Chemi-clean for diatoms and dinoflagellates?

[Brian DeGolier]

I have tried the natural approach, now, is time for Chemi-clean. Any suggestions to my approach, I’m certainly willing to try something else, it probably won’t happen for a few weeks. I called Boyd Enterprises, manufacturer of chemi-clean red slime remover and the young lady I spoke to was helpful. She said that the product suffocates the bacteria so this will work for most dia-dino-cyno (henceforth called “film”) and there will not be any negative reactions with the bio-pellets, I just need to follow the instructions of course.
Below is a detailed past and current status of my aquarium which I have had now over 4 years now. I tried to stay focused, but I veered off into the weeds a few times and run-on sentences.

I began my struggle with what appears to have started out as cyanobacteria about 2 years ago, but has now morphed into quite possibly a diatom or a dinoflagellate film, may even be cynobacter, perhaps all 3; in some cases with algae mixed into the symbiotic orgy as well. I admit, there were times when I declared war on the film and got very aggressive with it, other times I burned out, and let it grow, I didn’t have the time nor the desire to battle it.

On to the parameters of the aquarium because that’s the first thing to be asked. Consequently, I actually have a ULN aquarium, however, the hair algae bloom and the “film” eat all the nutrients, therefore the readings are practically 0. The DIY 20 gallon sump has a refugium in which I have redesigned recently, I had to do this because the “film” had made the refugium the “mothership,” the main breeding ground and it was so thick and nasty. So I bought a new 20 gallon aquarium and bought glass for the dividers etc. I wanted the skimmer area to be larger, I planned to use more reactors or other means of nutrient export, but still wanted the natural benefit of the refugium with chaetomorpha as a means of export, but I reduced the size of the refugium, and I did not use a sand bed this time in the refugium. I designed it so that the water would enter the refugium from below and go through and up/over the chaeto, I thought this was a great idea, I’m finding the drawbacks though. I have biopellets in a reactor, using carbon now, not GFO, the Na and PO are undetectable per the mid-priced test kits, if not, definitely below 0.03, no test is perfect. The CA, MG and ALK are good, 2 part BRS with dosers, top-off with Kalkwasser, the SG is 0.024, the PH is 8.3, I minimized the photoperiod to 8 hours per day, for the past 3 months, I’ve bought a new 5 stage Deluxe RO/DI unit through BRS. I have a EcoTech MP10 (awesome), now a Maxi-jet 1200 with the new mod (pretty sweet) to move the water around even more, I plan to buy 1 more Koralia and hide in the back to eliminate the dead spots. I’ve purchased a long spine urchin, more turbo, Margarita and Astrea snails, probably 25 total now, I may look into a sea hare at some point, I’ve had hermit crabs since the beginning as well. I do 20% water changes every 2 weeks, and syphon out the “film” with an arsenal of DIY attachments for the vinyl tubing. I feed pretty well, I use Mysis shrimp for the 5 fish I have in there once per day, I buy from the butcher block clams, oysters, mussels, scallops, shrimp and salmon and put in a processor for a wonderful ocean slurry, for the corals, but everyone likes it. I feed the corals, mostly LPS, directly 1-2 times per week. Overall, the corals are doing really well and growing, the SPS are really starting to take off. I have not covered the aquarium with lights out for 3 days yet, I do plan to before treatment.

Anything I left out, please let me know. I appreciate your time for this long read.

[b442adams]

I used chemiclean in my 180 and it worked great. Just make sure ur not over feeding(hence nutrients).. and follow the directions. My tank was clear in about a week, its been free of cyano for about 4 months now. Good luck!

[Brian DeGolier]

I forgot to mention, I have used Julian Sprung’s book: ‘Algae, A Problem Solver’s Guide’ as a reference and below is what I believe I have indentified the “film.”
Diatoms: this could be diatoms in filamentous green algae, perhaps Nitzschia
Dinoflagellates: could be an identified species that produces bubbles and forms gelatinous mats.
Cynobacteria: could be mats of Phormidium, color in book is purple, or could be symbiotic with lyngbya similar to derbesia. Perhaps it’s even true red slime because of the characteristics of the matrix of the matting. See attached pictures that I took shortly after a water change a few weeks ago, I cannot find the memory stick for the camera to take current pictures. Thanks.

[Brian DeGolier]

here's another

[Brian DeGolier]

last one, this was before I changed out the new refugium, look at that slime

[Brian DeGolier]

Originally Posted by b442adams

I used chemiclean in my 180 and it worked great. Just make sure ur not over feeding(hence nutrients).. and follow the directions. My tank was clear in about a week, its been free of cyano for about 4 months now. Good luck!

Was your cyno red or green or other colors? Are you now taking precautions such as more water flow to prevent it from coming back? Are there any traces of it in the tank at all? From what I can gather, this is best approach if you're going to get rid of it by use of chemicals. I read erythimycin had positive and negative results. Thanks for the post.

[philosophile]

My suggestion would be to use chemi-clean at about 2/3 or 1/2 label recommended amounts. You might need to repeat your dose doing it this way, but it'll be much less harsh on your system. I did it with 2/3 and in one dose, my cyano was gone.

[Brian DeGolier]

Originally Posted by philosophile

My suggestion would be to use chemi-clean at about 2/3 or 1/2 label recommended amounts. You might need to repeat your dose doing it this way, but it'll be much less harsh on your system. I did it with 2/3 and in one dose, my cyano was gone.

I'm thinking the same thing too with a smaller dose, I've used chemicals for quarentining, but not for the whole system. However, I want to make sure that the film is dead the first time so that there is no chance of the film building up its immune system and the chemi-clean not being effective. Thanks.

[MHG]

so over a year later... How did the chemiclean work out?

[Brian DeGolier]

Originally Posted by MHG

so over a year later... How did the chemiclean work out?

The chemi-clean worked well, it definately did it's job, since then there's been a few outbreaks of GHA, but my ATS is growing more algae and maturing as the algae in the DT is going away. It appears that I do have what I believe is dinoflagellites, but it's not taking over and bits and pieces wil show up once in awhile. I'm going to let it run it's course. Good luck