Stubborn Red Slime Algae

[bassmaster]

I've got some red slime algae in my tank. I already reduced the lighting to four hours. It seemed to work pretty well, after about 2 weeks, it was pretty much gone, but then it popped back up again, even though I still had only four hours a day on. It continues to grow even now after nearly 3 weeks of low light. Is this a new strain of super hard to kill algae?
I have 2 55 watt PC, one white, one actinic
I have not done a water change, and will do one in 2 days.
Despite only 4 hours of light for the past few weeks, it continues to grow.
HELP!

 

[uvmfish]

I'm still fairly new to this hobby, but had the sam problem about 2 months ago. I finally got out a narrow hose (about 1/4 in diameter) and siphoned the slime off of everything. It took a bit of work but after doing this a few times it never came back. Good luck!

 

[tankstolove]

Antired from Aqua medic kills red slime and is safe for inverts. I've experienced complete die off in as little as 24 hours.

 

[scruz]

check your water parameters,if you are overfeeding the excess will settle and the slime is off to the races.how old is the tank,sometimes this will happen during cycling or with the addition of some new lr.

 

[pudd'ntang]

I agree, check your water readings, Red slime usually appears in a newly established tank. Your tank may also have a high phospate reading. If you want to use the chemical route, there is a powder called red slime removal that will get rid of it. But you need to check your water readings!

 

[fishfreek]

I just went through the same thing. Its good you cut back on the lighting to four hrs. Make sure to syphon out ALL the dead slime out of the tank. If you dont do this, the new red slime will return because it feeds of the old dead stuff. Make sence?? HTH
Good luck!

 

[teog]

check your phosphate, once they are gone use red slime remover...most LFS sells them.

 

[irishstout]

I am battling the same thing at the moment and winning. I wouldn't use the chemicals to treat the problem, It will only be a short term cure. You need to get to the cause of the problem to cure it. What has helped me out was doing a water change every 5-7 days(done 5 times)always siphoning off the slime, feeding every 3 days instead of everyday, employed the use of a phosphate remover in my sump as well as using RO water exclusivley. Luckily for me I have a friend that was able to donate some caluerpa to help compete for the excess nutrients. It is taking alot of time to get rid of it, I've been fighting for almost a month now, but things are looking much, much better. HTH

 

[bammbamm74]

Yep, get rid of phosphates and lower Nitrates. Remember, red slime is a cyanobacteria. UltraLife Reef Products make the Red Slime remover that works really good.