Red Slime Algae

Whatigot · #1 04-08-2008, 01:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hillbillyreefer

Add more flow. You want a minimum of 20x turnover. 40x is better. In my 33 gal I've got about 30x and will add another koralia 2 to bring it up a bit over 40. That should help with your red slime and also keep crap in suspension so it can be removed instead of settling on the sand.

For keeping the sand clean try a couple of big nassarius snails, a strawberry conch, or a tiger tail sea cucumber. They do a good job on mine.

HTH

In my reading and experience, it's not the actual turn over rate of your tank, it's the interraction of the water at surface with air and mking sure that all the water in your aqurium is being moved.
I increased my flow, spent almost 200 bucks on new Koralia but the Cyano actually grew more in the higher flow.
Once I took the two new powerheads out and changed the flow from the two existing ones i had initially had and my return pump so that there were no dead spots AND I had done more siphoning of the rocks and the substrate and replaced siphon with clean sw the cyano started to recede.
I also noticed that once the cyano had been reduced, my scarlett hermits chowed down on it pretty good.

I would try adjusting your current flow before you go blow some cash on new powerheads.

fishoholic · #2 04-08-2008, 02:21 PM

I've use chemiclean on our old tanks (30g and 120g) and it worked for a few months, but then we would need to use it again. Never did any damage to any inverts or corals, and it would get rid of the cyano. However on our 230g we used a whole bottle of chemiclean and it didn't do a thing to get rid of the cyano. Went to Blue World and Mike told us about Kent Marine Tech-M which helps supplement the magnesium levels in your tank and eliminates cyano. I admit I was a bit skeptical at first but 3 days after adding some the cyano is gone.

supersmile · #3 04-08-2008, 02:45 PM

So where should the power heads be positioned??? I used to have it near the surface of the water but maybe I should have them down closer to the middle of the tank towards the live rock where the cyano is growing. I already have a sand sifting goby as well as a sand sifting star fish to help with the sand. Maybe the increased flow will help with the sand as well. It almost sounds like I should have a powerhead on each end of my tank.

ElGuappo · #4 04-08-2008, 04:28 PM

its not really a matter of where you place the PH but where its current is blowing. just aim it at the rocks where the cyno is. i have found trhem to be loud at the top. mostly due to water levels droping from evap.

Whatigot · #5 04-08-2008, 06:37 PM

I'm no expert at reefing, only been into it for a year and my tank that had the extreme cyano is only a month old and I attributed the outbreak to the nitrate spike that naturally comes with the cycling process.
having said that, I just directed the flow so that there were no deadspots in the aquarium at all.
Having good interaction of gases at the surface is important, but unless your tank is enclosed or you have a serious canopy it should be fine without a powerhead creating turbulence at surface.

The key for me was to remove the nitrates and I did that by siphoning the surface of my substrate (this was tricky to do without disrupting the entire bed) and the surface of all of my liverock.
This combined with replacing the water that was siphoned out with fresh ro/di saltwater and adjusting the flow so there were no dead spots to enable detritus (nitrate) buildup has so far aleviated my 72 gallon display of cyano with no chemicals and I had it BAD, so bad that when it first hit I thought of giving up the new tank.
glad i didn't as with a little patience and elbow grease it was an easy fix.

supersmile · #6 04-08-2008, 10:15 PM

I have just been using tap water I do not have an ro/di unit. Do you think it would help to use the distilled water that you can buy by the gallon at the grocery store??? I don't know maybe I'm grasping at straws now???

Seamonkey · #7 04-08-2008, 11:51 PM

Years ago I had a really horrible outbreak and used the product that other people in this thread refered to as Chemiclean. It worked great! Noticed an immediate improvement and I have never had the problem again. I bought mine at J and L aquatics, but your LFS may carry it. About 20 bucks, and you don't need much, depending on the size of the tank. Didn't hurt anything in the tank except the cyano.

ElGuappo · #8 04-09-2008, 02:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by supersmile

I have just been using tap water I do not have an ro/di unit. Do you think it would help to use the distilled water that you can buy by the gallon at the grocery store??? I don't know maybe I'm grasping at straws now???

I have been told to use RODI but when the used RO unit i bought didnt work i stgayed with tap and its fine IMO just premix in advance.