Red Slime!!!

[beachbum1614]

I just changed the lighting in my nano cube and at the end of the day their is small red film on the top of my sand, any ideas how to decrease this or an invert that would help clean it? I would rather not add a chemical because i dont want it to damage any of my corals, etc. Thank You so much!

 

[kydizzle41]

i know nasaarus snails or something like that(dont know how to spell) will clean sand and sand sifting starfish do a good job also.

 

[beachbum1614]

well i have about 15 of them, how big is the star fish?

 

[rotarymagic]

don't get the starfish, it'll deplete your sandbed of life very quickly then starve and die.
Run a bag of rowaphos or any other granular ferric oxide on the tank and a fuge. siphon out as much cyano as you can off the sand and do some good water changes. It should go away quickly.

 

[subielover]

+1 on what rotary said. Also what kind of flow do you have in the tank? It sounds like you might need another powerhead.

 

[tiff*]

I had the same problem. I got a turkey baster and sucked the slime off the top of the sand. Scrubbed it off a few spots on my rock. Added a powerhead and did a 16% water change and cut my lights back. It has not re-appeared on the sand but a spot on one of my rocks. I still continue to do weekly water changes. Red legged hermits helped my tank a lot.