Red algae attack

[Saltysaber]

Red slime algae attack plan.
So here is my plan to rid my reef of red slime algae.
1. I have cut back on feeding.
2. I have turned up the flow on my Ecotech's.
3. I changed out my old t5s.
4. Did a large water change last week.

Now for my thoughts on the next few steps I want to run by you guys. I would like to try a 2 day black out with ultralife red slime remover. Turn off skimmer and carbon for the first 24 then turn on carbon and skimmer and carbon. Do a 15% water change on day 2. Day 5 do follow up dose of ultralife redslime remover with lights on. Turn off skimmer for 24hours. Turn off carbon for 12 hours. Then turn on carbon and run gfo in my two phosban reactors. After all of this I understand that this ultralife redslime remover is nonselective so I have been thinking about adding microbe-lift select after all this to bring back good bacteria.

If anyone has done a process like this and has had good or bad results please let me know. Just looking for some input on how to get rid of this evil red stuff. Oh I am planning on changing about 30 gal of water through all of this is that to little or to much on a 70gal system?

 

[aaronlp]

I went through a red slime algae phase at one point too. I just used and old hob filter and used the redslime remover worked great. THen did a big 20 gallon water change on the 75 the second day then did 5 gallon changes everyday very thoughroly* the next couple days on everything and i kept the lights and everything on and had no problem getting rid of it.

 

[frofan]

I would use redslime remover as a last resort. I went through this all last year and just finally have it under control. The following worked best for me.

- Lights off for 48 hours, then actinic only for 24 hours
- Weekly 40% water changes
- Vacuum all the slime out of the display tank weekly
- Vacuum out the top layer of sand (Had a deep sand bed that was holding too many phosphates)
- Setup a better dosing schedule and test parameters every other day (My alk was dropping to 6 within a few days of a water change. Started dosing 2 part bi-hourly via automatic dosers. Coralline Algae growth dramatically increased on the rocks, which helps prevent bad algae from growing.)

 

[Saltysaber]

Thanks for the input started making my water this morning.

 

[aaronlp]

yeah you also might want to add a supplement 2 partbut make sure it dosnt increase the nurtrients or it will take longer to remove the slime. I wouldnt worry about turning the lights off. Just keep the nutrients low and do daily water cahnges with the red slime remover and your problem will disappear over time!

 

[Sophie10]

How long has the tank been set up? It's just a quick phase. Anyhow, just do water changes and use hose to suck out as much as the slime as you can. You don't have to do massive water changes (though 30% is fine), but you could do smaller daily ones to remove as much of the slime as you can (5 -10%). Reducing light is fine, but black out isn't necessary. Good Luck!

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

How long has the tank been set up?

This strikes me as a relevant question.

It's hard to give good, specific advice about any problems in a reef tank without knowing all the basics - how old is the tank? What are your nutrient levels like? How about other water parameters? Livestock? Feeding? Nutrient export methods?