing the light cycle to six hours for a month. It's been two months since I've seen dinos in my tank. Now I have to up the light cycle again... to take care of some cyano... wahooo!
As far as dinos and hair algae... the trick for hair algae is filtering tap water, aggressive protien skimming and good flow.
I defeated dinos by continuing my weekly w/c, changing activated carbon every five days, running phosban, changed out every six weeks, and reducing the light cycle to six hours for a month. It's been two months since I've seen dinos in my tank. Now I have to up the light cycle again... to take care of some cyano... wahooo!
newbie, i just answered youre other post, this was my response:
One thing i forgot to mention which Jolieve reminded me was good water flow.
Crabs, nudi's, etc, are not solving the problem, just removing a little of the mess. to get rid of it properly, you need address the underling issue, not the symptom
EyesClosed":1q5h401o said:
One thing i forgot to mention which Jolieve reminded me was good water flow.
Crabs, nudi's, etc, are not solving the problem, just removing a little of the mess. to get rid of it properly, you need address the underling issue, not the symptom
ya thanks im good already on all that stuff...as I stated before this isnt a new tank at all, and im not a newbie(eventhough my name will say otherwise). I was just more or less wondering what people thought about the wc treatment as far as dynos go. I have read that adding NSW adds new trace elements and will help nurish the dynos.
ow btw I really dont want any nudi's in my tank because they would either endup in my sump or in a powerhead dead. I really would like to, as others have said, deal with the problem at hand and not use any temperary solutions. Though the problem was I was using old filters on my RO/DI unit and now that thats fixed, It should be nothing a few water changes and patience cant straighten out.
Okay then reefnewbie there are several great articles on getting rid of dinos.
The major theme in getting rid of them involves shutting the lights off, but there's a problem with this. This does not solve the nutrient excess that caused them to grow in the first place.
Here's Todd Crail's article on RDO:
http://www.reefs.org/library/article/t_crail.html
And Dr. Shimek's:
http://www.aquarium.net/996/996_2.shtml
The rest of the articles I am finding on the net right now are bunk, there's an excellent article by Albert Thiel out there somewhere, but I have long since lost the bookmark.
Good luck!
J.
The major theme in getting rid of them involves shutting the lights off, but there's a problem with this. This does not solve the nutrient excess that caused them to grow in the first place.
Here's Todd Crail's article on RDO:
http://www.reefs.org/library/article/t_crail.html
And Dr. Shimek's:
http://www.aquarium.net/996/996_2.shtml
The rest of the articles I am finding on the net right now are bunk, there's an excellent article by Albert Thiel out there somewhere, but I have long since lost the bookmark.
Good luck!
J.
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