I have a 180 AGA Reef set up with a DSB. Over the last week I have had a strange algae pop up on the surface of the sand. It is gree to goldish brown and it seems slimy, like a ver thin slim coat. It was also on my glass but I quickly cleaned it off. I also stirred the sand bed and it went away, but came back even quicker a few days later. What is this? How do I treat it? IS it harmful? Will it take over? Etc., etc. Sorry i do not have any pics or means to take them.
Strange Algae Growth On Surface Of Sand
- Thread starter hurrifan
- Start date
It sounds like generic "slime" algae. Common colors are green, bluish and red - the later being more common in salt water. It's actually a bacteria that can very quickly take over the tank if you're water conditions are favurable to it.
This is not an uncomon sight in a new tank (under six months old).
The first thing you need check is that your water is not encouraging this. Among other things this means having as low a phosphate concentration as possible. Less than 0.03 ppm phosphate (equivalanelty 0.01 ppm phosphate-phosphor). You'll need a good test-kit to measure phospahte that low - the Salifert test is an example.
To have phospahte readings this low it's really a must to be using RO/DI water to top up. Other water often has too much phospahte and you just end up feeding the problem.
Once conditions are no longer favourable the bacteria will die - or at least stop spreading so rapidly. Increased cirulation over the effected area will help wash it away.
A quick fix is to use a suitable antibiotic (the best is erythromycin). Most commerical products that treat this use that antibiotic. It's probably cheaper to get a prescription from your vet and then buy the human-grade version of the drug (it's very cheap - under $0.30US for 500mg).
This will get rid of the stuff within two day. The dose is 1 gram per 50 gal. HOWEVER, if you have not fixed the cause of the problem in the first place then the bacteria will come back.
Erythromycin is only slightly soluable in water so it takes a few hours to disolve once you add it to the tank. Turn your skimmer off for the first few hours after you add this.
You'll also kill off some of your desirable bacteria too. Many people advocate not doing this for that very reason.
Over the years I've three times used antibiotics to kill off slime algae (once in fresh water, and once each to two different reefs). This has been a 100% success each time i.e. the slime never ever came back.
Fix your water first and then see how you go. If the slime simply will not go away then think about using the "sledge hammer" to fix it.
This topics comes up very often. You can read the views of others who would never use an antibiotic by searching the history of this forum.
This is not an uncomon sight in a new tank (under six months old).
The first thing you need check is that your water is not encouraging this. Among other things this means having as low a phosphate concentration as possible. Less than 0.03 ppm phosphate (equivalanelty 0.01 ppm phosphate-phosphor). You'll need a good test-kit to measure phospahte that low - the Salifert test is an example.
To have phospahte readings this low it's really a must to be using RO/DI water to top up. Other water often has too much phospahte and you just end up feeding the problem.
Once conditions are no longer favourable the bacteria will die - or at least stop spreading so rapidly. Increased cirulation over the effected area will help wash it away.
A quick fix is to use a suitable antibiotic (the best is erythromycin). Most commerical products that treat this use that antibiotic. It's probably cheaper to get a prescription from your vet and then buy the human-grade version of the drug (it's very cheap - under $0.30US for 500mg).
This will get rid of the stuff within two day. The dose is 1 gram per 50 gal. HOWEVER, if you have not fixed the cause of the problem in the first place then the bacteria will come back.
Erythromycin is only slightly soluable in water so it takes a few hours to disolve once you add it to the tank. Turn your skimmer off for the first few hours after you add this.
You'll also kill off some of your desirable bacteria too. Many people advocate not doing this for that very reason.
Over the years I've three times used antibiotics to kill off slime algae (once in fresh water, and once each to two different reefs). This has been a 100% success each time i.e. the slime never ever came back.
Fix your water first and then see how you go. If the slime simply will not go away then think about using the "sledge hammer" to fix it.
This topics comes up very often. You can read the views of others who would never use an antibiotic by searching the history of this forum.
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