Red Slime Algae

[crissysmith]

Help I am new to the saltwater world and have recently caught a horrible case of red slime algae. I have tried everything from increasing my water flow to buying tons of store chemicals. The tank is 115 gallons and has a D.A.S. filteration system. Please help.

 

[ccCapt]

Welcome to AA!

Stop dosing chemicals to begin with. If anything, they will only mask your problem.
How long has the tank been running?
Can you post some water parameters? Specifically salinity (SG), nitrite, nitrate and pH.
What kind of water are you using for top offs and water changes? Tap, well, RO, RO/DI?

 

[crissysmith]

Well the tank has been running about 8 months at my house but several years from the place we got it.

The Salinity is at 1.025
PH is about 7.9
Nitrite is a little high at .25
Nitrate is 0.00

I use RO water for top offs and the saltwater that is already prepared at the fish store to do water changes. I just did a water change two weeks ago.

 

[Tank2379]

You might want to check you Phosphate levels, I think you might have a Cyano problem. I would suggest cutting you light time in half weekly water changes, Also if you are using Sand try to scoop some of it out IMO siphoning can cause it to spread.

 

[roka64]

What do you have in the tank?
How much/often and what are you feeding?
Have you tested the water from the LFS for nitrItes and phosphates?
Tank just posted before me and reminded me...
How long do you run your lights?
I prefer to mix my own SW, so I have better control of what goes in it.

By the way, welcome to the site!

 

[crissysmith]

Ok so since I run the light 8 hours I will go to 4. Do you think a 20% water change will make a difference? To test the phospate is there a test kit that does that? The kit I bought only has nitrate, nitrite, ph, & ammonia. (Sorry If I sound crazy) I have been reading alot to try and figure this out.

 

[crissysmith]

I feed twice a day. Flakes and a sinking pelet. I have a yellow hawiian tang, a foxface tang, two pajama cardinals, a black and yellow spotted goby (looks like a eel), a orange spotted goby, pink spotted goby, a lawnmower blennie, a scooter blennie, and arrow crab, two emerald craps, a false pecula, and several turbo snails, and hermit crabs

 

[roka64]

Just a guess but did you have an outbreak of hair algae and bubble algae?
Definitely reduce feeding. I feed every other day and sometimes skip an extra day. Flakes have phosphates.
Is the lawnmower blenny eating the pellets/flakes?

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Maybe I'm missing the obvious here, but what exactly is a "D.A.S. Filtration System?"

Also, you mention "tons of store chemicals" have gone into the tank. Can you list what all you've put in there. It might help try and make sense of stuff as we get into this thread further.

You show a trace of nitrites... was there any ammonia?

Oh... and welcome to the site!

 

[melosu58]

Welcome aboard to AA. Read our article on the subject.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/articles/articles/20/1/Cyanobacteria-AKA-Red-Slime-Algae-/Page1.html

 

[crissysmith]

Ok I know crazy but I learned this by reading D.A.S stands for Dutch Aquarium Systems (basicly all the filteration is done in a box that is inside the tank) The protein skimmer and all the carbon and filteration pads are inside the tank. As for the chemicals I used the powder called Chemi-clean red slime algae remover. When I say lots its just because I have bought to much of it and relized it's not helping. The ammonia showed to be at 0 according to the test kit. API