CUC problem

[Jarrett]

Im starting to have a problem with my 45 gallon reef tank, it is starting to get red slime algae on my rock. i have cut my lighting schedule down, i do weekly water changes and i scrub my rock every time i change the water. I am starting to think it could be all the hermit crabs i add to my tank. i have a toby puffer fish which is a real pain in the butt but i just love him to much to get rid of him. he puts a real dent on my CUC and i am starting to think that with all the hermit crabs he kills, their has to be so many just rotting in the tank since this tank has been up almost 8 months already. I have seen some people on here talk about not even having a CUC in their tanks. i was wondering if i could go that route or just eliminate the hermit crabs and get 3 emerald crabs as my CUC because he doesn't really go after anything that is that much bigger then him. like my turbos he trys to nip at them but thats about it doesn't pursue them or anything just ignores them i figured he would do the same if i got a pretty large emerald crab what do you guys think? Sorry for the long post lol

 

[Kmurraylhs]

Most puffers are not reef safe and should be kept in a fish only tank.

 

[Jarrett]

That didn't really answer my question I am aware of that their are only soft corals in my tank and my puffer doesnt go after those

 

[hackteck]

try to get more flow to where you have the red slime build up also are you using tap water or ro/di if your using tap you could be adding phosphates into your tank and what are your levels?

 

[Jarrett]

I use only RO water and I have

0 nitrates
0 nitrites
0 ammonia
8.0 Ph
1024 salinity
.25 phosphates

 

[austinsdad]

See if this helps you. Cyanobacteria, AKA Red Slime Algae

An emerald crab will do nothing for red slime.

 

[Kmurraylhs]

You can use erythromycin powder to kill the slime. I got some from Pruess Pets. IMO any Invertebrates you put in the tank with the puffer will become expensive fish food.

 

[mr_X]

do not use an antibiotic to kill bacteria in your tank. antibiotics do not differentiate between good bacteria and bad.
you can use a product called "chemiclean" by boyd enterprises. follow the instructions exactly.
ultimately you have excessive nutrients in the tank. i don't care what the hobby grade test kits say. as far as flow goes, i've had cyano grow on the outputs of power heads, so i don't think it's the lack of flow.
it's not a "cuc" , or lack thereof either. No eating, pooping, creature is going to correct the problem of excessive nutrients. it's common sense. when you eat something, it does not disappear. it just changes. the same goes for crabs and snails. they end up pooping it out.
water changes with good source water and cutting back on feeding is the best defense.

 

[Kmurraylhs]

But antibiotics do differentiate between gram negative and gram positive bacteria unless it is a broad spectrum antibiotic. And erythromycin powder only kills gram negative bacteria.

 

[mr_X]

well, i've heard of people using erythromycin and then having ammonia spikes, so i guess the bacteria that sustains our tanks is gram negative.

 

[Kmurraylhs]

Most are negative but some are positive. That is why I like to cycle using bacteria so you get some of both. If you ever culture some bacteria supplements on a Petrie dish you will see different types.

 

[mr_X]

how is this helping the cyano problem? are you saying that it's ok to kill off half of your bacteria colony?

 

[Kmurraylhs]

If you follow the right process, with water changes, running carbon, and then replacing bacteria it is a very effective method to kill it. But you still have to take care finding out why you have it in the first place.

 

[mr_X]

where are you pulling this from? can you show me data on this "right process"?

 

[Kmurraylhs]

I am pulling this information from my college degree. The process was given to me by Preuss Pets from Lansing, Michigan. They are a very reputable LFS in the area. I just used it on my tank with no loss of livestock. Tested water today and 0 ammonia, 0 nitrates, and 0 nitrites. So I couldn't be happier. I just don't understand the fear. We use antibiotics for ourselves and we kill all the beneficial bacteria in our intestines but then we replace it after the drugs have been removed by our body by eating yogurt. The process is the same for the tank...use the antibiotic, remove the antibiotic, replace the beneficial bacteria.

 

[mr_X]

the fear is that you'll have an ammonia spike after using the chemical and kill off a couple grand in fish and coral.
you, and the OP, have nutrient issues. that LFS gave you bad information. they should have told you to remove the excess nutrients instead of just removing a symptom of the excess nutrients.
the reason i used the chemiclean before was because it was on a public display and they did not want to wait for multiple water changes to take effect. ultimately, it was the water changers that prevented it from coming back, not that i killed it off for good.

i imagine eating yogurt after taking antibiotics doesn't have an immediate effect. I assume any bacteria you pour into a tank will have a dwell time also. if pouring bacteria into a tank was so effective, why do we cycle tanks?

 

[Kmurraylhs]

I agree that I had a nutrient problem but I addressed that issue. They did not give me bad advise because we spent several weeks trying different solutions. I just wanted it gone. They did not push me into that solution. They just gave me the correct process to make it work. The problem is that blue green algae is both photosynthetic and chemosynthetic.

 

[Kmurraylhs]

Cycle is the process of bacteria doing it's job. Without bacteria there would be no cycle.

 

[mr_X]

yes, i understand the whole cycle thing, but getting back to "chemosynthetic", it's still a nutrient issue. all that tells us is that cyano can't be killed by shutting off the lights.