In addition to what everyone else has said, check the R/O water for phosphates. If it has phosphates in it, your water changes will be in vain because you will just be putting phosphates right back in after you take them out.
Also, how old are your lights? Lights lose their correct spectrum over a period of time. Cyano seem to appreciate this less than optimal spectrum. Just a thought.
Hi,
my tank in the last month recently developed this red slime on the sand bed. phosphate is low based on my test and also i use the charcoal phosphate absorber. the alk level is at 7 so i think that's what's causing it. the question is how do i get rid of the red slime. when i do a water change, i syphon it off but it comes back. is there a good method for this?
The Red slime is cyanobacteria. A pretty bacteria but one that will take over your whole tank if not taken care of. The best thing to do is get a Red Slime Remover at your LFS. It's inexpensive, but still works. Once I got mine, because i recently had a red slime attack, it wasd a powder subsatnce that you mix in the salt water in a cup then pour it in and it takes a few days to start working, and by the 5th day after, I was free of all cyano and hadn't seen it since.
The Red Slime Remover is only a temporary fix. The cause is a polluted system as in the water is loaded up with DOC, phosphates and nitrates. Browse through some of the posts in the Nuisance Algae forum and you find just about all the causes and remedies.
There are many factors that cause red slime, ,,To much feeding, Not using RO water.Poor water movement. Lights on to long. Mostly the problem of nitrates and phosphates. Reduce all of the above and the slime will slowly go away.
what causes cyno algae and what is the quickest and saffest way to get
rid of it?
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125 gallon tank born 10/25/04
80lbs rsv sand
265lbs live rock
2 new (2.15.06)emperor 300 filters 1 1800 power head 1 aqua medic skimmer 2 emerald crabs as well as 12
snails and 23 blue leg crabs 9 margarita snails
1 britle one sabertooth snail 2 turbo snails
one big rock of yellow pollups
1 markie angel 5 big pieces of tonga branch 1 finger leather 3 brittle stars 1 rock anemi 3 rock of mushrooms 1 set of button pollups 1 file fish 1 water coral 3 kenya trees 1 bubble coral 1 rock of zoos 1 yellow tang 1 yellow leather 2 zebra snails 1 blue green chromi 1 purple chromi 1 flame hawk 1 banghai cardinal 2 rock of green pollups 3 rocks of zoeys 2 frog spawns 1 sea sepeant star 1 sea bay clown 1 flame angel 2 large feather dusters 1 large scooter blenny 12 mexican red leg crabs 1 rock of ricordea
It goes with new tanks and the cycling process, Just keep blowing it off the rocks, glass etc. and it will go away on its own. We are talking about the brown ugly stuff right? Not red slime algae?
I moved this thread to the Nuisance Algae forum. You'll see other threads on Cyano here, and get more of a responce.
Like other nuisance algaes, cyano is cause by an excess of nutrients, mostly nitrates and phosphates.
Getting rid of it is best done by improving water quality. From you list of livestock it looks like you are reef system, and for such a system this is what I would do.
Get a high quality nitrate and a high quality phosphate test. You want ones that can read to extremely low ranges. For top quality Lamotte test kits are best, but very expensive. For something not as good, but more reasonably priced go with Sailfert.
Test your water and see how much nitrate and phosphate you have in the water. I'm going to assume you have very high readings. Also test your tap water.
Now to solve the problem you have to reduce the amount of nitrate and phosphate available to the cyano.
Check the amount you feed and make sure it gets eaten. You may wish to reduce the amount being fed, especially if you feed everyday.
Now the next few things are going to be expensive.
If you are not using RO/DI water, get yourself a RO/DI unit, and then make large partial water changes, using RO/DI water to mix your salt, until you have changed almost 100% of the water. You'll need to do about 6 changes of 30% of the water.
Upgrade you skimmer and get something worthy of a 125 gal tank. A Seaclone isn't that good a skimmer to start with, and I would consider it good for only about a 30 gal tank, at best. If you are prepared to upgrade the rest of the filtration system, go for a large sump mounted skimmer like an AquaC EV180. If it's got to be a hang on tank skimmer go with something like the Tunze 230/3.
If possible, upgrade the Emperor 300s. Ideally, I'd recommend a berlin type sump, overflow, and return pump. That's a lot of $s, I know. If that is not possible. use the Emperor 300's and clean them weekly. Do not worry about damaging any biological filtration they might be doing. With 250 lbs of LR you will not have a problem.
A note on filter Cartridges - Some of these cartridges use very low grade carbon that can leach phosphates. To test it, soak the cartridge overnight in ro/di water, and then measure the water for phosphates. If you get any reading at all, you don't want to use that brand of cartridge.
Vacume the sandbed. This will remove a lot of unwanted "glop". If it's a DSB, just do the top inch or so. Also, use a power head to flush out the live rocks and get that material filtered out.
Cyano doesn't like high water flow or bright light. You may want to add additional powerheads or other water circulation methods. If you haven't replaced you bulbs in the last year, now is a good time to do that.
A note on Red Slime removal products. Yes, they do work, and are somewhat reef safe, but unless you fix the actual source of the problem, you'll just get rid of the red cyano only to have it replaced by green nuisance algaes.
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