Red slime algae. Cyano?

[greymach]

I have this growing on my LS now. I just got through a hair algae battle and now this is growing on the sand. I have heard that it comes from too much light and not enough water flow. I have 2 maxijet 1200s and a via aqua 1800. for lighting i have 285 watts of VHO lighting. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[rbrockm1]

i had the same problem. i got a dragon goby and a lawnmower blenny and that was it of it.

 

[clsimons29]

Yep welcome to the world of cyno. I also went through a bad red outbreak and then black after that cleared up. Lots of info in the archives on this subject. Here is what I did.
Put my lights on a timer system and then cut back on lighting.
Water changes every week.
Made sure Nitrates and/or phospates were 0.
I ended up using boyd chema clean on the red cyno and it cleared it up.
I also added additional flow on the tank and used Kent poly-Ox to help my skimmer out.
I know some people have just cut there lights and that was it but it did not work for me, so try light, water changes, and siphoning it up and if still won't work try the boyd chema clean. Keep in mind from what I have read seeing this cyno process can be fairly normal for a tank on its way to maturity. GOOD LUCK!

 

[wrongmove]

How long have you had your tank up and running? Often times you will get a cyano out break as the tank matures. If that is the case just do your best to keep your nitrates and phosphates at zero and watch you dont leave the lights on too long. Flow will help keep it down but you are gonna want to make sure that you blow off any live stock that may get covered in it.

 

[murph]

Here are a few anecdotal observations from my own battles with cyano.
First off I agree with wrongmove that age of tank is probably the biggest factor. While I have had FO tanks on and off since the 80s my latest tank is my first reef and my first battle with cyano.
The only thing that my reef tank has that my FO tanks in the past did not was intense lighting. It seems that this intense lighting has to be a factor especially when you consider that my FO tanks of the past did not incorporate refugiums or even skimmers in some cases and definitely not skimmers of the quality available to the hobby these days.
My cyano battle lasted about 16 months despite my best efforts and is most likely the norm. I suspect there is a point in the maturing process of the tank that prior to provides favorable conditions for cyano growth.
To make a already long story shorter; provide go flow and quality skimmer, keep up with your water changes, remove manually when necessary and give the tank 12 to 18 months to "break in" and hopefully your cyano will become a problem of the past.

 

[greymach]

ok, my tank is only about 4 months old. I have 990 GPH of flow in my 50 gallon. So that is almost 20 times turnover rate. I dont know how much is enough. The powerheads dont really point towards the sand. Maybe i should direct some flow more downward? I have heard of the chemical product to rid of this algae. Why do people use it as a last resort? Is it harmful to the tank?

 

[bracebldrs]

Originally Posted by GreyMach
ok, my tank is only about 4 months old. I have 990 GPH of flow in my 50 gallon. So that is almost 20 times turnover rate. I dont know how much is enough. The powerheads dont really point towards the sand. Maybe i should direct some flow more downward? I have heard of the chemical product to rid of this algae. Why do people use it as a last resort? Is it harmful to the tank?
its called ,chemclean in a small bottle ,dry product . after adding cleanup crew ,adjusting lighting,changing flow,kicking back on feeding to the point
of starvation[lost like 5 asteria snails]and syphoning out#'s of substrate
this product did good for me. i noticed no supressed activity in inverts
ect .like ethromycin does.my tank too ,is young and after doing alota question
asking and research. it seems to be newer tanks comonly have this.althoght
i could swear it started for me from a small lr purchase from a crappy lfs.