Bright red film algae/HELP!

[kingfisher62]

lately i have a couple of spots of this bright red film algae. It is on a patch of sand and starting on a small rock. My nitrates are about 10 ppm so I will increase my water changes. But could this have anything to do with my bulbs getting old?
They are the stock lighting that came with my biocube. and the tank is 10 months old.
Has anyone else had this problem?

 

[FUA]

Yes, I am just starting to see this problem and am trying to rid it on several fronts. I mostly attribute the red slime algae in my tank to my substrate. I started my tank with crushed coral. It is impossible to siphon out the subtrate under my live rock without moving everything around and who wants to do that.This keeps my nitrates up to around 10ppm.

I have a tank at work that is the same size but this has a live sand bed and a refugium with chaeto. I have no problems with this tank and I feed generously. My nitrate on this tank is zero and I don't have a skimmer attached. My tank at home has a skimmer but no refuge and also has no live sand bed. Sorry for the life story but thought I would share this with you because my battle with red slime has been very frustrating.

So I guess I would ask what is your substrate, do you skim, and do you have a refugium with any kind of macroalgae.

 

[webbstock]

It's most likely red slime (cyanobacteria), especially if it is easily removed.

It is generally accepted that excess phosphate is to blame. Thusly reducing phosphate levels will help to reduce red slime over time. There are three main sources of phosphate, water (why RO/DI is so important), Salt (for example Instant Ocean actually has other forms of Phosphate other than what is tested for) and lastly food.

To eliminate the slime a few tricks can help. For short term, leaving the lights off and covering the tank for 24-48 hours will dramaitcally reduce the slime for a day or two.

For long term the goal is to remove the phosphate source. This can take weeks-months to work, but it will. THe goals are to definately use RO/DI, minimize feeding waste (don't overfeed) and if possible find a salt that is truly phosphate free. I use Marinemix by Weigant GmbH (a German company). SO far is seems to help.

A few other trick that help is to maintain a good flow rate in the tank and to keep the water well oxygenated. Poor flow and O2 levels provide a competitive advantage for slime.

You can also use macroalgae (as FUA noted) or a product like Phosban to remove phospahte in the water, but I feel that it is also important to minimize the source of phosphate.

Good Luck!

 

[kingfisher62]

FUA,I have coral substrate in my 55g FOWLR tank and I know what you mean. My trates are Usually between 10 and 20 ppm when I keep up with the water changes,never lower.
I cube just has sand and just enough to cover the bottom, 1/2 inch or so. I also keep a wad of chaeto in the display but no refugium. My trates in that tank are usually 0ppm but this summer I went from weekly water changes to every three weeks because my coral seem to be thriving with trates at about 5 ppm ( Crazy ,Huh?)
Phosphates appear to be 0 ppm.
No skimmer in the tank.

Webbstock, I do keep keep Kent's phosphate sponge in a bag in the center chamber above my LR rubble. It has been a while since i changed it out so it could be leaching out some imeasurable phosphates. I will change that out tonight.
I do use IO salt , Reef Crystals. Thinking of trying some new salt my bucket is almost empty.

Thank you both for the responce, BTW.

So you both ,don't think it has anything to do with old lights?

You can see a small patch of cyano next to the brain ,that was last week .It had spread out to the mushroom rock this week.
Also a little patch on a rock above the watermelon zoas

 

[FUA]

well, I can't say for sure it isn't because of the lights. If the light is 10 months old it is probably worth changing out just to see if that makes a differance. The lights on my tank are only 2 months old and my red slime is about 100 times worse than yours. You don't have to look very hard to find my red slime, unlike your tank. you might want to increase flow towards the red slime and see if it goes away. I actually plug in a power head I have laying around and literally just blast it off of the rocks. anyways I think your tank looks great. you said you system is only 10 months old and you are using stock lighting. I like the way you have it set up. good luck with the nasty, nasty red slime.

 

[kingfisher62]

Thanks for the compliment FUA, my algae problem is not to bad at this point but I know how bad it can get if unattended.
Instead of blasting your red slime off the rock and all over your tank you should probably try to syphon it out of the tank during your water changes.

I plan on cutting back on my photo period also.

Good luck with your situation.

 

[FUA]

right I was wondering when I blast it off, will it relocate somewhere else. I think my skimmer takes some of it out because I see dark chunky stuff in my skimmate that looks like red slime. I cut back on my photoperiod as well, I think I am going to cut it down again.

 

[kingfisher62]

I just cleaned out my two powerheads and the sponge in the back chamber . They were pretty grungy . Almost forgot about that sponge. Out of sight ,out of mind, ya know? Circulation seems alot better. I also siphoned out as much of the red crap as i could with a 3g water change. Still have to replace my bulbs, don't know if it is going to help but I am sure my corals will appreciate it in any case.

 

[FUA]

keep us posted

 

[FUA]

any luck with your eradication. It seems like removing my crushed coral has made all the difference in the world. Immediate difference in red algae reduction.

 

[kingfisher62]

To be honest with you,NO!!! After 9 days it is back to where it was . Still waiting for the new bulbs and I picked up a few cleaners today. A scarlet hermit, peppermint shrimp and an emarald crab.They might help get rid of any excess food laying around. Like I said before it is not major just a couple of spots. So I will just siphon it out during my water changes.

I have to say all my corals are looking really good though!