Red Slime Algae!!! :(

[Joeyb1731]

My tank is running for 6 months now.Im going through a crazy battle with red slime. All fish are healthy, all corals are growing. I feed once a day, VERY LIGHTLY. I have moved my lights 96 watt quad pc's down from 8 hours to 7.5. My tank is as so:

12 Gallon Bowfront
Ammonia:0.0
Nitrite:0.0
Nitrate: as close to 0 as possible
Ph:8.3
Phosphate:0.0
Calcium:450
DKH:10
Top Offs with R.O.
R.O. plus instant ocean reef crystals for water changes
1/4 of a drop of Lugols weekly

Last night I syphoned as much as possible out, anout 3-5 tablespoons full. And did a water change. tank is pristine and all life is doing great. The only think I think it could be is that when I started this tankI was dumb and bought the wrong kind of sand, just a white sand, not crushed coral or anything. I guess if thats whats causing my problem i Just have to deal with it. Do you guys think its that, or am i missing something else it could be?

 

[Lorna]

I doubt very much the substrate has anything to do with your problem. If your nitrates are really at 0 or close to it then I would have to lay cause at not enough flow. Do you have powerheads in the tank?

 

[Fishmonger70]

More than likely it's being caused by lack of water flow in your tank. It could be your sand too. Silicate based sand is more prone to Algae blooms

 

[Joeyb1731]

well flow is not a problem. I have a koralia nano powerhead on one side (260 GPH) on the otherside I have a penguin 440 maxi jet (110 GPH). Also to run carbon I have a penguin biowheel which is like 100 gph i believe and I have a rio nano skimmer which is a protein skimmer/powerfilter, also running carbon. I change the carbon weekly. Im overkilling on flow. I also have the exact same setup for my other nano, however right now it is broken down for a little untill I can afford to keep up 2 nanos. I can use those powerheads if needed but I dont think I need it.

 

[Joeyb1731]

and i do have some nitrates. but that skimmer keeps me above 0 but below 5 at all times.

 

[Lorna]

As red slime or cyanobacteria is not a true algae it may not be caused by silca based sand. The jury is still out on whether silcate contributes to algae blooms. You may very well have nitrate and phosphate issues as these will and can measure zero if they are being utilized by the algae or cyano. Phosphates can be absorbed into the rock and released back into the tank. Carbon also can leach nitrates/phosphates back into the water. I would remove the carbon. I would seriously consider a very large water change and reduce your feeding. Fish don't need to eat every day....I feed mine every 2-3 days and they are all fat and healthy. Some foods are very high in phosphates. This isn't part of your problem but why are you dosing lugols? It isn't necessary and as you aren't testing for it I would cease supplementing it unless you have a lot of soft corals

 

[TRe]

i feel its physically impossible to have a red slime problem with your nitrates "as close to zero as possible" like lorna said the algae could be consuming all the nutrients out of the water (nitrates/phosphates) or maybe your test is off.... you say r/o for all top offs but have you tested the r/o? some frozen foods have high nutrients aswell... remove as much as possible and just keep on top of your water changes and do them every week if u need to until its under control..... remember nutients and lack of flow are the 2 main reasons oh and i wouldnt count on that skimmer to do much!

 

[Joeyb1731]

yea i really didnt think it was gonna do much, but it does seem to help. I questioned my nitrate test too, so I bought a new one. Same results. So the only thing it could be is that the slime is consuming all the stuff. So i have been feeding every other day, small amounts and I did a water test tonite and still have normal readings. Water change tomorrow night and fingers are always crossed. Thanks every1 I wil post again in a few days