Red Algae - What a b*@#%!

stav

Well, I upgraded my stable saltwater tank to a 75 bowfront about 4 months ago, since then i have been battling with this red thick algea looking stuff covering my sand and rocks, never had this problem in the past... I have read elsewhere that frequent water changes and vacuuming it up is the best solution. i have been doing this for a while now and was wondering if anyone has any useful tips? I have bought a UV steralizer too just incase that might help... Its driving me mad! All of my levels are perfect and i am cautious of feeding amounts... What do I do?

chadf

It's called cyanobacteria. What are your nitrate and phosphate levels? Adding some extra flow to the affected areas may help a little. Water changes and vacuuming it up is a good idea.

Nereaga

What type of water are you using to mix SW?

IMO, you need much more flow in your tank. I have a 75g tank with 2- Koralia #3's. They move about 850gph EACH. I could still use more flow too! Never ends.... lol

Also a better skimmer would also help. Those Seaclones are known to be crap, IMO.

Not trying to be harsh towards you. Just being honest....

Brad

dawgfan1

Hey Stav,

Don't mean to laugh, but I was in your shoes a while ago. I tried everything. I have some posts on here with what progress I made. I understand your frustration, for me it seemed what ever I did made no difference, I could clean and do water changes and boom, 48 hours letter more red-slime. It drove me nuts. I did weekly 25% water changes, vacumed, reduced light, reduced feedings, moved my powerheads, you name it. I even reduced my sand bed to less than 1.5 inches and took out about 25lbs of sand. I think the depth of my sand bed had something to do with it, myself. As much as I didn't want to add any chemicals, I finally used "red-slime remover". I have fish, soft corals, inverts, you name it and not one fatallity I am happy to say (thanks forum) Cyano is gone, tank is happy. I say try all the things Nereaga and Chad were talking about (especialy upgrading the skimmer), but if all else fails you might want to try "red-slime remover" as a last resort.

Two questions:

1. What type of filter system and what kind of media do you use ?

2. How old is your sand bed and how deep is it?

Dr.Fragenstein

This thread from my local club might help, if you don't feel like looking at it, use carbon,ozone, increased H2O movement, increased alk, certain herbivores, lower nutrient levels and last resort chemi clean

Tommy Gun

No offense Dr.Fragenstein but as per policy, FTF does not allow the posting of links to another forum at this time. Hope you understand that we are only trying to protect certain interests of the forum and any associates it may have.

Judge

Hi Stav. Sorry about your CB problem. Believe me I understand the tenacity of this bacteria. I too tried all the things you mentioned. Did you try each solution one at a time? It can be a combination of things. The red slime remover works. It did BOTH times I used it but the stuff came back so if you don't figure out what the root cause is, it is likely it will return. It will not hurt your watery friends but I have to say that my pulsating Xenia did not really care much for the red slime remover but he recovered ok. One thing I noticed was where the light did not really reach there was no CB so you can draw the conclusion that light is a big factor. What type of lighting do you have and how long do you leave it on? Hope this helps narrow down some possibilities.

unclejed

Hello stav, two things; 1. Phosphates can be eliminated with a phosphate reactor. One big contributor to phosphates is flake food, if you use it I recommend stopping.
2. Judge is on the right path as far as lighting although cutting the time they are on (to say 9-10 hours) will help some, a greater factor is the age of the lights. I take it the "light bar" is a compaq? If so, the spectrum diminishes to a point at around 9 mos. that it favors the growth of nuisance algae so they may need replacing