Red Algae EVERYWHERE! Help Please!

[mikedaqua]

Ok I have a new (set up for 2 months) 125 reef and red algae is everywhere. I stir the sand and brush off the rock every other day but it comes back. Also there are clear bubbles that rise to the top and burst constantly, I am weighing the options of chemicals vs. clean up crew, what are your suggestions?
The info:
6' 125 dual o/f all glass aquarium w/ 150 wet dry
1200gph pump w/ ball valve slightly closed
No Protein Skimmer at this time ( needs repair)
assorted fish, appr. 15 blue legs
assorted corals
(2) HQI 150 w metal halide
(2) 96 W actinic
(6) LED Moonlights

 

[flower]

Originally Posted by MikeDAqua
http:///forum/post/3282115
Ok I have a new (set up for 2 months) 125 reef and red algae is everywhere. I stir the sand and brush off the rock every other day but it comes back. Also there are clear bubbles that rise to the top and burst constantly, I am weighing the options of chemicals vs. clean up crew, what are your suggestions?
The info:
6' 125 dual o/f all glass aquarium w/ 150 wet dry
1200gph pump w/ ball valve slightly closed
No Protein Skimmer at this time ( needs repair)
assorted fish, appr. 15 blue legs
assorted corals
(2) HQI 150 w metal halide
(2) 96 W actinic
(6) LED Moonlights

How much water flow and what are your water test readings?

 

[mikedaqua]

I am guessing around 800-1000gph, (no power heads, just return pump)
PH 8.3
Nitrate, Nitrite and ammonia all within normal limits on the low side.

 

[flower]

Originally Posted by MikeDAqua
http:///forum/post/3282121
I am guessing around 800-1000gph, (no power heads, just return pump)
PH 8.3
Nitrate, Nitrite and ammonia all within normal limits on the low side.

Cayanobacteria (Cyano) is not algae, and it is caused from high phosphates, overfeeding and low water current. It is feeding on the high nutrients in the water.
The current of the ocean is the life, so to keep a saltwater tank you need to create a current using power heads. So that is the first problem, it allowed the nutrients to settle and in that quiet spot bacteria grew out of control.
You don’t even have a phosphates kit..That is your next problem. The cyano is feeding off the phosphates, so doing a test now will give you a false negative.
Then there is overfeeding and poor water quality. Always use RO (reverse osmoses) water.
Now for the cure:
Get as much of the cyano out as you can by hand, then do 20% water changes every week. Increase your water flow, and use something to eliminate the phosphates. Rinse any frozen food you feed your fish and be mindful of the food..once a day is plenty and no more than what the fish will eat in 3 minutes. They seek out food on the rocks so they will not starve. Some people cut off the lights for a day or two as well, I have coral so I never did that.

 

[ajroc31]

Lots of light, no skimmer, and no flow. Just cause its red it does not need to be cyano, but if you could grab it with your fingers, it is. My rocks are covered in red algea, small spots, but its tough, can't brush it off with a toothbrush. Listen to flower, pretty much all you could do. Make sure you have nice surface aggitation, cyano is not a big fan of oxygen, so increase that.

 

[stanlalee]

cynobacteria not true algae (the bubbles are the dead give away). thrives on light and excessive organics plain and simple. reducing light significantly is not usually an option (or effective when organics are high). to get rid of it without treatment you are going to have to toothbrush and siphon it out during a HUGE water change (think 50% and up range). from there see how long it takes to start coming back and that will tell you how bad of a dissolved organic problem you really have. it coming back will dictate what you need to do. you can determine/adjust how big and frequent the water changes are based on the cyno. If it doesn't get out of hand in two weeks and everything does fine with 2wk 20% water changes (after the initial large one to remove excessive organics) then thats the answer. If you do a 50% water change brushing off and siphoning out all visable cyno and the tank looks great after the dust settles and 3 days later looks just like how you started then you have your work cut out for you. Bad cyno outbreak is alot easier to get than to get rid of. You really need more flow as a 1200gph return pump is pretty pitiful flow for a reef tank and lack of flow contributes to nutrient and co2 build up.
you can black out the tank until it goes away which will work great right up until you turn the lights back on if you do nothing else.
as far as treatment since its a bacteria antibiotic treatment works but it also works on your biological filtration weakening it significantly. I'm not really sure what the slime removers that dont contain anti biotics contain so I wont speak on those. ozone and kent poly ox (potassium permeate) can work by oxidizing organics but dont work fast and can be harmful/dangerous/deadly to live stock if misused.
you can just google cynobacteria treatment and get a good idea of typical treatment and what products are out there if you exhaust conventional methods of getting rid of it but the short and sweet answer is your nutrient level needs to be reduced permanently (getting the skimmer back on line, increasing flow, upping your water change volume/frequency or both, reduced feeding or livestock ect ) AFTER you initially remove it and the current dissolved nutrients manually via huge water change/siphoning.

 

[flower]

Originally Posted by ajroc31
http:///forum/post/3282138
Lots of light, no skimmer, and no flow. Just cause its red it does not need to be cyano, but if you could grab it with your fingers, it is. My rocks are covered in red algea, small spots, but its tough, can't brush it off with a toothbrush. Listen to flower, pretty much all you could do. Make sure you have nice surface aggitation, cyano is not a big fan of oxygen, so increase that.

The tank is way to young for coraline to form on everything. I'm just saying...

 

[ajroc31]

Originally Posted by Flower
http:///forum/post/3282143

The tank is way to young for coraline to form on everything. I'm just saying...

No, I agreed, considering the factors, sorry if I made it seem any other way. But I am puzzled by my red algae, I can't find anything on it, likes darker spots in the tank.

 

[flower]

Originally Posted by ajroc31
http:///forum/post/3282144
No, I agreed, considering the factors, sorry if I made it seem any other way. But I am puzzled by my red algae, I can't find anything on it, likes darker spots in the tank.

Stalalee...you are the man, so nicely put.

Google Cyanobacteria for info, not red algae.
Google Red Coralline for info on that.

 

[mikedaqua]

Alright, I will try a 40% water change and siphoning for now....thank you both for all of the advice. About the phosphate tester, I have always been a "less is more" aquarist and I dont really use a lot of different test. I have found that frequent water changes along with feeding for 2 days then skipping one (firefighters schedule) really helps to control things like this. I just have never experienced an outbreak of this magnitude.

 

[spanko]

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 and:
a.At water change time siphon off the Cyano first. It will come up easily almost like a blanket.
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 on the rockwork 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.

 

[jpgnmt]

I just finished, I hope, a bout with Cyano as well. I did as listed above but it kept coming back so I resorted to Red Slime X with great results. I had been siphoning every week, doing a 10% water change with RO water from my LFS, lots of flow. I cut back on feeding and my wife claims she can see the ribs sticking though on the fish they are so hungry, we compromised and so far so good.

 

[flower]

Originally Posted by jpgnmt
http:///forum/post/3282372
I just finished, I hope, a bout with Cyano as well. I did as listed above but it kept coming back so I resorted to Red Slime X with great results. I had been siphoning every week, doing a 10% water change with RO water from my LFS, lots of flow. I cut back on feeding and my wife claims she can see the ribs sticking though on the fish they are so hungry, we compromised and so far so good.

OP:
Red X works, but if you do not take care of what caused the problem and rely only on the Red X, the slim will become immune to the Red X and then you will have a problem, because it becomes like super stuff and it is really hard to get rid of..this happened to a friend.
Jpgnmt:
What you did is how I got rid of mine ..It has been quite a while..changing the position of my power heads helped me the most I think. The Red X, plus the water changes and less feeding..all worked to eradicate it permanently ..but I was overfeeding coral food not fish food.

 

[mikedaqua]

Ok I did an approximately 40gal water change yesterday and it is still looking pretty good. I have a couple of spots but nothing like before. I tried to get the skimmer back up and running but it is on its last leg....need a new one. I will go to my LFS this week and get (2) powerheads and some red x if they have it. This is a pain. I have dealt with red algae a couple times on tanks I used to maintain but like I said I have never seen it grow so fast and cover so much so quickly. I look forward to getting some new powerheads and a new skimmer.

 

[meowzer]

I have never used a chemical to kill cyano....I had it bad in my 54G...it took me a couple of months of daily maintenance....I siphoned it out constantly, did 3 w/c's a week.....rinsed foods, added a Powerhead.....cleaned the filter, added a phosphate pad.....along with sone phospure....
all that finally worked.....Personally I HATE CHEMICALS....you need to find the problem and fix it.....

 

[jpgnmt]

I have seen "rinsed foods" mentioned a few times. How does one do that?

 

[stanlalee]

Originally Posted by jpgnmt
http:///forum/post/3282558
I have seen "rinsed foods" mentioned a few times. How does one do that?
only works with frozen. put in under clean water and rinse . of course you can only rinse until before you start rinsing away the actual food.. you basically are thawing it out running off the packing water. honestly rinsing food is not going to cause/prevent a cyno outbreak, feeding too much of it is (not that it doesn't wash off some phosphates). I do it with some frozen food brands but I dont do it with frozen food that has been sterilized and UV'd in pure water (hikari bio-pure for example). You cant do it with all food. For example rods food. you will rinse away all the small particle coral food and they recommend against it.