Red slime

[Dtuck724]

how do i get rid of red slime. I have ALOT of red slime in one of my tanks and i just wanna know if you guys have any tips or suggestions to get rid of it

[heathlindner25]

If its bad I like to use an enzyme to kill it...red slime remover,in a perfect world you need to figure out what is causing it.

[slief]

I'd avoid red slime remover and other chemicals. Cyano is a bacterial growth and while they those chemicals will temporarily remove the cyano, they also kill off good bacteria which can cause other issues. They also don't premanently remove the cyano. Instead, it's just temporary and without addressing the issue, they cyano will come back.

Generally cyano collects where there is the least amount of flow which happens to be where most of the detritus and waste settles. Your best bet is to vacuum the sand regularly. Even a couple times a week. Increase your flow in the effected areas. You may need to add a power head to accomplish that and reduce your lighting period until you get it under control. You can also do a few days of no light but you still will need to reduce the waste in your tank by vacuuming and also increase your flow so stuff doesn't settle.

[hotelbravo]

i'd avoid red slime remover and other chemicals. Cyano is a bacterial growth and while they those chemicals will temporarily remove the cyano, they also kill off good bacteria which can cause other issues. They also don't premanently remove the cyano. Instead, it's just temporary and without addressing the issue, they cyano will come back.

Generally cyano collects where there is the least amount of flow which happens to be where most of the detritus and waste settles. Your best bet is to vacuum the sand regularly. Even a couple times a week. Increase your flow in the effected areas. You may need to add a power head to accomplish that and reduce your lighting period until you get it under control. You can also do a few days of no light but you still will need to reduce the waste in your tank by vacuuming and also increase your flow so stuff doesn't settle.

+1

[eddiereefs]

+2 you really dont wanna use chemicals. what i did was water changes once a week and vaccuming into buckets into a strainer like a filter sock and then filter again with floss and return to tank. this saves on salt and water burdens but removes the actual algae, if u have a sump its a lot easier. also do lights out for 3 days to starve the cyano and run gfo if u already arent doing so

[heathlindner25]

+2 you really dont wanna use chemicals. what i did was water changes once a week and vaccuming into buckets into a strainer like a filter sock and then filter again with floss and return to tank. this saves on salt and water burdens but removes the actual algae, if u have a sump its a lot easier. also do lights out for 3 days to starve the cyano and run gfo if u already arent doing so

it's not really an algae its a bacteria, I've just never had luck siphoning it out and blowing it around ,when I can use an enzyme and kill it at its source...there's definitely two sides of the fence on this one.

[Sk8r]

Turn your lights out (go on room light only, and no sun from windows) for 3 days, 4th of blues only, and skim efficiently. The stuff lives on light, carbon, and water, only one of which we can withhold in a marine tank.

[Hal]

how do i get rid of red slime. I have ALOT of red slime in one of my tanks and i just wanna know if you guys have any tips or suggestions to get rid of it
A couple of vortechs. ;)

It's a known fact that bacteria has difficulty growing on an unstable/moving environment. I believe the extra flow provides this. I'm explaining it poorly, but it works.

[Hal]

Turn your lights out (go on room light only, and no sun from windows) for 3 days, 4th of blues only, and skim efficiently. The stuff lives on light, carbon, and water, only one of which we can withhold in a marine tank.
Again, though, this is just temporary. If you don't change anything else in your feeding, flow, water changes, etc, the cyan will come back. You need to treat the cause.

[slief]

it's not really an algae its a bacteria, I've just never had luck siphoning it out and blowing it around ,when I can use an enzyme and kill it at its source...there's definitely two sides of the fence on this one.

You are 100% right which is exactly why you don't want to use products that kill bacteria. Red slime removers attack cyano bacteria but do so without prejudice. This means that they also kill denitrifying bacteria and other important bacteria in the system. The results cause mini cycles and other issues.

Vacuuming the sand removes the waste that the cyano BACTERIA feeds on. This helps to attack the cyano at it's source. Increasing flow helps to suspend waste so that waste doesn't settle and provide a food source for the cyano. Red Slime Remover or other similar brands typically use antibiotics and do absolutely nothing in the long run but buy you a temporary reprieve and impact your system in ways that are harmful. They are a bandaid.

Vacuum, increase flow and if it really bothers you, go lights out for a couple days. You will have the same results a Red Slime Removers. Especially if you stay on top of your vacuuming and use the lights out method.

By they way, nobody said anything about blowing the cyano around. That is not a good idea and can be toxic to your tanks inhabitants in large enough quantities or in a smaller enough system. Not to mention that you are doing nothing to remove the cyano.

That said, Cyano Bacteria is photosynthetic which is why it dissapears at night and returns during light on hours. It's also why a bit of lights out will help get it under control but vacuuming and flow are important as well.

[brettandlyndis]

if its not a huge problem, you can get a conch. I have one small area where cyano just begins to appear, and my conch goes right over and eats it all up.

[heathlindner25]

okie dokie

[CStrickland]

I think that the reason every tank doesn't implode when someone uses red slime remover is because they function as oxidizers targeting a pretty narrow spectrum of gram-negative bacteria, a class of which the main nitrifiers in our tanks are not a member.

Of course, a healthy tank is probably similar to a healthy gut with a diverse population whose balance is waaay beyond our current understanding. Maybe in an otherwise robust system, your biofilter can recover from a little setback and it's worth the risk, maybe not. Personally I'd do other stuff first, the same way I'd treat an ear infection with hot compresses for a while before I got a prescription since I'm scared of c. diff, but I would take the pill before I went deaf, y'know?

IMO it's not helpful to overstate the risks of these products. In high school they used to tell us that if you tried certain gateway substances you'd immediately turn to a degenerate criminal selling your grandmas silver for a score. Well, eventually someone tried it anyway and when he survived intact we pretty much blew off the lesson as hyperbole. Besides, I bet there's a lot of closet red slime remover users in here actin like they just turned up their skimmer and poof! Gone!

That said, it's cheap, easy, and risk free to turn the lights out, crank up the skimmer, vacuum the sand, or throw in another powerhead. A lot of the time that's all it takes.

Plus I bet if you post a pic it's not even as bad as you think. Usually you notice ugly in your own tank a lot more than others do :)

[fishresponse]

So I've heard chemi-clean is a product that doesn't impact the system and is reef safe. That being said they do recommend having an air pump running in your tank while all other filtration components are turned off. I'm guessing it reduces the O2 saturation which then can decrease your pH. So what chemicals typically have this type of effect on water?

[slief]

So I've heard chemi-clean is a product that doesn't impact the system and is reef safe. That being said they do recommend having an air pump running in your tank while all other filtration components are turned off. I'm guessing it reduces the O2 saturation which then can decrease your pH. So what chemicals typically have this type of effect on water?

In this case it's erythromycin.

[CStrickland]

In this case it's erythromycin.

I heard Boyds changed the recipe from what they used back in the day.
But I also heard they said on the box it isn't "erythromycin succinate" because that sounds good and there's lots of kinds of erythromycin so it's like a loophole.
But I read on the marine depot website something like "unlike other formulas Boyd's chemiclean contains no antibiotics"

Im usually a pretty solid googlemonster (just ask my ex's :p) but I been busy lately, so I'm glad you were able to hunt it down. How did you find out their formula?

[NMSREEFER]

I learned a good lesson on vacuuming cyano. If you remove the wand from the siphon hose and just use the 5/8" hose it will suck the stuff right out without taking too much sand.

[slief]

I heard Boyds changed the recipe from what they used back in the day.
But I also heard they said on the box it isn't "erythromycin succinate" because that sounds good and there's lots of kinds of erythromycin so it's like a loophole.
But I read on the marine depot website something like "unlike other formulas Boyd's chemiclean contains no antibiotics"

Im usually a pretty solid googlemonster (just ask my ex's :p) but I been busy lately, so I'm glad you were able to hunt it down. How did you find out their formula?

Chemiclean was removed from the market in Germany a few years back because it contains antibiotics (contrary to what the label stated) and most particularly erythromycin. As I understand, it's been removed from the European market entireley because it contains antibiotics just like the rest of the red slime removers. "It's not an antibiotic, it's an oxidizer" is almost laughable. Like you noted, erythromycin comes in many different flavors so there seemed to be loopholes or just misleading information. It was however analyzed by a lab and booted from the market in Germany so somebody apparently did their due diligence.. Do a google search for "Chemiclean Germany". You will find nfo on it. FWIW, I am not knocking Boyd Products at all. They make decent products and have been in the business for a very very long time but sometimes things are not all they seem to be. The stuff works but you need to be aware that your tank WILL be effected in many other ways and the Cyano will come back unless you address the root problem. Cyano by itself isn't harmful and is easy to deal with. Products that target cyano can however be harmful. Thus, it's much better in my experience to skip the band aid and go right at the source of the issue.

Having said that, pretty much all cyano removers use the same stuff and no matter how you slice it, antibiotics are not prejudice and they will impact good bacteria with the bad. In a well established system, this isn't always a major issue but you never and it's never good to kill off any of your bacteria. There are plenty of horror stories out there of people crashing their systems after using this stuff. With good husbandry, good flow, some extra effort and a lights out period, cyano is an easy battle to win. One other thing that helps is a good UV filter. I've tested this myself and it really does help. Even if the UV is temporary, it can help knock it back in a matter of a few days. But you also need to take steps to address it at the source if you want it to stay away.

[Lucky Lefty]

By they way, nobody said anything about blowing the cyano around. That is not a good idea and can be toxic to your tanks inhabitants in large enough quantities or in a smaller enough system. Not to mention that you are doing nothing to remove the cyano.


Well I learned something today.. I guess I'll stop doing that immediately :headwally:

[fishresponse]

Chemiclean was removed from the market in Germany a few years back because it contains antibiotics (contrary to what the label stated) and most particularly erythromycin. As I understand, it's been removed from the European market entireley because it contains antibiotics just like the rest of the red slime removers. "It's not an antibiotic, it's an oxidizer" is almost laughable. Like you noted, erythromycin comes in many different flavors so there seemed to be loopholes or just misleading information. It was however analyzed by a lab and booted from the market in Germany so somebody apparently did their due diligence.. Do a google search for "Chemiclean Germany". You will find nfo on it. FWIW, I am not knocking Boyd Products at all. They make decent products and have been in the business for a very very long time but sometimes things are not all they seem to be. The stuff works but you need to be aware that your tank WILL be effected in many other ways and the Cyano will come back unless you address the root problem. Cyano by itself isn't harmful and is easy to deal with. Products that target cyano can however be harmful. Thus, it's much better in my experience to skip the band aid and go right at the source of the issue.

Having said that, pretty much all cyano removers use the same stuff and no matter how you slice it, antibiotics are not prejudice and they will impact good bacteria with the bad. In a well established system, this isn't always a major issue but you never and it's never good to kill off any of your bacteria. There are plenty of horror stories out there of people crashing their systems after using this stuff. With good husbandry, good flow, some extra effort and a lights out period, cyano is an easy battle to win. One other thing that helps is a good UV filter. I've tested this myself and it really does help. Even if the UV is temporary, it can help knock it back in a matter of a few days. But you also need to take steps to address it at the source if you want it to stay away.

Having said that, I will not be doing a chemiclean treatment. Despite all the success stories I would hate to lose fish or corals.

[CStrickland]

Good info silef, thanks!
It'd be the last thing I did before I gave up, but I'd do it if it came to that.
I been really lucky so far not to see any except a couple spots here and there. I think it's cause my flow is good and I clean my sand, but maybe it just hasn't been my turn yet :)