Green Slime!!

[tuwhada]

I have a very well established 90 gall sw tank. It has a 30g sump and right now there is only one fish in there. A few months back I had an ick outbreak and lost all my fish except this one. Ick is now gone from this guy and he is now back in the display tank. Parameters are all good, I do regular water changes have had this tank up for a few years. But lately I have had a WICKED green slime outbreak. It is everywhere. I have a uv sterilizer on this tank and it is working and it has a new bulb in it. The single fish is a good size wrasse which I feed every 2-3 days and he gets just a little bit of frozen food and trust me he eats it all.
I scrub the algea but it comes back within a day. I am willing to put some inverts in there until I get new fish b/c well I am not goint to put new fish until the problem is solved.
So I am willing to take any and all suggestions to help get rid of the slime.

THanks
Christina

 

[Devilishturtles]

Sounds like cyanobacteria. There is an article in the articles section here that will give you a good overview (can't link you, or I would). But some things we are going to want to know are you water readings, including phosphate. Also, what kind of filtration is on your tank? What kind of water do you use? Tap or RO/DI?

 

[tuwhada]

filtration is up there it is a 30 g sump. phosphates are zero. and I use tap water that is conidtioned.

Christina

 

[roka64]

Also, what kind of filtration is on your tank?

Also, how old are your tank lights?

 

[tuwhada]

Hmmm.... I don't really know how old they are. I don't replace them until they die. Since it isn ot a reef or anything I never thought it would matter, does it?
The uvb bulb is only 1-2 months old so I know that is good.

Christina

 

[Devilishturtles]

Sorry, missed your filtration, it was early when I posted, that's my excuse.

It's a good idea to replace bulbs every 9-12 months. Older bulbs emit different spectrums of light (I think that's it) that can cause nuisance algae to grow. New bulbs may help. Also, besides the sump, is that all the filtration you have? No skimmer? Powerheads?\\

By UVB do you mean Actinic? What kind of lighting do you have?

 

[tuwhada]

sorry so used to dealing with turtle stuff (uvb is a turtle light). I meant the uv sterilizer.

I had a skimmer but it stopped working months ago never got it working again. Never really needed any other filtration even when the tank was stocked. Maintained levels very well with water changes about once a month once I was well established. In my sump I try to put in some calurpa from one of my other tanks but not that often. But I have several different sponges and pads and all sorts of stuff in there.
Like I said this tank has been up and running for over 2 years now and this is new. SO I really don't feel it is much to do with the filtration or water quality.
But the light thing is something I did not think of (I probably should have b/c turtles lights are the same way).

I was thinking of getting some inverts to put in there and then take out when I get the tank more settled and add new fish. What type of inverts would you recommend to get rid of it. I will also get new bulbs hopefully between the two that will do the job. I did notice this evening that my timer had some sort of problem and the lights were on longer then I thought too so I just fixed that too so hopefully that will help too.

Thanks,
Christina

 

[roka64]

The filtration question comes from my personal experience. Mine has 4 sponges. I removed them 2 at a time, did a PWC and waited a week, then removed the other sponges, did a PWC and the cyano is completely gone....