Red Slime

Ever since I started my Fuge about 3 weeks ago it has been getting covered in red slime.... now I see it starting to cover everything in the main tank! This sucks.. I never had it bad before... I see it all over the crushed coral the most, probably because it is white, I can see it more. What do I do!?

 

TA, I hate Red Slime and it's very distructive. I'm wondering what do you have in your Fuge right now? and how much flow do you have in the main tank?
J

 

i have red slime or cyno also. i had it in my fuge for about 2 months but then i went away. i have it in my tank and i hate it. i use RO/DI filter and i still get it. It won't go away. can u tell me how to get rid of it also. I hate it, its so ugly.

 

There are a lot of factors that will contribute to algae growth in your tank. For each type of algae the cure is pretty much the same.
Ensure you are not over feeding -cut back or feed very little amounts more frequently-
Reduce the photo period
Ensure bulbs are new and outputting the correct colour temperature -6500K or higher-
Ensure that no or few areas of the tank have dead flow spots
increase clean up crew-snails mainly-
It is always easier to prevent algae than it is to get ride of it.

Give these things a try. Remember they aren't over night solutions but will eliminate the food that algae feeds on

Jason

 

If you light your refugium then maybe thats the culprit. Are you keeping caulerpa there? The spectrum might be too red. Try using 6500 kelvin bulbs in the refugium.
If you have crush coral in the main tank then maybe it caused your nitrate to go up and the refugium was coincidental. How old is the tank?
Besides chemical remedies (which has a trade-off) nutrients feed cyano. You have to reduce source of nutrients (over feeding, dead animal, crashed filtration, etc.).

 

i have newer bulbs, i don't keep it on for more than 8-10 hrs. I don't feed at all and i have 50 snails. I don't think i have any dead spots. i have about 30x turnover in my tank. i don't get it.

 

i also have 0 nitrates.

 

If the cyano is using all or most of the nitrates you will get a zero reading. Cyano is your friend just siphon it off to export the nitrates and phosphates. Have you tested for phosphates?

 

i wont siphon its too heavy. I dont have a phosphate test yet.

 

Ok, red slime...aka cyano bacteria.

This is something that most new tanks go through...really probably nothing that you did wrong. There is few "quick fixes" or you can just wait for it to cycle out.

First, fighting conchs...1 every 2 sqft of sand bottom. Second, Red Slime Remover from Ultralife Reef Products. The ultralife product is completely reef safe, I have used it myself,

Most of the time cyano shows up when there is "dead spots" in the tank. My recommendation for long term, even against most algaes is more circulation. I would add a small tunze or a 820 SEIO. When I was running a closed loop on my new 180, giving me a turn over of about 30 times per hour...I had no cyano. As soon as I took it off...the cyano appeared. Now I am adding dual Tunze stream 6100's in addition to the 1000 gph that is currently running through the tank. It is really okay to have it in your fuge, again may not be enough flow.

Enough flow in a fuge...you are probably thinking, I thought the water was supposed to travel slowly through a fuge but this is incorrect. If you look at a natural flat in the ocean where macros are growing you will see high flow rates with a lot of turn over. IMO fuges do much better when the flow going through the sump is about 20+ times per hour. When I am running my skimmer pump in addition to the W40HDX, I am running at least that much.

Finally, you may want to think of chaeto as a macro algae instead of caulerpa...especially if you plan sps.

Just a few thoughts for you.

Mike