Can I do a red slime treatment on a zeovit tank?

[Delphinus]

Gonna ask this question on zeovit.com forum but I figure I'd ask the zeoheads here first.

The red slime is getting so bad in my zeovit tank that my frustration level is getting over the top. The recommendations to reduce slime did not do anything for me. I've discontinued all but the basic 4 and have cut back significantly on those as well, to no effect.

I didn't have red slime before starting zeovit. I'm about 2.5 months in on zeo.

I'm considering discontinuing zeo altogether and moving back to Reef-resh. But independently of that decision I'm considering running a red slime remover treatment.

Basically unless someone emphatically screams "don't do it." Thing is, apart from the water clarity I can't say zeovit has really blown air up my skirt, so I don't really care if I crash the zeo bacteria colonies ... although I don't want to crash the tank, enough has gone wrong lately that I'm hesitant to do much of anything but the flip side is seeing cyano cover everything really blows chunks.

[Der_Iron_Chef]

Tony~Have you tried Coral Snow? I have some...to try...if you think it might help? I have no idea on the Red Slime treatment. Just an idea...

[Brent F]

I had a huge red slime outbreak in my tank running zeovit. I siphoned it up daily and it just kept coming back. I ended up treating it and haven't had any since. Still running zeovit

[Jason McK]

Yes I have used red slime treatments on Zeo. It took 5 days until I could run my skimmer 100% again.

J

[Delphinus]

Ok thanks. It goes in tomorrow ... 'nuff is'nuff with this stuff. :(

Drew - I started using Coral Snow about 2 weeks in when the slime first started appearing. I tried both mixing it with the zeobak and without for several weeks and it just hasn't kicked it back. There were sort of 2 different slimes going on and when Greg had his red slime problem I followed his thread and followed the recommendations given to him and one of the slimes fell back a little, but the really thick, really dark magenta/red sheeting style cyano continued and never did abate (basically just got steadily worse). I've been siphoning out gobs and gobs of it every day ... unfortunately a futile effort as it just comes back the very next day. ("The cyano came back .. the very next day .. the cyano came back .. they thought it was a goner but the cyano came back .. it just couldn't staaaaaaaay awaaaayyyyyyyyy....") ...So unfortunately Coral Snow isn't going to help on this one. :(

On a different topic, .... I was incredulous when I found this, but I found a patch of bryopsis sprouting up on the back of a powerhead. Geeeeez, so much for zeovit holding the filamentous algaes at bay. And this red dulce / kelp sort of macro algae I have in my carpet tank is growing great guns. I thought macros in a refugium, and the hair algaes, were all sort of supposed to fall back and wither away in a zeovit tank. I really wonder if something is wrong with my zeo. Like maybe I'm using expired or fouled, one of, or combination of the zeostart or zeobak or zeofood ... None of them smell "off" to me though, and the ones that do have expiry dates, are well into the future (2009). So I don't know. Maybe it's not that, but still I wonder...

[Brent F]

I'm in the same boat with zeovit products. The water test perfect (0 nitrites, nitrates, ammonia and phosphates) and is very clear yet I have had some large algae blooms.

I have three tanks hooked in together so they share the same zeovit system. Two of the three tanks are clear but the third cycles through different algae blooms. I'm guessing it is either the lighting or that this one tank doesn't have the correct cleanup crew?

[Pan]

Yeah i had/have a bout with red slime after starting zeo as well...but it is slowly going away...I upped the amount of coral snow and tweaked it a bit...mind you i'm not using the zeo rocks though....

[danny zubot]

That bacteria is one of the oldest living organisms on the planet, and for a good reason. It knows how to survive. I wouldn't know about Zeo and how it is supposed to remedy cyano specifically, but it seams that if you are feeding your tank bacteria, and feeding that bacteria it's own food, you are essentially creating, at least for a while, a perfect environment for cyano to thrive.

Tony, are you planning to do pre & post treatment water changes?

[Delphinus]

Zeovit isn't a cure for cyano - but if things worked they way they say they work - cyano would be outcompeted for nutrients. This is theoretically acheivable, because I know my cube tank used to be a nightmare of elevated NO3 and frequently did suffer cyano. IME, cyano is almost always triggered by elevated levels of NO3. I went to Polyplabs on that tank just for the heck of it, and it sucked the nitrates out. After a month or so down that road the cyano literally disappeared on its own.

I would agree that in this tank though, that the fuel/food added for the zeovit bacteria is instead being consumed by cyano and the cyano is outcompeting the zeo. You are correct, it is a survivor. Give it a foothold and it will make a stronghold.

Anyhow in answer to your question - probably. I do weekly changes as part of the zeo subscriptions but the red slime remover treatments usually call for larger wholesale changes. I'll likely do my weekly 10% before treatment and then do the usual post-RSM-treatment 30%.

[digital-audiophile]

Intersting that the snow has not worked. When I had my problems I followed the advice on zeovit.com, cut back on my doses and mixed CS with Zeobak and the slime went away, it has yet to return.. allthough for some unknown reason I still have issues with green film algae.

[Slick Fork]

I'll bet it's the macro you're trying to grow that's messing things up. I had a similar problem to the one you're describing. I was running a refugium in addition to the zeovit and had slime algae issues everywhere. Following advice on the zeovit forums, I killed the refugium, cut back on my dosing (the zeofood I cut back by 50%) and since then I haven't had any cyano issues worth mentioning. Maybe try disconnecting the tank with the kelp in it.

[Pan]

I'll bet it's the macro you're trying to grow that's messing things up. I had a similar problem to the one you're describing. I was running a refugium in addition to the zeovit and had slime algae issues everywhere. Following advice on the zeovit forums, I killed the refugium, cut back on my dosing (the zeofood I cut back by 50%) and since then I haven't had any cyano issues worth mentioning. Maybe try disconnecting the tank with the kelp in it.
Yeah that is one thing i've read as well, not many zeoheads have good results with macro's...i'm sure there are a few..but i believe i've read a few messages on forums stating to get rid of any refugiums as well.

[Delphinus]

The macro isn't something I deliberately put in there, it's something that sprouted out of the rock voluntarily one day. Not sure where it came from. I figured it would subside on its own once zeo kicked in and I was fine with that. It however just hasn't happened. Must be one of those survivor species. :lol:

Maybe I'll see if anyone else wants it and thus just pull it out. It is a really keen purple thing, someone might like it. Or I might just let my tang and rabbitfish at it..

Not sure about the recommendation to remove refugiums. If they mean, don't try growing macros for the sake of nutrient export, that's common sense. But if they mean remove any tank that shares the sump, that's just out and out ridiculous. My 40g isn't a "refugium," it's an extension of the display tank where I house my clowns and carpets. If I can't run zeo with this tank on the same sump as the 75g then I just won't run zeo, that's a simple call.

[danny zubot]

I'd like to know where anyone gets off telling people not to run a refugium if the are using Zeo. Both are used for nutrient export, but one costs way more money in the long term. Hmmm, I wonder if that has anything to do with it? No refugium = more Zeo = more money?

Tell me to shut up if this is a stupid conspiracy theory.:mrgreen:

[Brent F]

The reason I was told not to run a refugium with zeovit is that the system wouldn't support the macroalgae since the zeovit would remove the nutrients the algae needs to grow.

The green hair algae in my RSM disproves that theory.

[Delphinus]

:lol: Exactly my thoughts about the patch of bryopsis I've found.

Those algaes are insidious though, they just find a way to live. Like how caulerpa only grows where you can't see it for example. If you don't know it's there you can't prune it.

[Slick Fork]

The theory I guess behind the no macro-algae suggestion is that it competes with the zeovit bacteria, and that if the zeovit bacteria can't thrive then the supplements you dose get gobbled up by things like cyano. It's explained better over at the zeo website. All I know for sure is that almost as soon as I quit trying to grow Chaeto in the same system that the zeo was running I saw a positive change.

Bryopsis is tenacious stuff, even the true die-hard zeoheads over on the zeo site won't claim that zeovit will handle it!