Algae " the bad stuff"

[The Guy]

I've developed some brownie/maroon slime algea that grows the little bubbles on the back wall and a few of my rocks, I've cut my lighting period back and plan to feed less and see if that helps. Any other suggestion would be appreciated, I really don't want to go the Chem/clean route if possible.

[Coral Hoarder]

Post a picture? Sounds a bit Like Dino and if it is it's worse then cemi clean can Handel

[gobytron]

Always tricky to tell Cyano from Dino's without a pic.

I've used Chemiclean a number of time and never had any adverse effects.

Never in an sps tank though so can't comment on it's effects there.

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by gobytron

Never in an sps tank though so can't comment on it's effects there.

I've used it several times, never an issue. I never understand why people don't use it. It's quick ,simple and done.

[gobytron]

The only adverse effect I've noticed, if you can call it that, is it will put a skimmer into overdrive...

it is incredibly effective though.

[The Guy]

Originally Posted by Coral Hoarder

Post a picture? Sounds a bit Like Dino and if it is it's worse then cemi clean can Handel

http://www.uta.edu/paleomap/homepage...obial/mat9.jpg

This link is what it's like. seems to take a few seconds to load.

[Animal-Chin]

Ya looks like Dinoflagelattes and if it is, they are brutal. I've battled each type of algae in my time and they were the worse.

Chemiclean won't touch them, they aren't the same bacteria. Basically, its red tide like we get in the ocean here.


Best course of action, start sucking them out when you can. Unfortunatley they actually like water changes and clean water doesn't hold them back.

I've heard dosing Hydrogen peroxide works but I was too scared to put that in my tank. Didn't want a crash or anything.

I just kept working and working on removing it but in the end, I removed my rockwork and scrubbed it clean and I removed all my sand as it really gets a hold of it. Put my rock back in, left the lights off for 3 days and when It stopped coming back put more sand in the tank.


I have no proof but I wonder if the lowermainland doesn't get dino's in its water supply. I've noticed at certain times people from different area's start complaining about it around the same time. As if it's getting into our tanks from an outside source. Again, no proof, just an observation.



As for chemiclean and red slime, I used it with great success and I used it with disasterous effects. In my 50 gallon I got red slime bad. I added the chemical and the rapid dying of the bacteria dropped the oxygen in the water really fast. You have to turn your skimmer off so all I had was powerheads in the tank. I dosed the chemiclean, went to bed, got up went to work, got home and all my fish were dead. Killed them all. BRUTAL. Be carefull if you use this product because we all have different systems. On a 180 with a sump you'll be fine, I had a 50 with no sump and it crashed in less than 24 hours.

[gobytron]

Just FYI....
The last tank i used it in was an RSM130.

34 gallons total.

Just followed the instructions very closely.

You could always add an airstone and pump to your tank if you're worried.

I have definitely seen reports online of Chemiclean working for Dino's and some saying it had no effect, even some saying it made it worse...it's all over the map.

That being said, up to you if you want to try it.

Here's a decent run down on what most reefers do to try and get dino's under control.

[TimT]

Hi Laurie,

Are you dosing the Foz Down into the tank or a sump? In this case I would suggest the tank to remove Phosphates in the water column. This way the Foz Down will remove any phosphate before the algae has a chance to use it. That's the problem with sump based reactors with slow flow rates. The algae in the display will get all the phosphate/nitrate it needs before the water goes into the sump and cycles slowly through the GFO or bio pellets.

2. Try dosing Hydrogen Peroxide. Take a 2ml syringe and draw up 0.3ml of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide(H2O2) then draw up another 1.7ml of RO/DI water. Add this into the air inlet of the skimmer. Observe the tank the rest of the day. If no signs of stress of any inhabitants, closely watch any shrimp, then try procedure again that evening. If everything is good the next morning repeat this for a week and see if there is a difference in the algae. If no difference after a week increase dosage to 0.5ml H2O2 and 1.5ml RO/DI water. Most of the Hydrogen Peroxide will react in the skimmer. UV sterilizers have a tendency to neutralize residual ozone and H2O2. If you observe any negative reactions in any of your animals you can add a chlorine neutralizer to get rid of the residual H2O2 immediately.

Cheers,
Tim

[The Guy]

Originally Posted by TimT

Hi Laurie,

Are you dosing the Foz Down into the tank or a sump? In this case I would suggest the tank to remove Phosphates in the water column. This way the Foz Down will remove any phosphate before the algae has a chance to use it. That's the problem with sump based reactors with slow flow rates. The algae in the display will get all the phosphate/nitrate it needs before the water goes into the sump and cycles slowly through the GFO or bio pellets.

2. Try dosing Hydrogen Peroxide. Take a 2ml syringe and draw up 0.3ml of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide(H2O2) then draw up another 1.7ml of RO/DI water. Add this into the air inlet of the skimmer. Observe the tank the rest of the day. If no signs of stress of any inhabitants, closely watch any shrimp, then try procedure again that evening. If everything is good the next morning repeat this for a week and see if there is a difference in the algae. If no difference after a week increase dosage to 0.5ml H2O2 and 1.5ml RO/DI water. Most of the Hydrogen Peroxide will react in the skimmer. UV sterilizers have a tendency to neutralize residual ozone and H2O2. If you observe any negative reactions in any of your animals you can add a chlorine neutralizer to get rid of the residual H2O2 immediately.

Cheers,
Tim

Hi Tim
I am using Foz-down in the auto top off storage water container ATM, How much should I use in the display tank and how often? My tank is a RSM 250/66gallon.