Dinoflagellates

[KNUTE]

Recently started a 65 gal reef tank about 6 weeks ago and now have 75 lbs. of live rock, 50 lbs. of live sand, a CPR Bak Pak skimmer and an Emperor Filter. I have 1 Yellow Tang, 1 Blue Tang(currently in Q tank for ick}, 1 True Clown, 1 Tomato Clown, 1 Pajama Cardinal, 1 Pymgy Angel, 1 Prawn Goby with Shrimp, 2 Cleaner Shrimp, and 1 16'' Banded Snake Eel that my son bought on the first day. Also 2 LT Anenomes, 1 Open Brain, 1 Fungi, 1 Bubble, 1 Leather, 1 Staghorn Leather, 1 Tree Coral and 3 Feather Dusters. All are doing great, water parameters are WNL and then about 10 days ago the tank got the algae from hell. Turned out to be dinoflagellates and it resisted everything I tried. I siphoned the tank and it would be back in less than 3 hours. My hermits and some snails started dying due to the toxicity. I would sometimes siphon twice a day with 5-10 gal water changes at the same time to no avail. After reading everything I could find I tried raising the PH and the alk. Then finally stopped feeding and covered the tank with a blanket for 2 days. That finally did the trick, or maybe just coincidence, but now the tank is clean as a whistle and all the inhabitants are doing great. Thinking of going to a sump in the near future for more water capacity and using live sand and rock as the filter medium. This fish stuff is adictive isn't it. Hope this helps for those with the dino problem. KNUTE

[KNUTE]

Forgot to add that I have 2 402 Powerheads and drip Kalwasser in at 30 drops a min. at night only using a IV setup. I used Kent Super Buffer to slowly bring the alk up to 3.5. All of the LR was cured and I let it circulate for 10 days with hermits and snails, about 40 of each, before adding fish. Seems like a lot of fish after reading a lot of the posts here but so far all levels are cool. Also have 2 Flame Scallops and 1 sand shifter Starfish. Lighting is with 2 6700k day VHO's, 2 7100k blue actinic's VHO's, 1 florescent Coral Life 50/50 6000k actinic and 1 florescent 7100k Super Daylight. I only have the florescent's come on for an hour before the VHO's and for an hour after the VHO's go off. Going to keep adding hardy type Coral's and after 6 mo. or so try adding some clams. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Will probally go to a 200-300 gal tank in. a yr. or so. Hard to believe after the frustration I was feeling during the dino breakout. By the way the tank was a gift form my son complet with stand and oak canopy. It just came with the florescent lights. He thought he was doing me a favor by giving me this semi expensive gift since I'm retired and have lots of time on my hands although at 46 I'm not ready to just sit at home yet. Anyway, the tank and the stand was the easy part. I could'nt believe I would actually spend that kind of money on rocks and sand, let alone the skimmer, VHO's and the fish and inverts. $2000.00 later with the dino gone and the tank doing well it all seems worth it just watching the Goby and the Shrimp dig their burrows or the cleaner shrimp cleaning the Tang and the Angel. Until the next outbreak of whatever. Never really wanted to be a chemist either, now I know more than I ever wanted to about PH's, Alk, Ca etc. KNUTE

Wow how does one retire at 46? I'm 49 and still work a schedule that breaks younger guys
Tank sounds kewl but I would say WHOA thats a lot of livestock in that size tank and so soon. With a bioload like that a sump with additional LR/LS is a really good idea. FWIW the white sifter stars are hell on live sand infauna, I'd return them or banish to the sump. Glad you got theu the dinoflagelettes, now is a good time to slow down and enjoy the results so far and give the tank time to stabilize. With 2 tangs you will be needing a much bigger tank in a year or so Enjoy and welcome tho THe Reeftank

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