Learn how to control Dino in the aquarium

Dinos, or dinoflagellates, are perhaps the most common and troublesome problem in a marine aquarium. For many years I have been advising clients on how to get the Dino out of the tank. In this article, I will share with you proven ways on how you can fight such a plague.

What causes Dino in an aquarium?

Dinoflagellates depend on specific biological conditions and the availability of appropriate nutrients. Many of the available materials describe Dino appearing in systems where nitrates and phosphates are extremely low. Another reason may be excessive levels of carbon.

From my perspective, I noticed that the reason for the appearance of Dino is often an overdose of some mineral, amino acids or too much silicate. It can also be a mix of all of the above. To sum up, in the case of overdoses and other specific biological conditions – Dino may appear.

What does Dino look like?

It has the form of a skin with bubbles, which can be maroon or green in color. Aquarists often wonder if what is in their tank is Dino or Cyano. It happens that both occur at the same time, but the main difference between Dino and Cyano is that Dino has air bubbles in his coat.

How to get rid of Dino from the tank?

For starters, stop dosing almost everything you’ve been dosing. If you’re pouring components, a version with little minerals, based just on the main ones, would be useful. Refrain from making substitutions, do not add amino acids or trace elements.

Elimination of food

What I recommend you do, and what I always do in these situations, is send a water sample for ICP-OES analysys. I can see in the test result what elements are exceeded. If the results show that my silicates are significantly exceeded, I use a silicate absorber. If the test shows that I have too much iron and other elements, it may turn out that rust from some metal element is getting into the water and needs to be removed, because it provides food for Dino. Basically, what we want to do in this step is to determine what constitutes the food we are providing for the Dino, and remove it from the water.

If we no longer have a food supply for Dino, we move on to sucking Dino out of the tank. This can be done through a sock attached to the sump. We use a hose for this, which will suck water from the main tank. The sucked water is directed to the sock, which cleans it from the Dino. Then the water goes back to the sump, while Dino stays in the sock.

It’s worth remembering that Dino will respawn as long as you provide it with food. When the food runs out – Dino will no longer respawn.
The method I described may take several days. During this time, I add an increased amount of bacteria to the aquarium.

Stabilization of PO4 and NO3

Many aquarists have reported to me that when their tank was at zero PO4 and NO3 was at a detectable level, it helped them to raise their PO4 to be at least detectable in their fight against Dino.

Tank darkening

I know a lot of people who have tried to darken the tank for a few days. From their observations, Dino disappears during the blackout, but when the aquarium gets light again, Dino reappears.

Chemical battle

On the market you will find a number of chemical preparations that remove Dino. Personally, I do not recommend this solution, because I have seen what havoc such a preparation can cause in an aquarium. I would treat chemistry as a last resort.

Summary

Fighting Dino is not easy and can take a lot of time. It requires precision and patience. At this point, I also want to pay attention not to fight with Dino during the maturation of the aquarium. As the aquarium matures, Dino spawning is perfectly normal and should not be fought.

Remember that after the fight with Dino is over, you should slowly start reintroducing the dosing of fluids and doing water changes. I suggest introducing fluids one by one, watching how the tank reacts. If you notice Dino reappearing after adding any of the preparations – stop its dosing immediately.