Hello,
I am simply sharing my story of what worked for me in hopes of helping others in their battle with red slime (cyano) and green hair algae before they decide to quit the hobby.
First here are some specs for my system
Up and running for 5 years
55 gallon tank w/ 15 gal sump
About 40lbs of live rock w/ open aquascaping
1-2" sand bed
125gph return
Sc65 skimmer
32" LED SB Reef lights
DIY phosban reactor with rowaphos
Two bags of purigen
Livestock
Pair of Clarkii
Six line
Sapphire damsel
Royal gramma
A variety of about 2 dozen snails and hermits
Softies and a bubble tip (that's what it was sold to me as but I believe it to be a long tentacle now that it has colored up and back to healthy form)
I lost all sPS and LPS when the algae and cyano got bad
I began my battle with these two evils almost 18 months ago. During those 18 months I went through some very proactive phases as well as times of neglect where I was very close to giving up and breaking the tank down. Nothing seemed to work and I felt like I tried almost everything during that time. Like many others have said, don't give up.
Let's back up a bit. At 6 months old my tank was cycled, crystal clear and my rock was clean and painted in coralline. After 3.5 years of smooth-sailing I noticed some spots of green hair on low flow areas of my rock. I ignored it which was a mistake. It soon got out of control and then cyano joined the party. I believe the initial cause was over feeding the tank with a homemade shrimp/squid/scallop smoothie cocktail I was blending and shooting all over the tank way too often. The more I fed, the more my corals and anemone grew so why not right?
I also believe my rocks absorbed phosphates which was slowly leaching back into the water column over time. Most of my rock was dry rock to begin with that a friend gave me which I never cooked..
Anyway the algae quickly took over so these are the measure I took to try to get rid of it:
1. I stopped feeding the DIY smoothie recipe and stuck to low-phosphate pellets and tiny cut chunks of shrimp. I only fed 3x per week and only what the fish would eat.
2. I immediately started doing 20% weekly water changes, blowing off my rocks with power heads and siphoning the sand bed. After 18 month the green hair never disappeared and the cyano would return the next day especially in areas where the hair algae was. I believe detritus and organics were collecting on the surface of the hair algae which made an ideal spot for the cyano to grow.
3. I tried the hydrogen peroxide dips on all rocks that didn't have precious livestock. They would look good for a week and then the algae and red slime would come right back.
4. Another neat little trick I picked up on from these forums was to cut the bottom off of a 2 liter and fill it with quilt batting, turn it upside down and place it into the sump. That way I could siphon all day with airline tubing into the bottle to remove the algae and red slime without having to change out the water. It probably helped but I still felt like I couldn't get ahead.
5. I built a phosban reactor and began using rowaphos. Every time i re-filled the reactor with new media, I would notice slight improvement but it wouldn't last.
6. I cut back my lighting schedule so that blues were on for 8 hrs and whites for only 5 hours, still no noticeable improvement.
7. I didnt want to go the chemical/anti-bacterial route so I bought coral snow and cyano clean from K-Z which is a safe additive, but even after following directions and duration I saw very little improvement.
8. Finally, after about 18 months of battling, I did a 20% water change followed by my first 72 hour total black out. I covered every inch of the tank in dark sheets and cut the lights completely. I also re-filled my reactor with a very generous amount of rowaphos during that time and dialed my skimmer to run very wet. After the 3 days I blew off all of the rocks and did another 20% water change.
I was very nervous about how the livestock would respond which is why I Did this as a last resort. Everything looked incredible after those three days, especially corals and rock. Its been 6 weeks now and I could not even remember the last time my tank has looked this good. I still can't find a spec of red slime anywhere and the few leftover spots of green hair died off within the first couple of days.
With all that being said, I believe all of the measures I took above definitely helped, not just the blackout. I think the blackout/rowaphos/water changes combo at the end was just a very effective knockout punch. I just needed to be patient and persistent
I also want to note that I continue to use rowaphos, purigen, 10% weekly water charges, a reduced lighting schedule, and limited feeding although I make sure all of my fish look fat and healthy.
I hope this helps others.
Happy reefing.
I am simply sharing my story of what worked for me in hopes of helping others in their battle with red slime (cyano) and green hair algae before they decide to quit the hobby.
First here are some specs for my system
Up and running for 5 years
55 gallon tank w/ 15 gal sump
About 40lbs of live rock w/ open aquascaping
1-2" sand bed
125gph return
Sc65 skimmer
32" LED SB Reef lights
DIY phosban reactor with rowaphos
Two bags of purigen
Livestock
Pair of Clarkii
Six line
Sapphire damsel
Royal gramma
A variety of about 2 dozen snails and hermits
Softies and a bubble tip (that's what it was sold to me as but I believe it to be a long tentacle now that it has colored up and back to healthy form)
I lost all sPS and LPS when the algae and cyano got bad
I began my battle with these two evils almost 18 months ago. During those 18 months I went through some very proactive phases as well as times of neglect where I was very close to giving up and breaking the tank down. Nothing seemed to work and I felt like I tried almost everything during that time. Like many others have said, don't give up.
Let's back up a bit. At 6 months old my tank was cycled, crystal clear and my rock was clean and painted in coralline. After 3.5 years of smooth-sailing I noticed some spots of green hair on low flow areas of my rock. I ignored it which was a mistake. It soon got out of control and then cyano joined the party. I believe the initial cause was over feeding the tank with a homemade shrimp/squid/scallop smoothie cocktail I was blending and shooting all over the tank way too often. The more I fed, the more my corals and anemone grew so why not right?
I also believe my rocks absorbed phosphates which was slowly leaching back into the water column over time. Most of my rock was dry rock to begin with that a friend gave me which I never cooked..
Anyway the algae quickly took over so these are the measure I took to try to get rid of it:
1. I stopped feeding the DIY smoothie recipe and stuck to low-phosphate pellets and tiny cut chunks of shrimp. I only fed 3x per week and only what the fish would eat.
2. I immediately started doing 20% weekly water changes, blowing off my rocks with power heads and siphoning the sand bed. After 18 month the green hair never disappeared and the cyano would return the next day especially in areas where the hair algae was. I believe detritus and organics were collecting on the surface of the hair algae which made an ideal spot for the cyano to grow.
3. I tried the hydrogen peroxide dips on all rocks that didn't have precious livestock. They would look good for a week and then the algae and red slime would come right back.
4. Another neat little trick I picked up on from these forums was to cut the bottom off of a 2 liter and fill it with quilt batting, turn it upside down and place it into the sump. That way I could siphon all day with airline tubing into the bottle to remove the algae and red slime without having to change out the water. It probably helped but I still felt like I couldn't get ahead.
5. I built a phosban reactor and began using rowaphos. Every time i re-filled the reactor with new media, I would notice slight improvement but it wouldn't last.
6. I cut back my lighting schedule so that blues were on for 8 hrs and whites for only 5 hours, still no noticeable improvement.
7. I didnt want to go the chemical/anti-bacterial route so I bought coral snow and cyano clean from K-Z which is a safe additive, but even after following directions and duration I saw very little improvement.
8. Finally, after about 18 months of battling, I did a 20% water change followed by my first 72 hour total black out. I covered every inch of the tank in dark sheets and cut the lights completely. I also re-filled my reactor with a very generous amount of rowaphos during that time and dialed my skimmer to run very wet. After the 3 days I blew off all of the rocks and did another 20% water change.
I was very nervous about how the livestock would respond which is why I Did this as a last resort. Everything looked incredible after those three days, especially corals and rock. Its been 6 weeks now and I could not even remember the last time my tank has looked this good. I still can't find a spec of red slime anywhere and the few leftover spots of green hair died off within the first couple of days.
With all that being said, I believe all of the measures I took above definitely helped, not just the blackout. I think the blackout/rowaphos/water changes combo at the end was just a very effective knockout punch. I just needed to be patient and persistent
I also want to note that I continue to use rowaphos, purigen, 10% weekly water charges, a reduced lighting schedule, and limited feeding although I make sure all of my fish look fat and healthy.
I hope this helps others.
Happy reefing.
