RED slime

[alextheromanian]

cyanobacteria....yeah...its a new tank and it seems to be thriving on trace ammounts of the nitrates left. with that in mind untill the nitrates get consumed does anyone know a better way to get rid of the stuff? i was going to use red slimex or whater which ive had great success with but recently binghamton and most of its fish stores are under water. does anyone know where i may procure some? or a more effective way of dealing with the damn stuff? ive been scooping it manually, ive tried 4 days lights off reduced feeding times...its like a weed that comes back with a venceance.

 

[jlpmps08]

Run a large amount of carbon until you can get some of the slime remover. I had an issue with red slime in the beginning of summer. I didn't get my a/c in on time and temperatures spiked causing me to get it. It was gone after one treatment. However, I suggest treating it twice to make sure it is completely gone. It does take a while for the treatment to be cleaned out of your water so you may want to continue to run large amounts of carbon even after the treatment. I also suggest using a polyfilter. I use them "religiously" and change them once a month and they do a great job of taking anything out of your water that is not supposed to be there! Good luck.

 

[jlpmps08]

Also, if you have a protein skimmer, you may not want to use it during the treatment. I have heard that it can create problems with them. Not sure of the specifics because I do not use a protein skimmer.

 

[reefjunkie42]

alot of times red slime is a dead spot of flow where nitrates "pool" per say. You might want to think about maybe a rescape or more flow from power heads possibly. usually new tanks will go through several cycles of different stages of algae for the first year or so.

 

[alextheromanian]

ok guys heres the update!

wavemaker and koralia 1400s (4 of them) are on the way. this will replace old traditional powersheads (2 x 800gph and 2x 400 gph.) that should increase flow substantially and remove dead spots. the way its set up as far as rocks ...is kinda optimal. theres a long pile...you can see through it and it has overhangs and shelves ...underneath all of it running the entire length is a spray bar which comes from the sump so theres no dead spots inbetween the ling line of rockwork where water doesnt move. its mostly the lack of powerful powerheads that im guessing are partially to blame.


as far as the skimmer goes i took the collection cup and its running without it for the time being. i did manage to pick up red slime remover since to my surprise frontstreen bing now looks like it was never underwater( thank you to whoever is repsosible for that cleanup) but yeah.

today added the slime remover. ( one dose)
nitrate reducer ( half dose) nitrates are barely there anymore anyways but since you cant overdo it i figured better to be on the safe side and add half a dose anyway)

PH buffer. ...im baffled. the ph constantly reads low at creature comforts....(7.9 i think ?)

they told me to add ph buffer and i did 2 weeks ago hoping that would be enough but its not. theres plenty of oxygenation....3 inches of crushed coral for substrate lots of rock...im wondering what is causing it to be low...unless the store is trying to get me to buy some ph buffer.


any ideas?

 

[award212]

I wouldn't really worry too much about the PH if your reading is 7.9. Pretty much anything from 7.8 - 8.4 is fine. My PH has always run on the low side and I've never seen any ill effects. I've even dipped down to 7.6 and it's never been a problem.

 

[alextheromanian]

thank you for letting me know. ill keep that in mind. the corals and livestock seem happy and healthy regardless of this whole water quality problem so i didnt think there was a huge deal but it still bugged me that it hapened

 

[Gravesj1s]

Imo, it would be a good idea to keep the skimmer running with the cup ,full blast.