Can't seem to get rid of this Red Slime!

tacks

tacks

Member
Red slime/Cynobacteria is accumulating on my sand bed in patches and it looks horrible. How do I get rid of this?
To better help me with my question, a little background...
Tank up and running for 4 months now. Water change once every three weeks (reef crystals) Hi-S RO/DI.
125g FOWLR. 160lbs of sand, 120lbs or LR. Wet/dry w/protien skimmer. 6 Powerheads
Lights are VHO. 2-95W Actinic 03, 2-95W Actinic White, 1-110W AquaSun, 1-110W Actinic White. Lights stay on for approx 5 hours a day. I have the "Blue lights come on 15minutes before all other lights and stay on for 15 minutes after light go off.
Feed twice per day (Have now cut back to once per day and I filter/rinse the food). In addition to feeding, I put seaweed selects in for about 6 hours (then take out what was not eaten).
Stock list as follows: 3 Yellow Tangs (2"), 1 Flame, 4 Green Chromis, 1 Fridmani, 1 Lawnmower Blenny. 5 Peppermints shrimp, 3 Emerald Crabs, 1 Coral Banded, 4 fighting conches (they don't seem to be cleaning sandbed), assorted hermits and snails.
I have gone through 2 Diamond Gobies now as both have jumped out of tank. I'm thinking of a sea cucumber or sand sifting star to help get rid of algea. I have covered the tank with eggcrate from home depot. Now SWF is out of Diamond Gobies. I'm hesitant to add chemicals but I've been reading about the following.... Chemi Pure, Chemi Clean, and Red Slime Remover. Any thoughts??? Another PW? (already have six!) Add Chemicals?
Levels are as follows
Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - 0
Nitrates - 0 (<10)
PH - 8.2
Salinity - 1.022
Phosphates - 0.6mg/L
Alkalinity - 175ppm (9.8dkh)
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
Red Slime (Cyano Bacteria)
Cyano grows on top of nutrient rich areas of low flow. There are a number of things that need to be correct or possibly corrected to combat this without the use of chemical additives. The biggest thing is to get rid of the extra nutrients.
1.Evaluate your feeding. If you are feeding more than can be eaten in about 1-2 minutes it is too much and the remainder of it is falling to the rock and sand and becoming nutrient.
2.Evaluate your flow. If you have areas in the tank where there is little to no flow this can be corrected by adding power heads or repositioning the ones you already have. You don’t need to create sand storms just have water moving over the area to keep detritus suspended in the water column for removal by your filter &#8211; skimmer.
3.Evaluate your water changes. The solution to pollution is dilution! You want to continually remove unneeded nutrients as well as replace those things that are used by the system. 10% weekly is a good change schedule. Some do 20% every other week and some vary the schedule from there, but a good start is 10% per week.
4.Evaluate your lighting schedule. About 10 hours of daylight is all that is needed.
5.If you have a cyano outbreak do the above 4 items andh:
a.At water change time siphon off the cyano first. It will come up easily almost like a blanker.
b.After siphoning stir the affected areas a little to suspend any detritus for the water change and filtering - skimming removal.
c.Use a turkey baster now and at every water change in the future to again suspend the detritus for removal by the water change and your filtering &#8211; skimming.
Keeping nutrient levels low to non-existent will help to avoid cyano outbreaks and any algae outbreaks as well as keep your tank and you happy happy.
Hope that helps.
 
tacks

tacks

Member
Originally Posted by spanko
http:///forum/post/2506863
Red Slime (Cyano Bacteria)
Cyano grows on top of nutrient rich areas of low flow. There are a number of things that need to be correct or possibly corrected to combat this without the use of chemical additives. The biggest thing is to get rid of the extra nutrients.
1.Evaluate your feeding. If you are feeding more than can be eaten in about 1-2 minutes it is too much and the remainder of it is falling to the rock and sand and becoming nutrient.
2.Evaluate your flow. If you have areas in the tank where there is little to no flow this can be corrected by adding power heads or repositioning the ones you already have. You don’t need to create sand storms just have water moving over the area to keep detritus suspended in the water column for removal by your filter – skimmer.
3.Evaluate your water changes. The solution to pollution is dilution! You want to continually remove unneeded nutrients as well as replace those things that are used by the system. 10% weekly is a good change schedule. Some do 20% every other week and some vary the schedule from there, but a good start is 10% per week.
4.Evaluate your lighting schedule. About 10 hours of daylight is all that is needed.
5.If you have a cyano outbreak do the above 4 items andh:
a.At water change time siphon off the cyano first. It will come up easily almost like a blanker.
b.After siphoning stir the affected areas a little to suspend any detritus for the water change and filtering - skimming removal.
c.Use a turkey baster now and at every water change in the future to again suspend the detritus for removal by the water change and your filtering – skimming.
Keeping nutrient levels low to non-existent will help to avoid cyano outbreaks and any algae outbreaks as well as keep your tank and you happy happy.
Hope that helps.

Thank you. I already read this when I did a search. Very informative and I tried all of it. Still no luck. Will it help to get a diamond Goby back in?
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
Well then I guess I would look at how many snails I have working the sand bed. I don't think that one goby is going to be as efficient as a small army of Nassarius and Cerith snails. The Nassarius live for the most part under the sand and are detritus eaters, the Cerith roam both in and out of the sand bed and are algae eaters. The combination of the two attack both problems that are usually associated with substrate cleaning.
 
tacks

tacks

Member
Thanks Spanko. I originally had a cleanup crew but I'm not sure how many snails I have left. The Nassarius snails sold in groups of ten on this site? Would they be helpful?
 
kerriann

kerriann

Member
I had a problem with algae on my sand for awhile when I removed my sleeper goby from my 24 gal to put in my boyfriend's 75 gal so he'd have more room. I bought a handful of nassarius snails, a sand sifting star and a diamond goby - which took care of the problem. i don't know which had to biggest effect or whether it was a team effort, but it definitely helped me out! i also cut my feeding significantly because my fish wouldn't eat anything if it landed on the sand. now they know if they don't eat it once it touches the sand then they'll have to find something to snack on later!
 
bennyhill

bennyhill

Member
I have a 75 gal rr tank i just got over a bad case of red slime i used Red Slime Remover . It doesent raise anything in your tank and will not harm fish or corals or invert... your tank will be good as ne win a week or two .. Well thats my thought $0.02
 
pondy

pondy

Member
I didnt read the whole article but I read most of it. If you have corals you are kind of stuck unless you like to add chemicals to your tank. They claim that they have no ill effects, and many people have good success with chemicals but there are quite a few horror stories about people loosing there whole reef tank.
If you dont have corals yet What I would do is add more flow and Shut your lights off for around a week. SOrry if this was already addressed. But if you do this you will be cyano free in a week. my 0.02 cents
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
Originally Posted by Tacks
http:///forum/post/2506882
Thanks Spanko. I originally had a cleanup crew but I'm not sure how many snails I have left. The Nassarius snails sold in groups of ten on this site? Would they be helpful?
Definitely. You need something down there stirring up the sand for you. Don't do this yourself as you stand a chance at releasing all kinds of nasties into the water column. The Nass and Ceriths will serve you well in this regard. I would stay away from a sand sifting star as they are hard to keep long term.
Again JMO
 
notsonoob

notsonoob

Member
If it is on your sand then usually adding more sand sifters will help turn the sand over. However, most sand sifters sift the sand to look for something. FOOD. You need to make sure that you replenish your sand inhabitents if you buy a goby, or a sand sifting star.
Second, if the red algea hits your rocks, about the only thing you can do is nuke your tank with red slime remover. This is what I had to wind up doing and it is very effective to do so. In two days it will be gone, but watch your Ph levels during treatment.
Then you need to vaccum up all the dead, transparent algea or it will bloom again.
Second, start feeding your tank less as the extra nutrients is what builds it up in the first place!

Oh, make sure that you have enough water motion in your tank for the future. Dead areas is what makes the algea prosperous
 
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