Ledford Posted May 1, 2002 Share Posted May 1, 2002 ok I have not been around in a while but everything has been going great untill now I am seeming to become overrun with cyanbacteria? or red algea as some call it I know it is mostly due to poor water conditions but my water is no different than it has been since I posted in the "dying fish" topic and I have no problems with keeping anything I have not introduced a lot of LR or coral or fish at any one time to spike any of my levels but the bacteria-algea is slowly creeping over about 75% of my visible LR and I am worried about it geting on my corals . What should I do ? any help would be much appreciated. Link to comment
Ledford Posted May 1, 2002 Author Share Posted May 1, 2002 One thing I have done is add a 110w PC light it came with a "super daylight" set of bulbs and that is what is in it know I don't know why I neve thought about it before I am such an idiot I bet I have to much of the red or yellow spectrum light in my tank. any thughts Link to comment
NanoReefer53 Posted May 2, 2002 Share Posted May 2, 2002 you can try hermits. cyanobacteria is kinda like a thin film so with clean hands, you can sort of grab a whole sheet of it off at a time. Link to comment
Ledford Posted May 3, 2002 Author Share Posted May 3, 2002 yeah, thats what i've been doing and it is gone for a few days but there is always some left somewhere and before you know it you come home from work and it is back agian. Do the hermits eat the stuff or do they just touch it and it comes off the rock? because I have notice that if I touch it the "film" wil come off as well and I can turn off my powerheads and it wil foat to the top and I can just skim the top of the water with mt net or my siphon. Link to comment
C2187 Posted June 7, 2002 Share Posted June 7, 2002 If you are still running your older lights it's possible that they have shifted their spectrum due to age. There are many things that can cause red slime algae. The first being wrong light spectrum. Another option is if your calcium levels dropped for some reason. Calcium causes phosphates to fall out of solution as a solid (precipitation) which prevents it from being absorbed by algae/cynobacteria. This is the reason why some people test water for phosphates get a zero reading but still have problems. If your calcium levels get too low the phosphate will redissolve back into the water sometimes causing an algae problem. Another problem can be lack of water flow. You can try to add more water flow to the problem areas of your tank. How is your water source? I would test that water for phosphates and silicates. Dont just test your aquarium water. If your totally discouraged there are some products that will treat it chemically. Did I confuse everyone? Link to comment
MKramer Posted June 7, 2002 Share Posted June 7, 2002 Yeah, the red slime sucks. My tank was completely overrun with it for a few weeks, it was quite disgusting. I think the main picture on my website was taken when the sand was completely covered. It did go away, though. Once it showed up, I took the following actions: * Reduced feedings to every other day * Repositioned the powerheads so that I could actually see all of the red slime rippling. The stuff hates current. * Removed it every couple of days * Shortened my photoperiod to 10hrs/day. It took about 2.5weeks, but it almost entirely stopped growing back after my cleanings. There's a few spots of it left on the rocks, but they aren't growing at all. If you have a filter to stick one in, adding a phosphate sponge will help, too. Matthew Link to comment
MKramer Posted June 7, 2002 Share Posted June 7, 2002 Dammit, the server choked on my reply and lost it. In my usual fashin, it was a lengthy one, too. Oh well, now you get the short summary: The red slime appeared out of nowhere in my tank, too. I took the following actions: * Reduced the photoperiod to 10hr/day * Reduced feedings to every other day * Stopped adding pyohtoplankton * Readjusted powerheads so that everywhere possible, the surface of the red slime was wavering in current (the stuff hates oxygen-rich water flows) * Removed it every few days. It took about 2.5 weeks, but it finally stopped growing back. There's just a few tiny patches of it left on my rocks, btu they're not growing at all. If you have a filter, you can also add a phosphate sponge, which should help quite a bit. Otherwise, just be patient. Unless you're a chronic over-feeder or you've had a large die-off, this stuff will go away with time and a little extra care. Matthew Link to comment
quiksilver5768 Posted June 8, 2002 Share Posted June 8, 2002 An easy way would be to point powerheads so that u make sure that there are no "dead spots" in the tank where the cyanobacteria can settle. If this does not work for you than the easiest way would be to go with chemicals. Chemi-pure gets the job donw well and fast. Its perfectly reef safe and ive used it a few times before in my reefs. Its a power formula which you add directly to the tank or sump and in less than 2 days it should be all gone. If you notice that it didnt go away then scoop all the algae u see out and it will most likely not come back )someitmes the chemi-pure doesnt kill off the algae but just stops it from spreading and ocming back). Good luck... Link to comment
Ledford Posted June 10, 2002 Author Share Posted June 10, 2002 Well, everyone has a go on this one don't they? Actually I have been really busy at work lately and have'nt had time to check my posts. I have actually bought two more powerheads and all of my bulbs are fresh but what I have been doing is changing my carbon every 2 weeks and yes my lights are fine they are not that old (2 months) (12 hrs. per day) anyway it is going away but it is taking a long time but it is not spreading anymore and I am doing water changes religiously so hopefully my problems will eventually go away. Thanks for the advice guys. Link to comment
NanoReefer53 Posted June 10, 2002 Share Posted June 10, 2002 A great skimmer will help. One big difference between my old 10g and my 20g is that the 20g has a good skimmer. In the 10g, i had to constantly battle red slime by peeling it off the rocks and such but not anymore with the skimmer. I just had to swipe little specs of brown algae off the glass maybe 3 times a week. Link to comment
Ledford Posted June 14, 2002 Author Share Posted June 14, 2002 I will appraise that as it shall be, my skimmer sucks I have a prozm on a 55 and I actually have around 70 lbs of rock but it still needs a good skimmer I'm just waiting to find a good deal on one before I buy. I'm doin alright for now. Link to comment
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