Red Slime..Going on 5 months!

[shrimpdady]

I have been battling red slime for over 5 months now.
I do 10% weekly water changes and do not over feed my fish. I spot feed almost everything.
I do not have too much of a bio-load.....
2-Ocellaris
1-Coral Beauty
1-Lawnmower Blenny
1-Royal Gramma
1-BTA
1-Sand Sifting Cucumber
Blue Legged Hermits
1-Emerald Crab
2-Sea Hares
3-Feather Dusters
Frogspawn
Mushrooms
Zoos
Red Open Brain
My parameters are...
Amm.-0
Nitrite-0
Nitrate-10
PH-8.3
Specific Gravity-1.026
Phosphate-trace
Calcium-450
I have 45 lbs of live rock and 30 lbs. of base rock(now"live"), a prizm skimmer(works fantastic), 60 lbs live sand, and a Cascade 750 Canister filter(clean every few weeks).
What am I missing?
I have tried everything and the slime keeps growing.
I tried chemi-clean, freshwater maracyn, and red slime remover(only as a last resort in the past month once nothing else helped).
I buy purified water from Wal-Mart(in the little 1 gallon jugs) for top off water and I get my salt water from the LFS.
I feel that I am doing everything right, but I must be missing something. I am getting real tired of manually removing this crap.
Please help!!!

 

[moonlight2]

Originally Posted by ShrimpDady
I buy purified water from Wal-Mart(in the little 1 gallon jugs) for top off water !
Thats more than likely the problem right there, You should realy invest in a RO unit, That Wal-mart "purified" water is not pure water by any means...

 

[shrimpdady]

Originally Posted by Moonlight2
Thats more than likely the problem right there, You should realy invest in a RO unit, That Wal-mart "purified" water is not pure water by any means...
On the bottle it says...
Processed by..
Reverse Osmosis, Carbon Filtration, Ozonation.
Is this really not good to use?
If not, what is a good store bought water?
I can't invest in an r/o unit right now.

 

[shrimpdady]

Also, the 20 gallon tank and 5 gallon tank I set up not 2 weeks ago both have red slime.
Could this water really be my problem?

 

[moonlight2]

Originally Posted by ShrimpDady
On the bottle it says...
Processed by..
Reverse Osmosis, Carbon Filtration, Ozonation.
Is this really not good to use?
If not, what is a good store bought water?
I can't invest in an r/o unit right now.
Well if it says Reverse Osmosis then I guess it is ok to use then... I would still get it checked out thought, Take some water to your LFS and have them test it on a TDS meter and see if its clean or not. The second thing I would recomend is changing your fish food to something else, that could be the problem too.

 

[shrimpdady]

I use Emerald Entree, Prime Reef, and super veggie flakes(alternating).

 

[murph]

I would double check on the water your buy from the LFS for your water changes. I am not saying you are not dealing with a reputable LFS but double check anyway.
Whats your water change routine? Not to trying to bash you but if your skimmer was working as good as you thought your nitrates would be zero.
Once again not try to bash here but I bet you the money you have spent on bottled water and pre made LFS water you could have easily had your own RO/DI system for the house by now. In the long run having your own unit will amount to a small savings but the additional convenience and always having water on hand makes it a worthwhile purchase hands down not to mention the subsequent complete control it will grant you of what water gos into your tank.
Start with ten percent water changes every other day siphoning off as much slime as possible and start cutting back your lighting schedule. As little as six hours a day should not upset your corals that much and provide some cloudy days on the reef also which means nearly no lighting on a day or two a week.
Get some macro algae to compete with the slime for nutrients. If you have room in a sump you can use any macro but if no sump you can use cheato right in your display tank since it will not attach itself to your rock work.
If you have room and it is within budget consider the addition of a fuge for additional nutrient export.
How deep is your sand bed? IMO deep sand beds can be a contributer to cyano but especially if its in between being a DSB and a SSB, this would be between the 2 inch and 4 inch level, deep enough to collect nutrients but to shallow to process them out.
Once cyano is beat you can start increasing the lighting schedule but I would provide no more than 10 hours total light per day with max wattage on the tank for only 4 or so hours of that schedule.
Good luck.

 

[shrimpdady]

Originally Posted by Murph
I would double check on the water your buy from the LFS for your water changes. I am not saying you are not dealing with a reputable LFS but double check anyway.
I will definately do that.
[/QUOTE]Whats your water change routine? Not to trying to bash you but if your skimmer was working as good as you thought your nitrates would be zero.
10% weekly water change. The skimmer fills up the collection cup halfway every 2 days.
[/QUOTE]Once again not try to bash here but I bet you the money you have spent on bottled water and pre made LFS water you could have easily had your own RO/DI system for the house by now. In the long run having your own unit will amount to a small savings but the additional convenience and always having water on hand makes it a worthwhile purchase hands down not to mention the subsequent complete control it will grant you of what water gos into your tank.
Start with ten percent water changes every other day siphoning off as much slime as possible and start cutting back your lighting schedule. As little as six hours a day should not upset your corals that much and provide some cloudy days on the reef also which means nearly no lighting on a day or two a week.
I did 20% percent water changes 3 times a week for two weeks and had my lighting down to 5 hours a day for this time period and the slime still continues to grow.
[/QUOTE]Get some macro algae to compete with the slime for nutrients. If you have room in a sump you can use any macro but if no sump you can use cheato right in your display tank since it will not attach itself to your rock work.
I actually have some chaeto in the display for this very reason.
[/QUOTE]If you have room and it is within budget consider the addition of a fuge for additional nutrient export.
How deep is your sand bed? IMO deep sand beds can be a contributer to cyano but especially if its in between being a DSB and a SSB, this would be between the 2 inch and 4 inch level, deep enough to collect nutrients but to shallow to process them out.
My sand bed is about 1.5".
[/QUOTE]Once cyano is beat you can start increasing the lighting schedule but I would provide no more than 10 hours total light per day with max wattage on the tank for only 4 or so hours of that schedule.
Good luck.
.

 

[shrimpdady]

Originally Posted by Murph
I would double check on the water your buy from the LFS for your water changes. I am not saying you are not dealing with a reputable LFS but double check anyway.
Whats your water change routine? Not to trying to bash you but if your skimmer was working as good as you thought your nitrates would be zero.
Once again not try to bash here but I bet you the money you have spent on bottled water and pre made LFS water you could have easily had your own RO/DI system for the house by now. In the long run having your own unit will amount to a small savings but the additional convenience and always having water on hand makes it a worthwhile purchase hands down not to mention the subsequent complete control it will grant you of what water gos into your tank.
Start with ten percent water changes every other day siphoning off as much slime as possible and start cutting back your lighting schedule. As little as six hours a day should not upset your corals that much and provide some cloudy days on the reef also which means nearly no lighting on a day or two a week.
Get some macro algae to compete with the slime for nutrients. If you have room in a sump you can use any macro but if no sump you can use cheato right in your display tank since it will not attach itself to your rock work.
If you have room and it is within budget consider the addition of a fuge for additional nutrient export.
How deep is your sand bed? IMO deep sand beds can be a contributer to cyano but especially if its in between being a DSB and a SSB, this would be between the 2 inch and 4 inch level, deep enough to collect nutrients but to shallow to process them out.
Once cyano is beat you can start increasing the lighting schedule but I would provide no more than 10 hours total light per day with max wattage on the tank for only 4 or so hours of that schedule.
Good luck.

I will check out the water from my LFS.
I do 10% weekly water changes and my skimmer fills the collection cup halfway every 2 days.
I tried 20% water changes 3 times a week for 2 weeks along with a 5 hour lighting schedule and the red slime still grew.
I have some chaeto in the tank for that very reason.

 

[bergovoy]

Hello,
What is your water temp? And your lighting schedule?
I would suggest cutting out all artificial lighting. I would guess your water temp is also never below borderline high.
If you stop all artificial lighting, I would venture a guess of a clean tank in 3-4 days.
I also believe the cyanno builds up an immunity to the anti-red slime chemicals.
Good luck.
Bill

 

[shrimpdady]

Originally Posted by Bergovoy
Hello,
What is your water temp? And your lighting schedule?
I would suggest cutting out all artificial lighting. I would guess your water temp is also never below borderline high.
If you stop all artificial lighting, I would venture a guess of a clean tank in 3-4 days.
I also believe the cyanno builds up an immunity to the anti-red slime chemicals.
Good luck.
Bill
My water temp is at a steady 78.5 degrees.
My current lighting schedule is 11:00am - 9:00pm (260 watt PCs).
Wouldn't cutting my lights out for 3-4 days be harmful to my BTA and corals?

 

[bergovoy]

Your corals will not like the lack of light, but even in nature, there are times when full sunlight is not available.
I would suggest at least a day of no artificial light and if you can see a difference after that day, then you know it is a function of lighting. Then just find the right balance of artificial light.
As Murph stated above, 10 hours total, with about 4 hours of max wattage (for your corals and such).
unless your tank is inside a closet, it will get ambient light from indirect sources such as room lighting, windows, etc the high intensity lights can be used at dusk and evening hours, (after you get a handle on the slime).
Also, keep in mind that right now, your cyanno probabably has built up a good resistance to the chemicals and is probably pretty hardy.
Also, on your otehr tanks, what are those temps and lighting schedules? Smaller tanks are more easily affected by lighting schedules and the rise in temps due to lights. Also, (third time for that word), are you sharing and items when you clean the tanks or water changes, i.e. buckets, cleaining tools, even testing vials???
Cross contamination is most likely a problem with multiple set ups.
Good luck.
Bill

 

[shrimpdady]

I just tested the water from my LFS and I am pissed!
It is partly my fault for never checking the water I buy from them, but now I have and they are going to get a piece of my mind!
Here are the LFS water parameters....
Ammonia-2.5
Nitrite-1
Nitrate-80
Phosphates-0
No telling how much D.O.C.s are in that water. :scared:
What should I say to these people?
Would I be justified in ripping them a new one?

 

[threed240]

If you use Anti-Red to rid the cyno-B, make sure you remove any carbon filtration. The carbon sucks up the chemicals, hince wasting the dose. I went through the same issue when I started my tank almost 3 years ago.Tap water contributes to the growth also. But, where I live now, our water is almost perfect except for the chlorine. Nitrates=0 ( of course), Nitrites=0, Amonia=0, Alk=perfect, PH=7.0.

 

[moby]

Man, if you are paying hard earned money on their inferior water you have every right to complain and demand your money back!
I would go in and have them test the water right there in front of you and then confront them with the evidence!
Just be 100% sure the test kit is accurate and the water they supplied is indeed that crappy.
No wonder the cyano won't go away after a water change!

Good luck and glad you found the problem!!
Moby

 

[shrimpdady]

Originally Posted by Threed240
If you use Anti-Red to rid the cyno-B, make sure you remove any carbon filtration. The carbon sucks up the chemicals, hince wasting the dose. I went through the same issue when I started my tank almost 3 years ago.Tap water contributes to the growth also. But, where I live now, our water is almost perfect except for the chlorine. Nitrates=0 ( of course), Nitrites=0, Amonia=0, Alk=perfect.

I removed carbon and did not run my protein skimmer during treatments.
I am thinking that the water from the LFS is to blame.
Like I said in my original post, My 55 has had cyano for 5 months, and the 20 gallon and 5 gallon tanks I have both have cyano also and the 5 gallon only has live sand, about a pound of live rock(cured), and LFS water.
The only common variable that these tanks share is the LFS water.
Now that I think about it, my red slime aways grew a little faster after a water change.
Seems I have been feeding this stuff from day 1!

 

[threed240]

It does sound like your LFS is screwin people. Maybe you could try distilled water from walmart? Or, Just buy a tap water purification kit. All I use is a de-chlorinator, and I run it in a separate 10gal tank for about 2 days with a skilter system.

 

[pandafish]

"Maybe you could try distilled water from walmart?"
I thought Distilled water had metals in it that are a no no from the distilling process.
I also use the "drinking" water from Wallmart it says it is R/O. I have red slime but have traced it back to a LFS that I purchased some live rock and other things from. So now I am also battling the slime. I am thinking that I also have to much ambient light as well.
I was told a back to back "red slime" treatment is more effective. Can any one verify that?