Guides and further reading
Other people's work that I think is worth your time. I do not necessarily agree with every point in them, and they do not necessarily agree with me, so read them all with a critical eye.
The Dinoflagellate Guide
Dinoflagellate Guide (Google Doc, about 6,000 words; not written by me)
A practical, hobbyist-written guide for anyone with a dino bloom that normal algae-control methods have not fixed. It covers the tank conditions that let a bloom start, the main dino types with photos and quick-reference stats, a step-by-step approach to cleanup (toxins, cell numbers, nutrients, biodiversity, mucus), what to avoid, and how to prevent a repeat.
Things I particularly like about it:
- It treats the outbreak as an ecology problem, not just a pest to kill, and puts rebuilding the tank's biodiversity (copepods, amphipods, ciliates, macroalgae, and bacteria) at the center of the cure.
- It gives clear, practical advice on activated carbon, siphoning, UV, and filter socks for cell removal.
- It has a "Dino Scrubber" trick with filter floss for pulling out Ostreopsis, and a good section on creating a "healthy-system" source of grazers.
- It stresses the safety issue, which I do too: some of these dinos are toxic and the toxin is carried in the mucus as well as in the cells.
Some of its advice differs from mine, most notably on nutrients, peroxide, and blackouts. Neither of us has controlled experiments behind it, so use your judgment, and tell me what works for you.
A practical video
A polished, step-by-step video walkthrough from Reef Rookies:
My own microscope videos
Raw footage, which is useful for comparing how your cells move. See the videos page.