I'm sure we all study, read, and watch videos on things and ponder on using them or not. Then finally pull the trigger on one with hope. Good to share our experiences.
What was your other method?
Alright so here is what I did for the battle with Dinoflagellates (Prorocentrum). I did the following protocol after about a 7-10 days of running my Ozone generator (AquaMaxx Tech-O3 UPS300 Ozonizer - 30 mg/hr) with only minimal results on the dinos. I decided to do the following as an all out attack on the dinos. I gleaned my approach from Leonard Ho (
https://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog/how-i-beat-dinoflagellates-and-the-lessons-i-learned ) and Sonny Harajly(
http://reefsite.com/2015/01/dinoflagellates-and-the-treament-of/ ).
1. 3 day blackout. I didn't cover my tank though, just no lights. (Skimmer, Ozone, and GAC all running during the black out)
2. dosed DIY Zeo Coral Snow daily (Calcium Carbonate
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/diy-kz-coral-snow-with-97-purity.211722/ ) This is a flocculent to help bind and remove the free floating Dinos.
3. Turkey bast the rocks and sand to get as many dinos free floating as possible so they get bound to the Calcium Carbonate slurry. Turkey Baster combined with the blackout was key to getting the dinos free floating so they could bind to the "Coral Snow".
4. Ran my ozone. (1 hour on / one hour off; 30mg/hr is my unit and my tank is around 75 gallons total volume) Leonard Ho and Sonny in their articles both recommended Hydrogen Peroxide since neither ran Ozone, but the goal is they are doing a similar job.
5. After the 3 day blackout, most of the dinoflagellates appeared to gone. I did a 15 gallon water change at the end of the 3 day blackout while vacuum siphoning as much of the sand bed as possible (not removing the sand, also there was a ton reddish-brown residue (dinos) at the bottom of my water container), and added some Dr Tim's Eco Balance after the water change.
6. Run GAC the entire time because some dinos are toxic and can/will smell (my prorocentrum did)
7. After the 3 day black out, I ran my lights (AI Hydra 26HD's) with only blues and violets at 25% for 4 hours total. So 1 hour ramp up, 2 hour peak, and 1 hour ramp down. Again the peak was only 25% and only blues and violets. I have then increased my peak photo period by 30 minutes to an hour each day, but am keeping the same intensity and still only running blues and violets.
8. After about 5 days or so (Friday) I did another 15 gallon water change while primarily vacuum siphoning of my sandbed again. At this point, there was not really any reddish brown color (dinos) in my waste water, just the more common lighter brown waste water color from vacuuming sand.
I am going to continue to run Ozone daily (for the same 1 hour on / 1 hour off) and dose my DIY Coral Snow every few days (now about once a week, as its a great water clarifier). Also a $15 microscope off of amazon was a great investment in figuring out what I was fighting in the first place.
I tested all my water 7 days after the end of the black and here is my results and notes from my testing.
4/15/2018
Salinity: 1.023 (My refractometer wasn't calibrated properly because I never used calibration solution before, I have since bought some so I'm now slowing raising it to 1.025-1.026. It was at 1.021 when I first checked it after the 1st water change!). I will never go without calibrating my refractometer before every use again.
Temp: 78.4F
pH: 8.1
Ca: 480
Alk: 11.5 dKH
Mg: 1500
Nitrate: 24ppm
Phosphate: 0.08ppm
Action:No signs of Dinos, sand is white.
Lower feeding amount slighty, I also dosed some MB7. I also lowered my 2 part dosing to slowly drop levels to desired parameters, I think they got out of whack because of my salinity issue and having several coral deaths as a result of the dinos.
I had a terrible infestation. They covered everything. I lost several corals as a result of it, and some fish too (I miss identified it for months). Read the two small articles I posted, one by Leonard Ho and one by Sonny Harajly. My method for killing them was essentially the same as them. I tried several different things before in addition to kill the Dinos (higher nutrients from PO4 dosing, sand from a successful established tank for more biodiversity, bacteria supplents aka Dr Tims Eco balance, live coraline algae crushed up and dispersed throughout the tank, miracle mud, etc) for a few months and nothing really made much of an impact.
Since doing the protocol I laid out, I don't have any visible Dinos left (2 weeks now). Under a microscope looking at samples of water taken from the top of the sand I can spot a few here and there, but I see plenty of other micro fauna as well. For this I'd rather take the approach of victory through superior firepower over a death by a thousand cuts.
I've yet to see any patches of dinos return, and I'm 14 days past of the end of the 3 day blackout. All of my fish and corals are looking much better as well.