Dinoflagellates in Refugium

i personally think that taking the lights off of the refugium is a bad idea because you have an excess amount of nutrients causing your tank to grow algae their no way of riding yourself of the algae no matter what, if you have the nutrients algae needs it is going to want to grow I would encourage it to grow and soak up those nutrients in the fuge till they are gone once things settle down it should go away on its own although if it gets extremely excessive to where it seems to be choking the cheato a quick rinse may not be a bad thing


Edited by sanddune600 - July 15 2010 at 12:15am

I understand your frustration. You are just beginning to learn about how to keep a reef aquarium. There is much to learn. Sanddune600's comments were good.

In this instance, you are worrying about something that is a natural process of tank recovery following a disturbance, rather than an algae problem that requires major eradication techniques. It may sound unbelievable, but if you had left the tank to run normally during that week, the brown algae would have been gone anyway. The brown algae now growing in the Refugium is actually doing the job it was meant to do. Eating up extra nutrients in the water. Turning off the light in the Refugium is not a good idea. If the algae is growing well, I would not disturb it by replacing the Chaetomorpha. New brown diatomaceous and dino-flagellate algae would simply re-grow on the new Chaeto.
I have two questions:
What and how often are you feeding the tank?
What light is on the Refugium and is it RDP?

If you leave it alone and let it recover naturally it will reach a balance on it's own. As long as you are not overfeeding and, in fact if you stop feeding for a while, the organisms in your tank will eat up the algae and because no other nutrients are being added, the tank will reach a cleanliness that may surprise you.

Here is an example
 On Friday we left town for a long weekend. I had forgotten to feed the tank before we left and we returned late Tuesday night. That's five full days without feeding. All during the time, my wife who is also still learning, kept worrying about the fish. I tried to re-assure her that all would be well. Her very first comment Tuesday morning when she awoke was "Have you fed the fish?" She came out of the bedroom to see the tank.
"Wow, look at how clean the tank is." she remarked.
"Yes, and every single fish is still there and doing fine." was my happy response.

You are experiencing "problem after problem" because you are trying to control a biological system that you don't yet fully understand. Honest, it really can take care of itself and look good if you leave it alone and let it do it's thing.

The next time you start to worry, or wonder what to do, please feel free to call me at the number below and we can talk through it. That's why my # is there.


Edited by Mark Peterson - July 15 2010 at 11:57am

I respect your advice and knowledge because you have years of experience but I will have to disagree with you on many of your tactics.  Dinoflagellates are very different than a typical algae.  They are HIGHLY photosynthetic, where you may find them covering your corals during peak lighting hours and then dissolve when lights are off.  They are HIGHLY toxic, engulfing corals and fish, killing them.  (all my fish are dead now, because I was waiting for tank to solve its own problem)  Clean up crew....forget it, most snails and crabs will be dead if they eat the stuff.  I talked with several people who have rid their tanks of dino...it was only done by a blackout period and a steady high ph.  Not one person has got rid of them but letting the tank run its course....however, many of packed up their reefs from it's devasting effects.  I am confident my tank is on the rebound.  All corals (including my dreaded softies) are now full extended and looking good.  There isn't any dino in tank, but some in my fuge.  I kept the fuge light on during the black out in hopes of chaeto beating out the dino for nutrients.  However, the dino is still in the fuge.  I have not done a water change in two weeks, because dino feeds of trace elements commonly found in salt.  This is another method for tackling the problem that is atypical of algae outbreaks. 

I know all of that.
I had no idea it had become that serious.
If you had called me for help with the problem when you first noticed it, I bet we could have saved your fish.


Edited by Mark Peterson - July 15 2010 at 12:04pm

Yeah, why would someone want to call me for help if it sounds like I was waiting to bite them like a rabid dog.

Next time there is a disturbance in the force, feel free to call. I can typically help avoid tank troubles altogether.