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| Hi Eric, I'm having a small problem with dianoflagellates in my reef tank and also in my anemone tank. In both tanks it seems to be struggling to survive? It's there but doesn't seem to spread but won't go away either. I'm trying to come up with the best solution to fix this problem but there are so many different approaches I'm not sure which one to take. I don't feel like doing anything totally drastic is called for, and hopefully that does not become necessary? It's growing in a few spots but doesn't really seem to grow, it just persists. My water parameters are as follows: Nitrate .05, nitrite 0, ammonia 0, phosphate 0 (per Salifert), calcium is low at 330 (on purpose), alk. 12 Dkh (one way I'm trying to fight this), temp. 79, SG 1.026, Mg 1300 (just raised to this from 1100), Ph 8.2. I have read a lot of articles about beating this "algae" and have decided to take a couple of the less drastic measures. I'm raising my alkalinity in hopes of raising my Ph, I'm also running a lot of carbon and Rowaphos to pull out any impurities and lingering phosphates. The only other algae in my system is Halimeda and Chaetomorpha both of which are there on purpose. I'm not sure if pruning the Halimeda would help me or hurt me? It's using up the calcium and alk. but it's also removing some nutrients, less than the chaeto but I imagine it's helping to a degree. It took me some time to figure out what I was dealing with, it's not the usual long stringy dianoflagellates, but it's more like "globs" of goo. These globs do contain the bubbles associated with dianoflagellates, and recently I've had a few snails die, so I'm sure dianoflagellates are what I'm dealing with. I'm sure you know the ways of beating this? Number one method that seems to work is turning the lights off for a week, but in a reef tank that seems like a last resort and I'm not to that point yet. I guess if you could offer any advice on what you would do in my case I would really appreciate it. Thanks, Ryan. If you need any pictures please let me know and I'll quickly post them. Thanks again.
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Do you have a microscope? I wouldn't be convinced just yet but the snail death does perhaps point to toxic algae bloom. What are your phosphate levels? Certainly I would use as much carbon and perhaps other adsorbents (Polyfilter,Purigen, etc.) to try and deal with the saxitoxin. Even though not a protein, they have variable polarity so skimming should also be effective. Anyway,to get rid of them, I still know of no sure cure but greatly upsetting the nutrient balance of the tank theoretically is the best answer and probably the best way to do this is huge water changes. Reactive species might help too (i.e. ozone). I am shying away from my previous advice I have given about changing pH and raising alkalinity because it seems so anecdotal and I can never say for sure that is what eliminated them when I had them and am stepping foot out into a bit of theory here based on more recent works with harmful algal blooms.
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Eric Borneman
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| Hi Eric, that was a fast reply! I do not have a microscope unfortunately, and my phosphate levels are 0 according to a Salifert test kit and a Red Sea test kit. My phosphate levels have always been near or at 0 (according to test kits). I suspect the phosphate level is higher than what my test kits are showing me. I have begun aggressive skimming, one collection cup per day (which on my skimmer is a LOT of skimmate). I will do a large water change as soon as I can and see if that takes care of the problem once and for all? I will also go shopping for some Purigen or something similar today and get that into the tank as soon as possible. Thanks for your help! I'll post a picture of what I'm dealing with, just in case it's something else. The snail death thing kind of made me "sure" it was dianoflagellates?
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Hi again. I just bought some Purigen online because no one in this area carries anything. Anyway, since I'm running carbon, Rowaphos and will be running Purigen I was wondering if it would be most effective to run all three in my phosban reactor? One last question, the directions say to use 100ml per 100 gallons, I'm guessing I have 100 gallons? Should I go overboard or just stick to the directions? I think I bought enough to last the rest of my life 
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Sorry for the delay - have had the flu for five days and could barely function.
I don't see why you couldn't run all three together. The photos are helpful, but lead me even more to question if these are dinoflagellates and not chyrsophytes given their color, appearance, patchy upright accumulations on dead substrate. In any case, the management advice remains the same, but even if they are chrysophytes, they can still produce polar toxins. The toxins for various marine chrysophyes, however, are much less well-studied than those of other harmful algae, primarily the cyanobacteria and dinoflagellates.
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Eric Borneman
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I had a bloom of Dinos a few months back. I agree with your slow and easy strategy, it worked for me. I also tried to vacuum as much out as possible when doing water changes. A brush on the end of my siphon did the trick and it also removed the material I think was the root of the problem. I found a fine dust under the material I removed and cleaned it off with the brush then with a slight pressure from a power head. I also added a phosphate reactor, increased the amount of carbon and the frequency that I changed it. One other question, how old is your tank and have you added any new rock lately? My bloom started a month and a half after I added some new live rock. Good luck and let us know how it goes. Faz
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| Thanks Eric, sorry about the flu, seems to be getting a lot of people lately. No problem on the delay either, the tank has had this problem for a while. So based on what I read it seems this type of algae/bacteria build their skeletons of silica? This would explain the large amount of diatom growth on my glass as well. I think I know the problem, I've been questioning a bucket of salt for a while, I believe this is the cause and high silica levels may be the issue with it? I don't have a test kit for silicates and I may be way off in my "diagnosis" but it seems logical to me. I'll stop using this bucket of salt and try something else, maybe that's all it will take to get this under control? FYI I have added nothing to the tank that caused this bloom, no new LR or anything. My RO/DI water is fine according to my TDS meter so the only thing left is my salt in my opinion. Thanks again for your help and hopefully it's just the bucket of salt causing the problems. Reef Crystals BTW.
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| My opinion means little if nothing, I just have not been in the hobby that long. But I can say for 99.9% sure that actual dinoflagellates absolutely THRIVE off of higher silica levels as well as natural sunlight. I had some completely covering the inside of a 55 gallon. Just brown, globby, slimey, mess that matted over the bottom of the aquarium, sides, LR, etc like a sheet of plastic wrap sucking in every bubble that it could. When it started dying off, I added about 15 pounds of high silica dry sand to a 20 gallon tank that I transfered substrate and water over from. The stuff bloomed like crazy. Then I did the same with another tank and sat it in direct sunlight. It seemed to be one of the highest light dependent algae I have ever seen in my life. The 20 gallon tank in the sunlight is still growing strong after 4 months; while the other 20 gallon died off long ago.
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