purple slime algae with bubbles

[tony7855]

I had this before, but i realized it was the salt i was using then it started to go away. I moved my tank about a month ago and now its comming back but only on certain rocks. I would remove the rocks but they all have corals on them such as: lord acan's, ricordia's, other mushrooms, and some sps that i dont want to disturb. what can i do to keep it under control? right now i have to go in with a toothbrush and clean off the rock. the lights are still new enough and water quality has not changed since the move.

Thanks
Tony

[Daftboy]

Can you get a picture of it ? its a reddish purple ? I had this and just got red slime dosed i think once or twice and that was that...I had coral as well in the tank and it did not effect it...
Does it look like this?
http://www.reefland.com/forum/attachments/reef-aquariums/12231d1255537508-red-algae-cyano-bacteria.jpg

[tony7855]

yeah, thats what most of it looks like. some of it has bubbles, but i read that the bubbles were the slime forming. what is the name of the stuff you dosed with?

[allsps40]

That would be cyano. Get some red slime remover. The bubbles are O2 from the cyano's photosynthesis.

[bertoni]

I agree that the pest likely is cyanobacteria, at least in part. I wouldn't dose a red slime remover into my tanks again. The effects tend to be temporary, and sometimes, the tank crashes. If you do want to dose one of those products, I'd recommend siphoning out as much of the slime as possible before dosing, to reduce the nutrients and toxins released into the water column. Also, I'd have plenty of water on hand for changes.

The key to keeping these blooms from happening is nutrient control. Most likely, the tank is getting more food than its filtration can handle. I'd cut back on feeding, likely stopping for a few days, and consider better skimming or a GFO reactor in the long term. Often, just cutting back on the feeding level will solve the problem, IME and that of others.

[allsps40]

I have never had any problems with red slime remover and have used it several times. I find it is the best and sometimes only way to get rid of cyano, since the stuff can grow even in a ULNS. I find that I need to treat the tank 2 sometimes 3 times to kill off all the cyano. Just follow the directions and it is safe and works great. I have never had a tank crash or lost a fish or coral from treating.

[bertoni]

Lots of people have been successful, at least temporarily with it. I was. Other people lose tanks. It's a known risk of using the chemicals.

[tony7855]

i agree, I have had this system for about 6 years and i have only used pickling lime a couple times. I really don't like to use chemicals cause they always seem to cause something else to react differently.

[nicoterrazas]

How do I view the image?

[bertoni]

The picture has been taken down. The thread is very old.

[five.five-six]

How do I view the image?

I can’t see the picture either but this picture I found on the web is typical of what cyano might look like

http://users.clas.ufl.edu/msscha/nanoreef/cyano_bubble.bmp