DANtheMan95
New member
ive been away for 2 weeks while my friend came by everynow and then to feed my fish. when i came back there is red slime everywhere on my sand,rocks,back glass of my tank. I need help how do i clean this mess up!?!
HELP! Red slime is everywhere
- Thread starter DANtheMan95
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Fishfish0001
New member
WHat are your parameters. A water change would be the first thing to do, and you could also remove some by hand. Lights out for 3 days works very well too.
I'm going to post a bit from my blog that I think will help.
"Now to NON-ALGAES that look like algaes. The red blush on your sand (brown in some lighting) is cyanobacteria, one of the oldest lifeforms on earth. Look it up. It's a read. To get rid of it, first have a really good skimmer; then turn the lights out on your tank 3 days a month (1 day of actinic only, if you have MH lighting, total of 4 days.) It won't hurt your reef. But it will kill this stuff, which has only 3 life requirements: water, oxygen, and sunlight. Sunlight is all you can rob it of safely. Since it is also the origin of chloroplasts in all living green plants, forget trying to avoid it getting into your tank---just deal with it as it shows up. And avoid having slanted sunlight hitting your tank: this stuff had its heyday in the era of the Permian Extinction, when weird-spectrum sunlight was getting through the clouds. It loves that situation. Keep sunlight from your tank in all seasons, or expect to have a little of this show up. Do NOT use Red Slime remedy as a beginner: that rides beginner's luck to the max, and you can can crash your tank with it if you make a mistake or if your skimmer isn't what it ought to be. A cyano outbreak is soooo minor, and does no real harm, bad as it looks: don't panic. Take the long route, and you'll beat it within a few months."
"Now to NON-ALGAES that look like algaes. The red blush on your sand (brown in some lighting) is cyanobacteria, one of the oldest lifeforms on earth. Look it up. It's a read. To get rid of it, first have a really good skimmer; then turn the lights out on your tank 3 days a month (1 day of actinic only, if you have MH lighting, total of 4 days.) It won't hurt your reef. But it will kill this stuff, which has only 3 life requirements: water, oxygen, and sunlight. Sunlight is all you can rob it of safely. Since it is also the origin of chloroplasts in all living green plants, forget trying to avoid it getting into your tank---just deal with it as it shows up. And avoid having slanted sunlight hitting your tank: this stuff had its heyday in the era of the Permian Extinction, when weird-spectrum sunlight was getting through the clouds. It loves that situation. Keep sunlight from your tank in all seasons, or expect to have a little of this show up. Do NOT use Red Slime remedy as a beginner: that rides beginner's luck to the max, and you can can crash your tank with it if you make a mistake or if your skimmer isn't what it ought to be. A cyano outbreak is soooo minor, and does no real harm, bad as it looks: don't panic. Take the long route, and you'll beat it within a few months."
DeepSeaBeauti
Will Fielitz
The light trick works, During my Vodka days my sand began to be covered in this wonderful brown cover during mid day. If the light was left off, the sand was clean. Since i got my new skimmer, i have not sean an ounce of this stuff. Dont sweat it, It will clear up with a small amount of work.
Fishfish0001
New member
I susually just blast em off the coral, and the filter deals with it.
The Velvet Sea
New member
There is some good advice in this thread, but I think there are often other factors that can contribute to cyanobacteria that have not been mentioned. Water that has allowed nutrients to accumulate is big one. This can be caused by overfeeding, lapsing on regular maintenance, inadequate filtration or combinations of them. Limiting light can be a big help but doesn't always address the root of the problem, and the cyano will usually come back. Increased water changes, reduction in feeding and improving filtration can help longterm. Even increased circulation can help to get rid of cyanobacteria (it hates high flow). I'd look at what the probable causes are and take action on multiple fronts.
frankpayne32
New member
Great post. I actually didn't know that about the slanted sunlight and cyano. I've wondered why only one spot in my tank gets cyano and the rest of the tank looks pristine. The tank is right in front of a window and while I don't have any algae to speak of it does get cyano in patches, I bet it's at those angles...
frankpayne32
New member
Oh, to the OP, siphoning the stuff off the sand bed and scraping it off rocks with a toothbrush and then netting out the debris helps a lot. Do that in conjunction with a decent water change and addition of new GFO and GAC has always helped to get rid of the bulk of it when I got a bloom.
