Can't take it anymore

[Joshjohnson]

ok please anybody tell me what i am doing wrong. ever since i put my new lights on i have had a red slime along with fine green hair aglae plauge my tank. I have put a aqua c remora skimmer on, i put another mj 900 in, i have cut feeding down to every other day, cut lights down to about 6 hours a day, i blast the stuff of my rocks and such every day and try to catch it with a fine net, water changes every week and i just pulled abunch of my nice macros out to see if that will help. i have been able to vaccum the sand bed a little but given my tank size and the rock work i have it is very hard to get much stuff pulled up. i don't know what else to do, this stuff seems to be getting worse.

also i buy my water from a LFS top off and premixed saltwater, thought maybe the problems is there tested it and it had a phospahet reading of 0.5 (CRAP) but it is better than my tap water and i don't have a RO/DI. i just can't afford one right now what else can i do.

more thing water param's are
no2 0
nh3/nh4 0
n03 5.0 ppm
ph 8.3
dkh 12
phosphate in the day read 0 at night .5
temp 80

this has been a problem now for 3 weeks

 

[Joshjohnson]

whops also forgot to add that my clean up crew consits of
5 turbo snails
10 snails that begin with a c i think ceirth but not sure on the speeling
and 12 very small blue leg hermit crabs.
tank size is 47 gal 30 inch tall
sg is 1.025

 

[W Ellis]

Try a Phosban reactor to get the phosphate level down. Algae uses both phosphate and nitrate as a food source to grow. Have you tested the water you buy for nitrates aswell? I have a hair algae problem myself and have put a phosban on and this weekend will be putting in my new euroreef rs250 skimmer. My phosphates test at 0 but that also has to do with the algae soaking it up so it cant be detected.

 

[Joshjohnson]

the water from my lfs test o for nitrates, do to space issues with my set up i don't have a sump of fuge so what i have been doing is i put a hob bio wheel on took all the guts out ( pads and wheels) and have been using this as a place to run carbon for a few days then a phosphate sponge for a few days the back to carbon. and it has also givin me a little bit more flow. as far as the phosphates in my tank i read some where that it is best to test for the a few hours after lights out due to that the aglae and marco's will start to realse them. i don't know if this is true but every time i test about 3 hours after lights out i get a dectable reading

 

[HotReeferSRT4]

You can try some Red Slime Remover. Some of my clients used it and it worked great for them. It is completely reef safe. It comes in a little blue box and it is called Red Slime Remover. Try it... just remember to turn the skimmer off when you dose it.

 

[Gimplar]

i got some Anti-red, it's a german product, specifically for red slime, i had a big redslime problem, and it fixed it right up. if you want i can let you use some.

 

[HotReeferSRT4]

Always trust those Germans. Haha.

 

[Joshjohnson]

i thought about it but have heard horror stories about using addtives to fix a problem in the tank. Also heard that unless the root of the problem is fixed that it will just reappear. I don't think that i am willing at this time to take that risk to much hard work and love and money went into this tank to try a quick fix. there has to be something i am missing and the more i read and look up info i think it is my replacement water from the LFS that is sc%$^ me. IMO replaceing water from my tank with water that has phosphates in it is only adding to the problem. In the morning i will be going back to my LFS with the new jug of water i just bought to have a little talk with them. Now that i now there water is not what they claim it is, it makes me wonder what other nasty stuff may be in it(copper?). i hope for them that they correct this issue with a good explanation or fix because if not, time to find a new LFS to go too.

Please don't get me wrong but when they claim RO/DI water i assume that this would have very very little TDS.

oh and thank you all so far for your response to this, any help that i can get is huge.

i will keep you posted on my LFS water issue.
Iguess that i will have to try and find the money for a good RO/di unit and start making my own.

 

[Gimplar]

opps

 

[Don Lino]

Josh, I had the same problem...and I agree with u on using alot of crazy chemicals in your tank. I didnt use any. When I vacumed my red slime I did it with just the hose, so I can get in between the rocks and in the small crevises. U gonna remove some sand but the red slime comes with it...Hope that helps

 

[Joshjohnson]

i just did the exact same thing went a bought a small diameter hose zip tied to a long wood dowel and went to town on my sand bed and the rocks.

also just bought a RO/DI unit, hope it will be here monday or tuesday. I took the water back to my LFS the tested and it read the same as my test. they then tested there water and had zero, but the where good and gave me a new jug that tested zero as well.

I hope with my new RO/DI unit it will help me out with this stuff, what a royal pian in the rear these stuff is

 

[college429]

Keep using a phosphate remover like phosban, if you can't have a refugium with macro algae.
For the cyanobacteria...get a better skimmer... and do more water changes.

 

[BlueCoast]

brothers tank is having some Cyano problems in one corner in the sand too. Bought a 1.99 brine shrimp net... Was worth 10x that with how easy it was to scoop the red cyano with a bit of sand. Worked so much better than a cup or a siphon. The fine mesh netting let the water out but trapped most of the funk.... my .02

 

[shibumi]

I have a question for you guys. I had the same problem in my tank I vacumed and used the red slime remover. I could control the issue.

My question is: can you get that red slim from a new coral that you add to your tank?

I got the red slim after I add a new coral from a store which tank have red slime.

 

[Joshjohnson]

Update, came home this afternoon to finally find that this red slime XG%$$^ is beginning to subdue. My sand bed looks 60% better my rock work only had very small patches here and there. My fish have been more active today then I have seen in about a month and also the few corals that I do have look very happy. I could swear that they have grown in size and the colors are just out of this world. I just hope that this is the sign of the end to this stuff.

Also my new RO/DI unit should be here in the morning, so no more wondering what is in my water.

 

[jenate20]

I had the same problem with my tank when it first started. The problem is probably cynobacteria, the only thing that worked for me was to put a refugium on my tank and also put a deep sand bed of at least 5 inches. The reason being for the refugium is that as your good macro algae grows it strip nitrates and other things out of the water making it harder for th cynobacteria to grow, same thing goes for the deepsand band it also helps denitrification allowing less chances of the cyno to form. I did this after much research hoping this would work , and low and behold it did . I havent had any bad algae in my tank since and my corals are loving life.Good luck