stupid slime

[kevine6678]

What are some tips to get rid of cyanobacteria without using chemicals. I have some in a 10 gal reef and can't seem to get rid of it.
Amm - 0
rates - 0
rites - 0
pH - 8.2
spec grav - 1.023
In the tank i have an ocellaris cown, a yellowtail blue damsel, 5 nassarius snails, 7 turbo snails (along with a bunch of babies), an emerald crab that's HUGE, and about 10 hermits along with some mushrooms and zoos. I only feed twice a week and it is on a timer to only give it 10 hrs of light a day. Thanks for any help!!!!!!

 

[perfectdark]

Originally Posted by kevine6678
http:///forum/post/2650192
What are some tips to get rid of cyanobacteria without using chemicals. I have some in a 10 gal reef and can't seem to get rid of it.
Amm - 0
rates - 0
rites - 0
pH - 8.2
spec grav - 1.023
In the tank i have an ocellaris cown, a yellowtail blue damsel, 5 nassarius snails, 7 turbo snails (along with a bunch of babies), an emerald crab that's HUGE, and about 10 hermits along with some mushrooms and zoos. I only feed twice a week and it is on a timer to only give it 10 hrs of light a day. Thanks for any help!!!!!!

Syphon your LS of all Cyano seen, do a sizable water change, 50% wont hurt. Shut your lights off for 2 days straight, (no it wont hurt your corals). 3rd day turn your lights on for 3 hours, do another water change syphon any slime you see. 25% or so for the water change. Keep the lights on a 3 hour limit for a week, do water changes every 3 days syphoning any cyano you see, I would do no less than 20% water changes. 2nd week up the lights to 5 hours, keep up the water changes. It should look 100 times better by the end of the 2nd week, but you may need a 3rd week depending on how bad it is. If you need 3 weeks keep your light schedule to 5 hours until its gone. Then gradually increase it again to 8 to 10 hours. I did this with my tank and I havent had a cyano issue since. HTH.

 

[spanko]

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.

 

[kevine6678]

Thanks for the help, this should certainly help!

 

[nwdyr]

I tried all of the above, I didn't even have it real bad , but it just would not go away!! Well I caved and used Maracyn and it worked!! A friend of mine who has owned pet shops for 20+ yrs said he has used it over the years and it always worked. I am very skeptical about using any chemicals in my tanks, but this seems to have worked and did not hurt anything in my tank. The only thing I could think of that may have caused mine was overfeeding, So I changed my feeding amounts and the number of times per day I feed. Good luck to you with whatever you decide to do!! The above advice is also very good to try