Red Slime/Algae problem

[dougs280z]

I have a lot of redish algae (or bacteria) forming on the sand and rocks in my tank. From the searching I did, it sounded like it was a bacteria and was caused by high phosphate. I've tried removing it and doing a water change, and it was all back the next day. I've checked the following paramaters:
phosphate - 0
nitrates - >5
ph - 8.4
it is a 29 gallon tank, and I have two t5 ho bulbs on about 12 hours a day along with some supplemental LED's that i made. I have a penguin 200 filter, and a marineland 1200 powerhead. I have about 20lbs of live rock, some mushroom coral, xenia, and a pipe organ coral. The tank has been running since Janurary.
Any ideas/suggestions on how to get rid of this and what caused it? Thanks.
Doug

 

[dougs280z]

i forgot to add that I am using RO water and doing water changes every week. I have also added a second powerhead and it came back just as bad the next day.

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by dougs280z http:///t/391395/red-slime-algae-problem#post_3470737
I have a lot of redish algae (or bacteria) forming on the sand and rocks in my tank. From the searching I did, it sounded like it was a bacteria and was caused by high phosphate. I've tried removing it and doing a water change, and it was all back the next day. I've checked the following paramaters:
phosphate - 0
nitrates - >5
ph - 8.4
it is a 29 gallon tank, and I have two t5 ho bulbs on about 12 hours a day along with some supplemental LED's that i made. I have a penguin 200 filter, and a marineland 1200 powerhead. I have about 20lbs of live rock, some mushroom coral, xenia, and a pipe organ coral. The tank has been running since Janurary.
Any ideas/suggestions on how to get rid of this and what caused it? Thanks.
Doug
Hi,
You are getting a false negative phosphate reading, the cyano bacteria is feeding on it. Overfeeding causing extra nutrients and slow water movement or dead spots are usually to blame.
If the cyano is all over...then you may just be overfedding, water changes and removing the slime will clear it up if you stop overfeeding.
If the cyano is always in a certain spot then that area has slow to no water movement and the exrtra nutrients are landing up there and settling. Change the direction of the power heads or add a power head and stop overfeeding, do water changes after you remove what you can of the slime.
I hope that helps.

 

[dougs280z]

Ok, overfeeding may be the problem. I can't really tell if im overfeeding, but it's very likely that I am. I only feed them once a day, but its hard to tell how much they're eating because it gets sucked underwater by the powerhead and spreads out. Also, i thought if i was overfeeding that I would get higher nitrates? And to double check, lighting has no effect on this cyano stuff right?

 

[superman]

Lighting definitely has an effect on cyano. When lights get older, their spectrum starts to fade. As the spectrum loses it's strength, you create an ideal situation for cyanobacteria. What type of lighting are you running, and when was the last time the bulbs were replaced?
As far as feeding, the typical rule of thumb is feed as much as the fish can consume in 2 minutes. This seems to work pretty well. Remove any extra food that is leftover.
Finally, I had a huge cyano problem last year due to a few factors, the main being a faulty heater which raised the tank temp. Make sure the tank water is not to warm. The hotter the water, the less oxygen in it, creating more cyano. I run my tank at about 76-78 degrees F.
To get rid of my cyano completely, I used chemiclean. The stuff is awesome and has no adverse affects on the tank. I know this from experience, it is great. Just follow the instructions exactly.