Red slime algae solutions

[Mthompson]

My return pump got gunked up near the end of last week and stopped pumping. I am not sure how long it was offline (maybe a day or two at most). This week I have several patches of red-slime algae that are spreading rapidly! I am sure this is due to the accumulation of NO3 in the display.

So my question is what can I do to combat this stuff? I am going to do a water change and try to manually remove most of it, and hopefully the macroalgae will remove any excess NO3. Any other suggestions?

 

[c-town]

you can clean out a small portion of your sand to get some of the algae food source out, also red tip, scarlet reef,and blue leg hermit crabs eat cyanobacteria. which is the bacteria that cause the algae.

 

[c-town]

you can clean out a small portion of your sand to get some of the algae food source out, also red tip, scarlet reef,and blue leg hermit crabs eat cyanobacteria. which is the bacteria that cause the algae.

 

[Mthompson]

I have about 10 scarlet and blue-legged hermits, but they aren't eating any of this. In fact they hardly ever come off of the live rock and venture around the substrate.

 

[c-town]

how big is your tank

 

[Mthompson]

120 gal with a 29gal sump.

:arrow: http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=111809

 

[c-town]

there are a couple of chemicals out there called redslime control, redslime remover, and chemi-clean. all claim to be reef-safe, you could try one of those

 

[Mthompson]

I would rather not jump to chemicals right away. I am pretty sure I know the cause (NO3 build up), so I will try to get rid of the cause first.

 

[magarnigel]

i would think just getting the water cicrulation back up to normal and some extra water changes and manual removal or the slime and that should take care of it. i have tried the chemicals before with no success. i think it did more harm than good.

 

[camaroracer214]

sorry, double post...see the one below.

 

[camaroracer214]

if you don't want to use chemicals, you can do a 3 day lights out treatment. i did it on my mixed reef when i had a few breakouts of red slime that i couldn't get rid of no matter what. but you have to do a full three days, seems like anything less just doesn't cut it. your fish/corals/inverts should be fine. like i said, i did it to mine and i have quite a bit of corals. just run your refugium normally during the lights out.

 

[Mthompson]

OK, so definitely a water change and manual removal. A good skimmer, filter, and powerhead cleaning and tune-up. I will also try the 3-day darkness, but hopefully it will not kill all my macroalgae, or the source of food for my lawnmower. Any thoughts on that happening?

 

[camaroracer214]

like is said, i did a three day lights out. didn't seem to bother my corals, clams, fish, or anything. just keep the fuge lights on their normal schedule. if you're uncomfortable about a three day lights out, you could try a chemical treatment first. if that, along with aggressive skimming, siphoning, and water changes don't work, then try the lights out. you could try a one day lights out, see how it works, then progress to a two day, and maybe on to a three day. in my experience i did a one day, algae came back. waited a couple of more days, then did a two day lights out. algae again came back. then i did a three day. worked like a charm.

i doubt your fish will starve or get stressed over a few days of no lights. but there's no guarantee in this hobby. normally fish go into a state of lower activity and lower metabolism. and since most fish are cold blooded (all fish except some sharks and tuna, but i'm sure none of us will face this problem), they'll use up less energy over those three days.

 

[Anonymous]

You have excess nutrients in the tank, so it's critical that you limit imports and maximize exports of nitrates and phosphates.

Cut down on feeding.

Regular water changes with RO/DI.

Increase flow in the tank.

Siphon the cyano out during water changes...when the lights are ON.

Skim wet.

It won't happen over night, but you can beat it!

 

[mr_X]

i disagree with chemical treatments. you are not correcting the problem. you are only addressing a symptom. when the chemicals are removed from your tank, the cyano will return. don't forget you have necessary bacteria in your tank which you need in order to keep a successful reef. what do you think will happen to that when you add antibiotics to the tank?
i also don't see how lights off for 3 days is going to remove the excess nutrients either.
also, i haven't seen or heard anything that eats cyanobacteria. that is, until now. i've never known a hermit crab to eat cyano, no matter what color his legs were.
scroll up 1 post to your solution. :wink:

 

[FILAZ]

Red alge seems to thrive in lower spectrum lighting, If your lights are old maybe you need to change bulbs. Hope this helps.

 

[ChrisRD]

As others have said - reduce nutrient levels and increase circulation - it will subside in time. I'm also in the "no chemicals" camp.

FWIW, and not that I feel they're needed to beat it, I've had two different critters that would actually eat red slime:
Baha Snails (Cerith sp.)
Baha Hermits (Clibinarius digueti)
As with any biological control, there's no guarantees of course...

 

[jollylager]

You need snails to eat the red stuff. If it is on your rocks- Nerite and Cerith, espicially Nerite. On your glass? Nerite. In your substrate? Cerith and Planaxis. The Nassarius snail is also a good addition. Some of the weirder creatures, see limpets, really get at the slime.

 

[Mthompson]

I have a few hitchhiker snails (spp.??) and limpets, but the damn things never leave the rocks. I have all this wonderful bounty, but no one wants it... :roll:

The LFS won't have anything worthwhile either, so I will try to keep removing it and keep on top of the nutrients.

 

[mr_X]

hmm, i'll say again- i've never seen anything eat cyanobacteria. red algae they eat, but not cyano.
i also have nerite, cerith, astrea, turbo, and nassarius snails, and they love algae, but not cyano. oops, correction- the nassarius don't eat algae either, unless it's algae that doesn't need light and it's underneath the sand. they come out for dinner whenever i feed the tank. they eat uneaten food and i imagine detritus.