red slime remover?

cabin7882

Member
Hey I just got ultra life red slime remover for the bacteria in my tank. Has anyone ever used this before or should I just return it?
 

drakken

Member
Well, you're going to get a LOT of opinions. First, do a search since there is a lot of discussion on this.
Personally I have used it about 5-6 times with great results. Follow the directions and it should work for you.
Next, you need to treat the cause - high nitrates, phosphates etc.
Good luck!
 

spanko

Active Member
I think Drakken has given you good insight into the product. The fact that Drakken has used it 5-6 times speaks to the fact that it is treating symptoms and not root cause.
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 andh:
a.At water change time siphon off the cyano first. It will come up easily almost like a blanker.
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 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.
Also read this thread. https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/344293/nuked-my-tank
 

cabin7882

Member
what do u mean nuking tanks? Thanks so much for all that info ur awesome Spanko! Im doin a water change tonight and will follow ur instructions! that is alot of help!
 

spanko

Active Member
Or just go read his thread here;
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/344293/nuked-my-tank
 

drakken

Member
Originally Posted by spanko
http:///forum/post/2976192
I think Drakken has given you good insight into the product. The fact that Drakken has used it 5-6 times speaks to the fact that it is treating symptoms and not root cause. ]
Just to be clear, I have used it different tanks overs the years not 5-6 times in one tank. The point still stands that you need to treat the source of the red slime.
 

spanko

Active Member
OOPS sorry I misunderstood, but get to the root cause is the name of the game, you are correct sir!
 

cabin7882

Member
well alfter all this I am gonna try and do more water changes and suck it out as much as I can and hopefully I will not need to use the slime remover,,,u guys got me all nervous I definitely don't want my tank to crash!
 

spanko

Active Member
The natural way to things is always the best first course to take. If you can understand what is going on and control it to avoid bad outcomes you are farther ahead and more knowledable to boot.
 

cabin7882

Member
Thanks I definitely agree! My fiance went out and bought it cause I wanted to do something before it got worse and crashed the whole tank. But now I think I'm gonna give it another week or two and see if the changes we made help before I go using the chemical.
 
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