Serious Sandbed Problem

[ssmariner9]

I have got algea of all sorts all over my live rock and I'm sick and tired of it. My Nitrates are 0 and i've got over 15x filtration. Here are what I belive my options are, which is best?
1. Take out all rock and clean it, then stir up sand a little to get a nice fresh layer on top.
2. basically start over.
I've tried all kinds of creatures, but nothing has really helped. WHat is the best thing to do?
I use RO DI water all the time by the way.

 

[new2u]

I'm no expert, but my emrald crabs and turbo snails clean my live rock all day. Personally I like the emralds better so I would try them

 

[viet-tin]

What kinda algae? What kinda filtration you got?

 

[a short]

Is it hair algae, slime algae or what? Have you tried a Lawn mower blennie? Not to cute but has really helped keep my alge in controll. Do you feed fish a lot, maby your overfeeding your tank or is it near a window getting alot of natural light? How about lights, What kind and how long a day are they on? If you have a fowlr tank just go lights out a few days and see if that helps bring it under controll.
Natural light can be a big problem, When I went on vacation for 8 days I opened the blinds neer my tank and when I returned you couldn't even see the inhabitants! Algae had taken over the glass compleatly! Cleaned the tank, shut blinds, no problems since. You don't have to have "direct" sunlight to have to much naturall light.
Hope this helps.

 

[ssmariner9]

I have patches of red slime and green hair and brown. The tank sits across the room from a window, I'll try to keep the blinds closed. Here is my new plan of action: I'm going to leave the lights off for a few days and when I doa water change ina couple days i'm gonna rinse the rock off in the change water. I wanted to rearrange the rock anyway. Hopefully that should help some. I'm also gonna try to get about 10 or so more nass snails cause they appear to do well. I may also try a shrimp soon, I've heard good things. Think that sounds like a plan?

 

[a short]

Good plan, Use a clean toothbrush and lightly scrub the rocks in the change water. IMO Hold the rocks above the tank a min. each and let any pods and stuff jump off into tank so you don't scrub them off in the change water. I was doing the same thing you were once and layed some rock out to scrub next and tons of critters ended up on the towel. Any that are hiding on the surface will go in the rock deeper or jump off looking for water. JustinX has a great all you need to know thread about red slime in reefs I think, I'll see if I can find it and give you a thread number or just do a search under his name, it's worth it, very informative.

 

[dskidmore]

JustinX Red Slime thread:
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/73002/how-to-rid-your-tank-of-red-slime

 

[karaviena]

I have the same problem but I was told that the red slime is called red cyno bacteria. I've tried different methods and nothing has worked. Yesterday i was told by my friend that it is probably because i'm using tap water and to start using reverse osmosis and do a lot of frequent water changes.

 

[sebae0]

how old is your tank also and have you ever tested for phosphates? both can contribute to algae in there own ways.

 

[ssmariner9]

tank is approx 2 1/2 mo old. I've never tested phosphates. I need to do a water change soon, just tested nitrates and they were about 15

 

[birdy]

If you do not have any corals in the tank then I think you should do as you planned, shut your lights off completely, after about two weeks most of the algae should be dead, take the rock out and scrub it down then rinse it off with water change water from the tank. Set things back up and keep an eye on nitrates and phosphate, if you do not have a DSB or a refugium, you need something to export the nitrates in your tank or you could see this problem all over again.
When you have a lot of algae in your tank you will not see much nitrates or phosphate on your test kit, because the algae absorbs all those nutrients, as they die they feed new algae it is a continuous cycle. Get as much of the algea out as possible, run phosphate remover, and change 20% of your water every week until the problem is gone.

 

[sebae0]

agreed with birdy, your tank is relatively new and you have algae cycles, make sure you remove the algae or it will feed new cycles of algae as birdy said.