black slimmy algae

[armison89]

i have black slime like algae growing on my sand and a few rocks. when i poke it bubbles come out and it comes off when i blow water on it. is it just cyno or somthing else and how do i kill it?

phosphates .25
nitrate 20
amonia 0

 

[Henry Colf]

Sounds like cyano to me..
How much flow do you have in your tank? Do you have any dead spots where there's little to no water movement? How much and what do you feed your fish? How often? What is your water change schedule? How many gallons and how often? Do you vacuum your sand bed? These are things to consider with cyano imho. You can blast it with a turkey baster and try to get it all out which usually is only a temporary solution. You need to try to figure out why its growing. The things I listed above should help get you there...

 

[armison89]

i have a marineland 350 hob filter on the side of the tank. its a 40 breeder. i feed pellets and frozen food once or twice a day. i only have 2 fish. i do a 5 gallon water change every weekend. i might have dead spots but its not a dead spot where the algae is growing.

 

[Jacwil]

You have any powerheads in there?

 

[armison89]

no powerheads at all. just the filter and my large hob skimmer.

 

[armison89]

 

[aaronlp]

you need flow!!

 

[aaronlp]

and when doing water changes suck that crap out! i had the same problem with red slime algae...i used red slime remover and used a regular filter while my skimmer was off...do lots of water changes and not as much feeding to build up so much nutrients and it was gone...just msotly do water changes and get my circulation in that tank!

 

[armison89]

how many and what size powerheads should i get?

 

[Henry Colf]

I would get two one for each side of the tank. You could probably get 2 korillia 2's and that would be enough flow.

 

[Dave VG]

I have two 750's in my 40B and they give it a nice brisk flow. Just right IMO.

 

[Conesus_Kid]

Are you using RO/DI water or tap?

 

[aaronlp]

i use two koralia 12050s in my 75 but thats a bigger tank obv. but iwht mine i use one going across the back loswer to the sand and then one going across the middle and i also have a spray bar going across the top of the tank so so i have flow but make sure you get rid of any "dead spots" where the water is not moving as much

 

[armison89]

im using ro water at 6 tds.

 

[aaronlp]

you want 0tds get the membranes changed!

 

[Jacwil]

6 tds is just fine...don't go replacing that membrane yet Armison!

:beer:

 

[aaronlp]

6 tds is just fine...don't go replacing that membrane yet Armison!

:beer:

Not to jump right back or be rude but say someone else has the same problem with TDS when would you need to change before it gets too bad?:beer:

 

[Jacwil]

It's subjective Aaron but I would say 15-30 ppm of total dissolved solids would justify a membrane change.

 

[aaronlp]

It's subjective Aaron but I would say 15-30 ppm of total dissolved solids would justify a membrane change.

Thanks!

 

[armison89]

if it was 6 tds ro/di i would change it but 6 tds ro is good. im getting a powerhead tommorow.