What is this thick red slimey stuff over my girlie girls live rocks hehe lol ;-) :-)

[Ytouf]

My girlfriends tank has thick red slimey stuff covering all of her liverock and even when air gets under it it can't get out. It forms these balls of burgundy red slime with air in them. What is this and how do I get rid of it?

[jasontatro]

Cyanobacteria

[skeletor]

get in there with a turkey baster and blast it off....

 

-skeletor-

[yOyOYoo]

wouldn't it be better to use the turkey baster to suck it out??

 

Also for the thick red slimy stuff, I used to have a bunch, it was like in mats, and hairy (short hairs)

 

Was this cyanobacteria also? or was it some sort of red hair algae?

[caja]

Yes, it's cyano. Use the turkey baster to suck as much out as you can as often as you can. The stuff grows like crazy. What type of water are you using?

[Ytouf]

It was tap water, now its slowly being converted into non tap water. I think we need to hit the root of the problem, why is it there and after I suck it up, it will come back, so how do we solve that problem?

[caja]

You solve that problem by using RO/DI, syphoning out the cyano frequently and cutting back on the lighting cycle. As a last resort chemi-clean works, but try the natural methods first.