Red Slime/Cyanobacteria: Natural Cure?

LCGoldman

LCGoldman

New member
Since setting up my refugium and, umm, cough cough frag tank, I've had an outbreak of red slime... First in the refugium (it's gotten a bit better), and now in the fr*g tank.

Thankfully it hasn't affected my display tank.

All the tanks are plumbed together.

My refugium was lit 24 hours a day. I've taken to turning the lights off most days (it's not on a timer yet).

I had the frag tank on a timer for 12 hours a day. I've since reduced it down to 10 hours.

I also added a powerhead (Maxi-Jet 400) to the frag tank.

Any suggestions as to what livestock I should add to the frag tank to eliminate the slime.

(BTW, is red slime the same thing as cyanobacteria?)

I did add a few hermits and a few snails to the refugium, but I'd like to completely eradicate the red slime from the refugium too.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.
 
I had the same problem a while back, and adding extra flow seemed to help a lot, i'm not sure why. Other than that it seemed to slowly go away over time, but i have a massive amount of snails and hermits, dont know how much they helped. As far as i know red slime and cyano are the same thing, someone please correct me if i'm wrong. The only place in my tank i still have cyano is between the glass and the deep sand bed only because i dont know how to get rid of it. good luck
 
Lonnie,

With the extra volume, you might want to increase the amount of carbon your running. I also find running ozone is helpfull, if your not already. The extra current definately will help. Also make sure your alk is on the high end. Critter wise, probably a bunch of small hermits such as mexican red tips, blue legs and scarlets would work well.
 
After three decades My reef still gets cyano. Not enough to bother me much but my tank is too dirty to completely eliminate it completely. Ozone definately helps by raising the redox. If you use enough ozone you will eliminate it. For now I use Chemi Clean which is just an oxidizer almost like ozone or bleach. I have been using it for many years and have not seen any deliterous effects. I use it before most water changes.
Good luck.
Paul
 
Thanks Bill...

I do have an ozone reactor, but haven't plumbed it in yet. And, I can definitely increase (and change) the carbon I have now.

I'll try that (carbon --- I don't think I'll set up the ozone until after the holidays) and let you know.
 
Lonnie,
Start dosing that product that you gave Christine a sample of a while back (Thera P?).
The bacteria product has shown to work for cyno in Joe Berger's, Pierce's and my tank in the past. It just takes about 6+ weeks to work since it's more of a natural solution.
 
I believe cyano is what formed the stromatolites, those mysterious pillars of ex-crud that occupy---I think it's SHark Bay in Australia. They re-oxygenated the atmosphere around the Permian Extinction. The stuff has its uses...and does seem to be pretty persistent, given it survived the collapse of almost all life on earth.
 
Red smile algae

Red smile algae

I have been trying to get rid of it from my Refugium for months. Water changes haven't been very successful so far. Chemical readings are pretty good Ph. 8.3, Temp 78, Salinity 1.023, Nitrates <1 PPM, Phosphates undetectiable, alk 9 KDH. I'll try adding a powerhead to my refuge which is seperate from my sump and see if it helps.
 
Warren,

I was going to post that very question yesterday, but with the holidays and such I didn't get a chance to get back online until just now.

Thanks for clarifying that :)
 
I know it sounds crazy but my sea hare eats cyanobacteria, and I've heard others say the same thing. Doesnt' solve the problem of why it is there in the first place (nutrients) but does keep it in check.

:)
 
I didn't have the outbreak until I added the new tanks to my system. I figure that would have further diluted the nutrients.

Lonnie

P.S. Looking up and noticing it's still December ;)
 
Cyanobacteria

Cyanobacteria

I hope you don't mind me jumping in but I have a similar problem
I only had cyano in my refugium. Yesterday in increased the percentage of flow to the refugium. This morning when I got up their was water all over the floor by my tank seems the filter sock which is in my sump clogged with slime. I cleaned up the water and filler the sump up again with water I had previously mixed. This evening when I got home the same thing happened again.
the sock was clogged and overflowing. I changed socks again and noticed that this time my tank had alot of clear looking slime in the tank on the rocks and coral. I have added more carbon two new filter socks. I had never seen this clear slime before. (looks like clear mucus. The tank had run with a reduced water lever for a while and was sending alot of air bubbles into the tank. I had just taken chemical reading two days before and everything looked good Ph 8.3 ,Temp 78, Salinity 1.023, alk 10.1 KDH
Calcium 370. Funny the night before I was just thinking how good the tank looked.
 
update

update

I think that your right about the bacterial bloom, everything settled down in about 2 days , luckily I didn't loose anything all corals and fish back to normal. Cyano did return to the fuge a few days later, after I had returned the water flow to where it was previously. I'm going to try and increase it very slowly.
 
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