Help I Got Red Slime !!!!!!!!!!!
- Thread starter fpanther
- Start date
lion_crazz
Active Member
I don't really agree. Every tank does not get red slime algae/cyano bacteria and I would get rid of it before it spreads even more.
Give us your water parameters. Do you test for kH, phosphates? What kind of water do you use?
Give us your water parameters. Do you test for kH, phosphates? What kind of water do you use?
notsonoob
Member
Every tank gets algea as it matures.
To get rid of it, either you chemically get rid of it or fight a loosing battle of tweaking all the stuff experts tell you to do.
There are two things the algea needs. Light and nutrients. The nutrients either comes via food for your fish or what you have in your tank and the waste that breaks down into nitrates. You take out one or the other then the algea will die.
Since you cannot take out all the light from the tank you do the next best thing. Take out the nutrients, which should be done anyway.
These nutrients are ever present until your tank matures and is able to take care of itself.
The best course of action to a tank that already HAS an algea problem is to cut back on introducing the nutrients to the tank and let it drop, THUS you have less food for the algea to grow and it will DIE off itself, without much molestation of the tank itself either by hand or by chemical.
All this is just a minor inconvience to your eyes. It isn't going to hurt anything in your tank.
Or you can nuke your tank and give the algea a form of over the counter red algea mustard gas. ((Ultralife Red Slime Remover)), which I found rather effective as well.
I'm not talking about prevention here and yes, each tank gets loading until the eco-system takes over on it own, but immature tanks don't have a decent eco-system built up.
The best thing to do is to keep your nitrates under control all the time, but not everybody does and thinks like experts, thus nutrients get carried away and algea blooms come and go.
There are other ways of preventing algea to grow in your tank such as using Cheato or Mangroves to eat those nutrients out of the water to lessen your nitrates and phosphates, which the algea feeds upon.
You could cut back on your lights, but I would say give the algea what it wants and it will become a glutton and eat up those trates or phosphates and eventually it will die and disappear, but you'll have to make sure you vaccum it out when it is gone and it will have eaten up all the extra nutrients which caused it to grow in the first place.
Typically, the phosphates will come from your fish food, or from some sources of water. If you use frozen foods, rinse your food first then put it in the tank. Also, try to feed once every other day.
You should test your water for phosphates, before you put it in your tank as well as for nitrates to ensure that you are not supplying this, however, most systems do not have a lot unless you live in an area with a lot of agriculture run-off.
Nitrates come naturally from the tank through the nitrogen cycle and food waste breakdown. Thus, why it is stated to feed only once every other day to keep this down. Make sure that you have a large enough cleanup crew, not only to clean algea, but to eat the leftover food. Other ways are to make your own food suppliments.
Eventually, your tank will mature and the symbiosis of the live rock and all the little critters in your tank will aid in cleaning out the extra nutrients out of your tank water.
lion_crazz. I don't mean to argue with you, but I'll bet you have just a bit of red algea somewhere in your tank as well. It is just a matter of how low you keep the nutrients from letting the algeas get the upper hand as nothing ever really disappears.
To get rid of it, either you chemically get rid of it or fight a loosing battle of tweaking all the stuff experts tell you to do.
There are two things the algea needs. Light and nutrients. The nutrients either comes via food for your fish or what you have in your tank and the waste that breaks down into nitrates. You take out one or the other then the algea will die.
Since you cannot take out all the light from the tank you do the next best thing. Take out the nutrients, which should be done anyway.
These nutrients are ever present until your tank matures and is able to take care of itself.
The best course of action to a tank that already HAS an algea problem is to cut back on introducing the nutrients to the tank and let it drop, THUS you have less food for the algea to grow and it will DIE off itself, without much molestation of the tank itself either by hand or by chemical.
All this is just a minor inconvience to your eyes. It isn't going to hurt anything in your tank.
Or you can nuke your tank and give the algea a form of over the counter red algea mustard gas. ((Ultralife Red Slime Remover)), which I found rather effective as well.
I'm not talking about prevention here and yes, each tank gets loading until the eco-system takes over on it own, but immature tanks don't have a decent eco-system built up.
The best thing to do is to keep your nitrates under control all the time, but not everybody does and thinks like experts, thus nutrients get carried away and algea blooms come and go.
There are other ways of preventing algea to grow in your tank such as using Cheato or Mangroves to eat those nutrients out of the water to lessen your nitrates and phosphates, which the algea feeds upon.
You could cut back on your lights, but I would say give the algea what it wants and it will become a glutton and eat up those trates or phosphates and eventually it will die and disappear, but you'll have to make sure you vaccum it out when it is gone and it will have eaten up all the extra nutrients which caused it to grow in the first place.
Typically, the phosphates will come from your fish food, or from some sources of water. If you use frozen foods, rinse your food first then put it in the tank. Also, try to feed once every other day.
You should test your water for phosphates, before you put it in your tank as well as for nitrates to ensure that you are not supplying this, however, most systems do not have a lot unless you live in an area with a lot of agriculture run-off.
Nitrates come naturally from the tank through the nitrogen cycle and food waste breakdown. Thus, why it is stated to feed only once every other day to keep this down. Make sure that you have a large enough cleanup crew, not only to clean algea, but to eat the leftover food. Other ways are to make your own food suppliments.
Eventually, your tank will mature and the symbiosis of the live rock and all the little critters in your tank will aid in cleaning out the extra nutrients out of your tank water.
lion_crazz. I don't mean to argue with you, but I'll bet you have just a bit of red algea somewhere in your tank as well. It is just a matter of how low you keep the nutrients from letting the algeas get the upper hand as nothing ever really disappears.
turningtim
Active Member
Well first off its not ALGAE! Its bacteria.
Secondly, its doesn't matter how old the tank is. With Diatoms yes, with Cyno no.
Measuring Phos and trAte are pretty much useless at this point b/c you will not get an accurate reading. The Cyno is consuming it. So even if you read 0 or close it doesn't matter!
The chemical (antibiotic) to kill the cyno will only get rid of the stuff currently in the tank. It doesn't solve the problem!
If it is on the sand, I'll bet its b/c of low flow. Adding more flow will keep the excess nutrients suspended in the water column for the skimmer and filtration to remove.
I would also test (phos/trAte) your water source. Yes even if its RO/DI!
Sure, it will die off if you stop feeding and shorten your photo period, but again it doesn't solve the underlying issue.
Unless you don't want to feed your tank anymore and have the lights off.........
HTH
Tim
Secondly, its doesn't matter how old the tank is. With Diatoms yes, with Cyno no.
Measuring Phos and trAte are pretty much useless at this point b/c you will not get an accurate reading. The Cyno is consuming it. So even if you read 0 or close it doesn't matter!
The chemical (antibiotic) to kill the cyno will only get rid of the stuff currently in the tank. It doesn't solve the problem!
If it is on the sand, I'll bet its b/c of low flow. Adding more flow will keep the excess nutrients suspended in the water column for the skimmer and filtration to remove.
I would also test (phos/trAte) your water source. Yes even if its RO/DI!
Sure, it will die off if you stop feeding and shorten your photo period, but again it doesn't solve the underlying issue.
Unless you don't want to feed your tank anymore and have the lights off.........
HTH
Tim
kellenr
Member
Originally Posted by lion_crazz
http:///forum/post/2639363
I don't really agree. Every tank does not get red slime algae/cyano bacteria and I would get rid of it before it spreads even more.
Give us your water parameters. Do you test for kH, phosphates? What kind of water do you use?
I just went through this. I have to agree with lion_crazz. You never want algae (cyano or not) just to go out of control because you could find yourself in an overwhelming problem real soon. It's a lot of work (siphoning & water changes) every few days but you need to try to get a hold of it quickly.
I used a product called Chemi-Clean Cyano Red Slime Remover. It worked very well the 1st time I used it. You'll notice a big difference in less than 48hrs. Vacuum the sand, turkey baster blast the LR (works very well) and then add the Chemi-Clean (follow the directions). You'll need to remove any carbon filtration/ protein skimmers for 48hrs. After 48hrs you need to do a 20% water change. I'd wait 2-3 days then repeat if needed.
Cyano is a bacteria, you don't want it hanging around and multiplying in your tank. Letting it just 'ride its course' is very risky, especially when you're unsure of its cause. The Chemi-Clean is reef and invert safe, runs for about $16 I think (treats 300gal).
http:///forum/post/2639363
I don't really agree. Every tank does not get red slime algae/cyano bacteria and I would get rid of it before it spreads even more.
Give us your water parameters. Do you test for kH, phosphates? What kind of water do you use?
I just went through this. I have to agree with lion_crazz. You never want algae (cyano or not) just to go out of control because you could find yourself in an overwhelming problem real soon. It's a lot of work (siphoning & water changes) every few days but you need to try to get a hold of it quickly.
I used a product called Chemi-Clean Cyano Red Slime Remover. It worked very well the 1st time I used it. You'll notice a big difference in less than 48hrs. Vacuum the sand, turkey baster blast the LR (works very well) and then add the Chemi-Clean (follow the directions). You'll need to remove any carbon filtration/ protein skimmers for 48hrs. After 48hrs you need to do a 20% water change. I'd wait 2-3 days then repeat if needed.
Cyano is a bacteria, you don't want it hanging around and multiplying in your tank. Letting it just 'ride its course' is very risky, especially when you're unsure of its cause. The Chemi-Clean is reef and invert safe, runs for about $16 I think (treats 300gal).
notsonoob
Member
So explain to me what the problem lies within, besides it hurts your eyes that your tank isn't perfect?
IF you have a ditom problem let the bacteria/algea eat it up, then it is gone. If you nuke it, and don't take the silcates out, then it will just flare up again UNTIL the silicates are gone.
Even if you scrape and clean, the silicates are still there. Even if you scrape and clean the nutrients are still there, until you take it out.
The only problem is that you THINK it is a problem, because in your mind your tank has to be perfect.
What do you think happens in the natural world? The difference being is that there is a constant source for the algea/bacteria to grow. Once the food is gone, the red tide is gone.
IF you have a ditom problem let the bacteria/algea eat it up, then it is gone. If you nuke it, and don't take the silcates out, then it will just flare up again UNTIL the silicates are gone.
Even if you scrape and clean, the silicates are still there. Even if you scrape and clean the nutrients are still there, until you take it out.
The only problem is that you THINK it is a problem, because in your mind your tank has to be perfect.
What do you think happens in the natural world? The difference being is that there is a constant source for the algea/bacteria to grow. Once the food is gone, the red tide is gone.
notsonoob
Member
Reverse osmosis is another way to demineralize water. It reduces but does not remove all nitrates. In a reverse osmosis system, the water is put under pressure and forced through a membrane that filters out minerals and nitrate. One-half to two-thirds of the water remains behind the membrane as rejected water. The yield of treated water to reject water is related to the amount of pressure applied; the lower the water pressure, the greater the volume of reject water. Higher-yield systems use water pressures in excess of 150 psi. The systems that operate using standard household water pressure (35 to 45 psi) will yield some treated water, but a large amount of untreated water goes down the drain, and could reduce the efficiency of home septic systems. Household units are usually small enough to fit under the sink or on a kitchen counter.
Both of these demineralization systems require a lot of energy to operate efficiently and are high-maintenance systems. They are also low-yield systems that may provide enough water for a family, but cannot produce the large quantities needed for livestock.
The second type of water treatment for nitrate contamination is ion exchange. Ion exchange introduces another substance that trades places with the nitrate. Most often chloride is exchanged for nitrate. The ion exchange unit is a tank filled with special resin beads that are charged with chloride. As water containing nitrate flows through the tank, the resin takes up nitrate in exchange for chloride. In time, all the chloride will be exchanged for nitrate. The resin can then be recharged by back washing with a brine solution (sodium chloride) and reused.
Because ion exchange systems can treat large volumes of water, they are more appropriate than demineralization for treatment of livestock water supplies. There are, however, some drawbacks to ion exchange systems. First, in addition to exchanging nitrate, the resin beads will also take up sulfate in exchange for chloride. Therefore, if sulfates are present in the water supply, the capacity of the resin to take up nitrate is reduced. Second, the resin may also make the water corrosive. For this reason, the water must go through a neutralizing system after going through the ion exchange unit. Finally, backwash brines, which are high in nitrate, must be disposed of properly so they do not re-contaminate the groundwater supply.
Both of these demineralization systems require a lot of energy to operate efficiently and are high-maintenance systems. They are also low-yield systems that may provide enough water for a family, but cannot produce the large quantities needed for livestock.
The second type of water treatment for nitrate contamination is ion exchange. Ion exchange introduces another substance that trades places with the nitrate. Most often chloride is exchanged for nitrate. The ion exchange unit is a tank filled with special resin beads that are charged with chloride. As water containing nitrate flows through the tank, the resin takes up nitrate in exchange for chloride. In time, all the chloride will be exchanged for nitrate. The resin can then be recharged by back washing with a brine solution (sodium chloride) and reused.
Because ion exchange systems can treat large volumes of water, they are more appropriate than demineralization for treatment of livestock water supplies. There are, however, some drawbacks to ion exchange systems. First, in addition to exchanging nitrate, the resin beads will also take up sulfate in exchange for chloride. Therefore, if sulfates are present in the water supply, the capacity of the resin to take up nitrate is reduced. Second, the resin may also make the water corrosive. For this reason, the water must go through a neutralizing system after going through the ion exchange unit. Finally, backwash brines, which are high in nitrate, must be disposed of properly so they do not re-contaminate the groundwater supply.