Red Slime Algae

[Raland271]

My tank is 8 months old, all parameters are good. I seem to be getting some red slime algae, any one know how to get rid of this stuff. I have adjusted powerheads to provide more flow in that area and turned the light from 12 to 10 hours. THis has helped some, I have done about 15-20% water changes two weeks in a row. Any other suggestions?


Thanks

[sgarrett1108]

1. Add more flow
2. This is where I had a problem. My lights were about the same age when I started to get this. When I replaced them it took care of it. Just be sure to cut your photo period down since the new bulbs will be brighter. Once everything is accilimated normal light cylce should be good.

Good luck

[Raland271]

Thanks,

I already have two seio 820 is this not enough?

[Avi]

The "correct" amount of flow is something that's really very debatable. People have different success rates with their reef depending on lots of issues, like the kinds of coral they have, the amount of rockwork in the tank, etc. IMO, more flow is better and I'd agree with sgarrett that you'd benefit from more flow than you have now. Assuming you have 600gph from your sump return pump together with your two Seio 820s, you'd have just about 22X turnover. There are those that believe that's enough if you have soft coral but I'd say that 30X turnover is preferable. It would address the red slime issue and generally keep your rockwork and coral freer of detritus and nutrients. Certain coral will liven up tremendously from more flow than you have. Some that don't need more could be placed in a "quieter" part of the tank so they aren't negatively effected but few would be.

I use them and have found the Seios to be very good for flow. I'm sure you don't want to spend more on new ones but upping to Sieo 1100s would make a big difference. There are other options like Tunzes and Vortech but that would cost you even more.

[Vin7250]

Ive never heard anyone say 30x flow i mean not to say you are wrong, but i was always told 12-15x turnover rate is perfect for a soft coral reef tank

[Vin7250]

i have the same cyano problem in my 90 and just upgraded my 500gph return to 800gph and got 2 300gph power heads in the tank so thats about 1400gph on a 90 about 15x.... that should be plenty IMO.....the lighting, new bulbs and less hours run is good too...also keep testing for nitrate and phosphate.....this is just my opinion

[UrbanSage]

Here (http://www.vaernhoej.com/cyano.htm) is my answer to cyano questions. Hope it might help :)

[a4twenty]

it's not just the amount of flow, it's where you place them as well. place a couple of strong powerheads about midway down in the tank and aim them either at each other or onto your rock. in my 120 i have 3800 gph flow ( about 30X ) and nothing has a chance to settle on the bottom.

also make sure you skimmer is working good and keep it clean.

what type of lighting do you have, if it's 8 months old that could definitely be contributing.

are you using RODI? when did you change the filters?

[Raland271]

I keep the skimmer clean about every third day. I use RO/DI water always. I dont have any other filter beside live rock. I can change out the lights, I have replacement bulbs. I dont know the exact name of the lights that I have, but the LFS assured me that they would sustain any coral. I have had a long tenacle anemone for about two months and he is great. I do water changes every two weeks water parameters are good. .20 nitrites which is the only parameter not where i want it. Thanks for all the help this is a great website.

[outy]

if you have nitrates that high then you have phosphates as well.

you need to have some sort of phosphate management in place.

water changes can work if phos levels are not to high but since your nitrates going in are not the same going out who knows were your phos level is.

[Avi]

Did you mean to say that your nitrates are at 20ppm or are they at the negligible .2?

[Raland271]

I mean they are at .2. Sorry for the confusion.

[Hammercoral]

Is your RO 8 months old, have you changed the prefilters, measure the TDS of your RO water. The cyano is feeding off of something most likely your water change or topoff, unless you feed the tank really heavy.

[Avi]

.2ppm of nitrates is very little but could support a proliferation of cyanobacteria in your tank. I don't know that it necessarily would, on the other hand. You'd be best off also testing for phosphates, though, so you know exactly what the water quality in your reef is. It would seem to me that if you are maintaining your RO unit like Hammercoral is talking about, you must be overfeeding if you have elevated phosphates. Your nitrates aren't really high at all.

By the way...which kind of skimmer do you have? If it's a small one, it may not be capable of doing what it's supposed to and an upgrade may be what you need.

Again, if your phosphates are high...and remain so even after reducing feedings, you may want to consider a phosphate reactor and using in it something like Rowaphos, which is very effective in reducing phosphates. Another very effective thing to do is to use part of your sump as a refugium and grow some macro-algae like "Chaeto" in it under an appropriate light. That would consume excess nutrients in your system that would otherwise be consumed by adventitious problems like micro-algae and cyanbobacteria.

In the meanwhile, if the cyano is threatening anything in your tank like coral, as it is prone to do, then you might want to use Chemi-Clean, which is a good and safe product, until you get those other more long-term measures working in your reef.

[a4twenty]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8085123#post8085123 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Raland271
I keep the skimmer clean about every third day. I use RO/DI water always. I dont have any other filter beside live rock. I can change out the lights, I have replacement bulbs. I dont know the exact name of the lights that I have, but the LFS assured me that they would sustain any coral. I have had a long tenacle anemone for about two months and he is great. I do water changes every two weeks water parameters are good. .20 nitrites which is the only parameter not where i want it. Thanks for all the help this is a great website.

i'll assume you have metal halides, if they will sustain any coral ( are they like regular light bulbs but bigger or tubes ) if you have replacement bulbs i would put them in. after 8 months ( some say 6 ) they start to change color slightly and can cause algae, especilly the higher K bulbs

when i said filters i meant for the RODI

i hope your just clean the overflow on the skimmer. everytime you totally clean your skimmer it takes a few days to get going again.

.2 nitrates is nothing really, but they are probably higher and being consumed by the alage to grow. do you have a refugium? as avi said growing some cheato or other macro is a good way to help control nitrates and phosphates