Getting rid of red algae?

[BILL & THERESA MEISTE]

I have been fighting A red algae problem in my tank for the past two months. At first it was contained pretty much to one corner. Now it has spread to a couple other areas. I have siphoned it out numerous times to only have it return asap. I have tried water changes, putting a little extra flow in the area, but no change. Any ideas, on something else I could try? Thanks- BILL

 

[Anonymous]

I would invest in a turkey baster and blast all the small holes and crevaces throughout the tank.

Now to help further I would need your tank specs and equiptment used for lighting and current.

Slack current and a build up of detrius are the most common reasons for cyano/hair algae.

 

[rayjay]

Maybe you just haven't done the water changes over a long enough period yet. Believe me, it takes longer to rid it than get it.
I blast with a hagen 802 power head, vacuum all that I can, and do water change at least 15% once a week. This can take any where from several to many months, depending on the tank.
If it's really growing fast, I'd vacuum as required instead of waiting for the next week. Eventually, assuming your tank conditions are normal, the problem will go away.
I don't normally get the problem except when I get too lazy and skip parts of the tank husbandry.

 

[esmithiii]

Here is something I posted to a similar question. Maybe some info in the post will help you.

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr> First, how old is the system? Many systems that are under a year experience blooms that are short-lived in nature.

Second, you need to address the root of the problem, not look for a quick fix. The problem is that you have a nutrient import/export imballance that is fuelling the algae. Your biowheel is a big part of the problem. It is a nitrate sink. It is very good at turning toxic ammonia to toxic nitrite and nitrite to nitrate, too good maybe. The nitrate has nowhere to go except to be consumed by the algae which you scrape up and siphon out.

Do you have a sand bed (referred to by many here as a DSB)? Sand beds if done correctly can process the nitrate before the algae has a chance to. Have you tested for nitrates? If you have crushed coral or crushed shell then that too is a nitrate trap. Detritus falls between the cracks and turns into nitrates. Crushed coral or shell does not support the life needed to process all the detritus.

The second place to look is your water. Do you use RO/DI water for water changes and for top offs? If not you are probably dumping nutrients into the water in the form of phosphates. A phosphate sponge will pull some out but you will be dumping more in every week if you don't use RO/DI water.

How much liverock do you have? Do you have any macro-algae like caulerpa in the tank? Macro algaes also consume the nutrients in the water and compete with the algaes you are now battling. I have a sump that is lit in which I grow macro algae. When it gets thick, I prune. Some goes to my tang, the rest in the trash can. This effectively exports those excess nutrients before the microalgae can use it.

The next place to look is your feeding schedule. Overfeeding will fuel the nitrate problem. The problem is that reef fish eat all the time in nature. To be healthy in home aquaria they should eat enough. I prefer to feed less but more often.

Do you have a sump?

<hr></blockquote>

 

[BILL &amp; THERESA MEISTE]

Thanks for the reply. Let me add a little info here.
Our tank has been running just over a year. It is a 125gal. reef. Let me list here everything I can think of, that we are employing in our system.
First of all we use RO water only.Lighting cons
ist of 3-130watt vho's, 4-96watt pc's, all on timers. Water flow starts with one overflow going out, with 2 returns. Returns are powered by a CEDRA 1200, entering through 2 eyeball bulkheads. In the tank there are 2-RIO 2100, 2-MAXIJET 1200, and one MAXIJET 600, that is pointed directly into the problem area. Filteration starts with approx. 4"-5" livesand bed, approx. 200lbs of liverock,and a EUROREEF skimmer. Last month we added a 20gal. REFUGIUM, with approx. 30lbs of liverock, and a number of macros. The tank inhabits about 10 fish, numerous corals, about 100 cerith snails, about 100 nas. snails(not sure of spelling

),. Here is a kicker, we have about 30 adult turbos, and thousands of baby turbos. The babies range from the size of a grain of sand to the size of a pepper ball.We have an adult turbo that has given birth we think 3 times. Also have an adult brittle star with about 3 generations of babies from it also.
The rock is a beautiful purple being covered almost 100% with coraline. We have a number of corals such as frog spawn and pumping xenias that have been growing very well in the tank. Water quality is been good with next to no deaths of fish or corals. Feeding has been anyplace from once a day to twice a day.Water changes have been once a month with about 20%.
We also have a 300gal. FOWLR that is going through its cycle at this time. I hope I didn't leave anything out. Is there anything you would change or look at here? THANKS

 

[esmithiii]

It sounds like you are doing all the right things, and that the tank is maturing well.

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote

Last month we added a 20gal. REFUGIUM, with approx. 30lbs of liverock, and a number of macros.

Any chance that the addition of the refugium is causing a temporary bloom? I know that anytime you mess w/ a sand bed (i.e. add more sand, move it too much, etc) that brief algae blooms are usually unavoidable.

How old are your lights? Sometimes the bulbs with age will experience a spectrum shift which can cause algae blooms.

How often do you harvest the macro algaes? Do you see good growth rates on the macro algae?

Ernie

 

[BILL &amp; THERESA MEISTE]

No, it started before the refugium.

 

[Terry McGee]

This is what we have done quite a few times, and it worked for us. If you will shut the lights off for 2 days (a storm on the reef) and at the same time put a little activated carbon in your filter and change it every 3 or 4 days about 4 or 5 times it should take care of the problem. Also a good skimmer is a big plus during and afterwards for keeping it down. Take care Terry

 

[amber]

I don't know if this will help you or not...I have a red and hair problem also. I think I have addressed all the areas (caulerpa, skim, current, overfeeding etc) but there is still a little bit in there. What I wanted to tell you was that I used Erthromysin (sp?) without hurting my critters. (I was desperate) The problem is that the darn stuff keeps coming back--so I haven't found the basic problem yet. Anyhow, I am no longer afraid to use erthromysin on my tank. (soft corals, lobophyllia, xenia, mushrooms, gorgonians, candy coral etc) good luck amber

 

[Mr.Man]

B and T, Water changes will only fuel nutrient blooms. Reduce your light cycle, physically remove red slime (stirring it up only feeds the problem) and don't use anti-biotics. Animals and live matter will develop resistence the same way people do. Myacin etc are bandaid cures for a relatively minor problem the will burn itself out if you make small changes. Good luck

 

[BILL &amp; THERESA MEISTE]

Can you explain more about myacin? Is this the same thing that humans use? I can try a reduction in lighting. At this time, I have the blues come on at 7am, and the main lights at 8am. The main lights go out at 8pm, and the blues at 9pm. We checked our phosphates lastnight, which came out at 0.2. I am planning on blowing off the rock, and trying another water change. Hope this will help bring the phosphates down and get rid of a bit of what might be feeding the algae.

 

[BILL &amp; THERESA MEISTE]

Thanks big blue, I think we will give that a go and see what happens. Thanks again.

 

[iReef1]

I used to have a lot of cyno in my 25 gal. tank and I battled it for months. I started using a calcium reactor and when my Alk.started staying up and became stable the cyno went away and has stayed away. I tried everything else that has been mentioned to you in this post and it would help for a little bit but apparently mine was triggered by the constantly fluctuating and low alkalinity. Hope this helps and good luck. I know it is very frustrating.
iReef

 

[Mr.Man]

B&T, I would advise against the water change, use a phosphate sponge. Blowing off your rock keeps the problem in your system, the cyanobacteria will die and feed itself. Also, you can reduce your daylight cycle to 6 hrs for a couple of weeks, this will not adversely effect any inhabitants. good luck

 

[BILL &amp; THERESA MEISTE]

Thanks

 

[Anonymous]

I had a bad cyano problem for about a year. I did some research and realized that when I moved my 29 to my 55 I used tap water for the additional water to make 55. That's right...it took a year of pulling out algae by hand,water changes(some massive),and trying different flow patterns. What I noticed is that water changes really do not remove significant amounts of nutrients. However,they are good for replacing salts,which more than likely go bad after time.

Kalkwasser also helped with the problem by precipitating phosphates and maintaining a stable PH and alk.

I tried turning off the lights and it only returned along with the lights. Then I followed A.J.Nielson's advice and I raised and maintained my PH at an 8.6 for about two weeks. The high PH quickly killed off the cyano. Unfortunately,it returned after the PH was lowered to 8.3-8.4. Also,my sandbed was not totally mature.

I increased my skimming and began blowing out the rocks with a turkey baster twice a day. After a month of increased skimming,GAC usage,and the blasting of the rocks the cyano disappeared. The detrius in the rocks was constantly leaching nutrients back into the water. Only after I blew out the crevaces and had it skimmed away did the algae/cyano breakout stop. Even with a high flowrate the organics leaching out of the rocks caused cyano to grow.

If you have sand sifting stars,they will deplete your sand population. Without sand stars it could still take your sandbed a year or more to work effectively. My refuge seemed to do nothing except to collect detrius which I could readily syphon out. I am sure the macros help but I give more credit to the skimmer.

Good Luck and be patient

 

[djh]

If you haven't already tryed it. I would recommend NO CYA NO. I tried it and almost quit using it halk way through. I followed instructions and I thought things were getting worse. Then on day 6 the slime started melting away. My tanks been clear ever since.

 

[oranje]

regarding ultralife's "red slime remover," yes. i do admit, it works. and it works well. as for its safety, im not very sure...

all of my corals were just fine, and most of my fish, too. my puffer, on the other hand, became sick as a dog after i used that stuff. i did 3x20% water changes in the month afterwards, which didnt seem to improve his state at all. but, 2 months after i used the red slime remover, he was perky again.

maybe it had nothing to do with the red slime remover, but im weary of using it again. unfortunately, i noticed a few specks of the damn slime on one of my pieces of liverock again

 

[Anonymous]

try this

Ultralife 'Red Slime Remover'

I had a pretty bad outbreak where it would suffocate my culerpa and my corals.

I used it once and it hass been gone for at leaset 3 months now. It did not do any damage to anything else in the tank including the culerpa.

 

[AnotherGoldenTeapot]

If you water is perfect and you still have cyano months later then I would treat with erythromycin - 1 gram per 50 gal of water.

Grind the pills up and sprinkle them on the water - it is not very soluble so it does take rather a long time to dissolve.

Only 1 treatment is needed.

The human-grade version of the drug works out by far the cheapest where I live (less than $5US for 3 grams - including the prescription from the vet).

Turn the skimmer off otherwise it will overflow about 1 second after you add the drug

This drug kills cyano very quickly - the dead cyano will get washed away by the current in your tank within 48 hours (probably much quicker).

This treatment is reef-safe in my opinion - some others claim to have had the odd problem.

I liken treating for cyano to what I would do if I had the misfortune of getting that flesh eating disease - I can tell you I would not be taking Vitamin C and hoping for the best...

I guess it's best if you read up on both points of view and comes to a decision for yourself - you will find very many threads on this subject if you do a search.