Need help pinning down the Red Slime Algae Issue

[dasickle]

My tank has been running for about 11 months. A few months ago I started noticing small patches of red slime. I would clean it off the sand (cyphen) and rock (turkey baster and catch big pieces with a net) but it kept coming back. Its still here and is only getting stronger. It is now even showing up on my sump sock filters. I clean it off during my weekly cleaning and water changes but it comes back within 4 - 5 days. I tried to account for everything and did a ton of research.

My Tank

Red Sea Max-E 260 69g
Sump Upgrade
45 pounds of Pukani live rock
20 pounds of Fiji live rock
2 bags of live sand
NYOS QUANTUM 120 Protein Skimmer (semi-dry foam)
MP40 (master) plus MP10 (slave)
2 Hydra TwentySix HD lights
BRS RIDO unit (6 stage) for top off water
Good heater

Livestock

3 small chromis (about an inch each)
2 small clowns (about an inch each)
1 Baby Yellow Tang (about 2 inches)
1 Coral Beuty (about 2.5 inches)
One Sexy Shrimp
Basic CUC

Corals

3 small SPS frags
1 Mushroom colony
1 branch of green leather coral
3 Torches
1 GSP Colony
1 Galaxea
1 Frogspawn coral
1 Candy Apple Polyps colony
5 rock flower anemones
2 rose bubble tip anemones

Flow

The tank has 3 return pumps. 2 that are in the rear chamber plus one return pump from the sump. I also have an MP40 running along with my old MP10 (slave). If there are dead spots they are minimal. Plus, algae is not on one corner of the tank but all over the place. Sand and rock. Top/bottom/left/right.

Lights

I have 2 Hydra TwentySix HD lights that came with the setup. Below are my settings and %’s:

Lights on at noon
Ramp Up is in full swing by 2:30 and ramp down starts at 7. Total time at full intensity is 4.5 hours. At peak my lights are at the following levels:

- UV (50%)
- Violet (50%)
- Blue (50%)
- Royal Blue (50%)
- Cool White (15%)
- Deep Red (15%)
- Green (15%)

Lights off by 10 p.m.

I also have a small refugium in my sump with some cheta and the lights come one at 10pm and turn off around 7 am.

Feeding

See my livestock above. I feed about 1/4 of a cube of frozen food (fish roe, Rods) of different variety once a day around 8 pm.

Cleaning

I do 15g water changes every week or so. Clean the glass, rinse out the spunge filers (back chamber + sump), change sump sock filters and clean the skimmer. Additionally, I change carbon every few months and also add ChemiPure Blue every few months or so.

Parameters

Temp - 78.4
pH - 8.3
Ammonia - ~0
Nitrate - ~0
Nitrite - ~0
Calcium - 430
Alkalinity - 10 (without dosing Alk goes down about 0.5 - 1 dkh every 24 hours)
Magnesium - 1440
Phosphate - below 0.05 (tested this at my local fish store with one of those fancy $500 test kits)

All my test kits are up to date and I occasionally double test at the local store. I test often because I dose Alk/CA/MG.

What I have tried so far (last 30 days):

Got rid of moonlight that used to run overnight (Royal Blue at 2%)
Lowered my Cool White, Deep Red, Green lights from about 35% to 15%
Changed ramp time from 5.5 hours to 4.5 hours.
Stopped feeding the fish every night. Doing day on day off.

What could possibly be going wrong? I am really getting tired of this damn slime business.

 

[jmm]

It's not just an eyesore. It can kill coral by blocking light. Get rid of it!
Red slime remover with the skimmer and carbon temporarily off, extra aeration added, followed by at least a 30% water change and you're good to go, usually for a year or two.
Don't be afraid to use it.

 

[Dmorty217]

Its caused by excess nutrients in the tank caused by something. Until you figure out what that is causing the excess nutrients it will continue to come back. Lights off for 3 days will rid the tank of it, but again until you find the source it will always reappear

 

[Brieninsac]

I know people always say it's because of low flow and/or over feeding. However, I too had red slim algae with good flow and a light feeding schedule. I tried the lights out method and they came back a week later.

My solution was using Chemi-clean. It worked like a champ and hasn't come back. In hindsight, I really wish I would have started with it instead of spending months trying to eradicate with less effective methods.

 

[mcgyvr]

I really don't believe that people do truly understand where it comes from..

I've seen it thrive just fine being blown almost hard enough to rip it from the rocks..
I've seen it come/go in very low nutrient systems..
I've seen it be seasonal too.. I get some patches in the winter months..
I've seen it only grow on plastic in the tank and nothing else..
I've seen it only grow on recently dead portions of coral skeleton.
I've seen it so bad it was like a 1/4" thick skin..
Its very interesting to me..

I try not to use Chemi-clean but have on occasion.. Sometimes with great luck.. other it doesn't do a darn thing..
3 day lights out has worked well in the past (because it is photosynthetic) when I'm actively trying to stop it..
But in general I just let it go and do whatever magic its doing and just try to siphon it out during water changes..

The reason we are all here is from Cyano creating this oxygen rich environment.. Hence I try to let it do its thing but don't let it get out of control..

 

[Potatohead]

Cyano is not caused by high nutrients, that theory needs to die. It is not algae.

It is caused by an imbalance between carbon/nitrate/phosphate. If you have very low nitrate and higher (which doesn't mean really high) levels of phosphate that is pretty much guaranteed cyano. This is why when starting carbon dosing it is very common to get some, because dosing reduces nitrate more quickly than phosphate.

Chemiclean works really well. REALLY well. However in time if you don't correct the problem, cyano will return, but in time N&P tend to balance out again.

 

[mcgyvr]

It is caused by an imbalance between carbon/nitrate/phosphate.

I'll buy into that and now will search for good reference reading material on it..

I'm currently sitting at ~2ppm of nitrate and ~.04 phosphate and have some cyano patches that aren't going away (but aren't horrible by any means)..
And cannot dose vinegar or vodka anymore as any bit I add produces slimy bacterial strings in the display within hours (literally 2mL in a 40B is a problem)..

Found this too..

 

[Potatohead]

It's theorized that cyano can also utilize carbon, but that hasn't been proven. It can utilize nitrogen and phosphate in organic form and that is likely why your phosphates are testing low. You can either try to raise nitrate and/or lower phosphate, or try chemical means (which works).

 

[ALLIDOISREEF]

I have had it periodically in my tanks. The only thing that has worked for me and kept it gone was Chemiclean. I don't like using chemicals in my tanks, but in each tank I have used it once and never had to use it again.

 

[dasickle]

Its caused by excess nutrients in the tank caused by something. Until you figure out what that is causing the excess nutrients it will continue to come back. Lights off for 3 days will rid the tank of it, but again until you find the source it will always reappear

How could I find the cause of excess nutrition thought? My tests are all in range but I assume thats due to the bloom and I feed barely anything every other day. Also do 15g water changes every week and clean the sock/sponge filters. What else can I do?

Also, can I turn off my lights for 3 days without doing damage to my corals? My coral list is above. I have 3 SPS corals: Birds nest, birds nest with green tips and ORAnge Setosa (Montipora sets).

 

[Kevin Guthrie]

1/4 cube a day isn't much. Definitely keep siphoning it out - worked for me after a month or two.

 

[koko maung]

I was in your shoes a few months ago. Even though i was doing 20% water change, I wasn't able to get rid off it. They just keep on coming back. At one point, I was even doing 5 gallon water change every other day. It was a pain in the SSS. I was so close to using chemi clean but someone gave me this advice. He told me to siphon cyano out everyday to sump through filter socks. I was able to siphon as much as I could since water was just going back into the tank. It was a lot easier and more effective then doing water change every week or every other day. After about 2 - 3 weeks, cyano started disappearing. Try this method, It might help.