slimey questions

[Iwork4coral]

Hi. I've been reading the board for a little while and appreciate the variety of tanks and opinions we have in Oklahoma.

I tried to search using the RC search button at the top, but it won't let me.

So, I just have to post some questions I'm sure have been answered a hundred times.

I have brown slime all over my sand. I have tried to vacuum it out with water changes, but it comes back very quickly. I also have a bit of red slime on one of my rocks. What is the best thing to do?

My tank is a few months old and I started with live rock and live sand (a few cups from an established tank). I've tried redirecting my powerheads, but it just kicks up the sand and clears a bald spot on the bottom of the tank.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

 

[pwhitby]

your tank is going through an lagae cycle, generally, if you leave it, it will go away. Whats happening is that as your tank matures certain nutrients are consumed, and others released. Certain algaes like certain nutrients....so as the nutrients change so do the algaes. But if you remove them, they keep coming back till all of the foode source is gone.

Thats an oversimplification, but its pretty close to the mark.

Try and keep the slimey stuff (dinoflagellates) from coral, You can do that using a turkey baster.

Lower the feeding, ensure your skimmer is running well. Do you have a refugium and sump?
and decrease lights a little

all of those will help.

Paul.
ps...welcome to the COMAS forum.

 

[Iwork4coral]

So I guess I should stop cleaning it. I'll keep taking out the red slime because it's near a coral, but I'll leave the rest.

I don't have a skimmer on it, but it has a big refugium with sand, small chunks of rock and some macro algae.

How long does it take to go away?

 

[pwhitby]

depends on the amount of live rock you have, water flow, lights...too many variables to mention, but resy assured go away it will.

Its nice to know that you are in the same situation as we all are when we set a tank up isnt it.... Often in this hobby it seems all is conspiring against you, but in this one case it is just a stage you need to get past.

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

Don't forget your waterchanges with good quality water as well. Also, higher water flow deters Cyanobacteria (Red Slime), Brown Slime (Dinoflagellates), and Brown Powder (Diatoms) from settling and growing. This doesn't get rid of the nutrients problem though.

Oh, and by the way...

[welcome]

 

[Iwork4coral]

What is the difference between dinoflagelettes and diatoms?

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

Diatoms have a silicon based shell around them. Both are a unicellular algae though.