Grey Slime with hair?

[SeriousDude5]

In my tank I have grey slimy looking hairy stuff growing all over the place I have it on my crushed coral bottom power heads and especially my live rock. I think that it is going to take away the coralline if I don't do anything about it am I right. Also I just got an RO system hooked up and I have put 40 gallons into my 65 gallon tank or 85 including the sump how long will it take for me to notice a significant change...Right now I just go though with a powerhead to blast it off the rock but I think it may be stressing my fish. Also I leave my lights on for about 14 hours aday with 302 watts is that to much should I cut down on them if so to what hours. Also is they anything that will actually "eat" this stuff or is there a product I can use to remove it before the RO kicks in please let me know thank you.

 

[quarryshark]

What is your PO4? Make sure you check the PO4 of your RO water too, or else it may not totally solve the problem.
Does your RO have a DI stage? That is the component that removes most of the PO4.

 

[SeriousDude5]

what do you mean by Phosphate and how do I check it I dont have a test for that also it is a six stage harvest water...

 

[quarryshark]

Your LFS should sell PO4 test kits. Thats a big part of what feeds hair algae and cynobacteria. I had a similar problem until I eliminated most of the PO4 is my system.

 

[SeriousDude5]

Ok also do you suggest anything else and if my PO4 levels are high how do I bring them down?

 

[quarryshark]

Here is my standard post for algae or cyno control and elimination.
1. If you already use RO water, test your source water. You may need to add a deionizer to it. This is the most important step.
2. Siphon as much of it as you can. Breaking it up only helps it to spread. You need to do this as frequently as possible.
3. Review your feeding habit. Are you overfeeding? Do the fish eat what you put in at feeding time within a few minutes, or is there food lying around the bottom after? Also, if you use frozen, make sure to drain the as much of the packing juice as you can before adding.
4. Do you have adequate water movement? Any dead spaces in the tank? Cyno has a harder time setting up in a system with brisk water movement.
5.Do you have a skimmer? If so, is it producing daily amount of dark thick "skimmage'? Adding or upgrading a skimmer may help.
You can also run a PO4 sponge which will help, but you need to address the other underlying causes.
These are few of the key things that feed a cyno outbreak.

 

[SeriousDude5]

alright thank you I just added another powerhead to go over the lr but i need another one to go over my crushed coral also as afor a skimmer I have a cheap 20 dollar one and it doesnt seem to be producing a lot of skimmage do you think I should upgrade and if so to what type because this grey slime is getting out of control and my daily 20 gallon water changed with RO water is getting old realy fast. LEt me know and thank you for your post so far.