red slime algea of doom.

[willthepenguin]

i have phosphate sponge yeah and been adding it, every two days? wht else will fix this?

 

[aresgod]

well you have to find the source of the problem. Its probably coming from either over feeding, or your water. the phosphate sponge is just a temporary band-aid. Find and fix the real problem and I think you will be much happier

 

[willthepenguin]

ok, umm crap.
how will i fix this complete water change?

 

[dbacksrat]

try scrubbing the red slime algae off (and removing any free floating red slime as you do this) and increase flow on the rocks--aim powerheads directly into the center of the mess so you can literally blow this mess away

 

[DustinKeating]

My problem with red slime algae was completely wiped out once i switched to RO?Di water....are you using tap water?

 

[dial]

iv got something similar in my tank. in 1 line 1 area. its red hairish algue on my substrate. i suck it out but it just keeps coming back. and iv just done almost a half a tank water change (to fix an amonia crash i had). the funny thing is its only ever in 1 area.

cheers aron.

 

[aresgod]

not unusual, many established healthy reef tanks will have 1 or 2 small patches of red slime on the substrate

 

[dial]

anything i should worry about. the hermit crabs seem to turn it over each night but by time i get back its back again. should i just leave it.

cheers aron.

 

[KahluaZzZ]

i turned mh down for 3 day...can't find cyano anywhere ( until i screw up )
..and with the help of biomarine polyfiter pads to remove organic stuff. I left the cyano alone 'cause i was distributing everywhere. Maybe this could help

 

[aresgod]

if it starts to spread then I would worry about it, but if it stays where it is no big deal.

 

[dial]

cool. thanks.

cheers aron.

 

[dbacksrat]

cyanobacteria generally prefers areas of low water flow

 

[wayne]

1.More water flow
2. Make sure salinity high enough (one down side of hyposalinity treatment for ich is you always get a cyano attack)
3. Alk up good and high
4. pH up good and high
5. Syphon that substrate good and proper. Water changes alone won't fix this.

 

[JustinP]

Wayne, when you say pH, alk and salinity up "good and high" to fight cyano, what is that numerically? Thanks

 

[wayne]

By salinity up I'd say at least 1.024, alk 9-11 and pH consistently above 8.2. I don't like to take alk any higher as it starts to be risky for calcium. 8.4, 8.6 are really good pH numbers to shoot for, and not, despite what you might believe, terribly high. 8.0 - 8.2 is a low pH for real seawater.
You won't be able to get your pH that high by using an alk buffer, you'll need to drip/add kalk.
These will get your cyano under control, and will also minimise green hair algae growth that will otherwise replace it BUT YOU MUST GET HTE NUTRIENTS OUT - DOING THIS AND NOT TUNING YOUR SKIMMER AND SO ON IS A WASTE OF TIME - otherwise when you let the pH go down again all your problems will reoccur

 

[KahluaZzZ]

i notice too a big cyano drop when my ph is 8.4 and salinity 1.025
'been 2 weeks since i cannot find some .

 

[sweetfishy]

antired is safe for reef tanks and fish used it 5 months ago and the red didnt come back.

 

[SALTY WATERS]

Keep up on your water changes, make sure you have good flow no dead spots, if it's possible take out any of the LR (not coral) that is covered with the red slime and scrub it off in a separate bucket of salt water, syphone out as much red slime as possible from the tank; keep this up for a little while and you should be okay.

If it is really bad you can also do a fresh water dip on your LR! or there is a supposedly reef safe product out there sorry forgot the name of it and no I'm not reffering to the above mentioned.

 

[KahluaZzZ]

my cyano attack-pack works and it's a mix of biomarine polyfilterpad, water changes ( duh ), caulerpa in a sump.

Hey Saltywater is the product called "red slime remover" like this :

some people have great results but i also read bad things about it

 

[dbacksrat]

i would be wary of adding chemicals to a tank--nothing beats good old manual labor to solve this problem