red slime problem

[mncspradlin]

Hey there, first time here.
I have had a continuous red slime problem in my tank. 55gal with 60lbs live rock, sand and crushed coral bed. penguin 330 filter and seaclone skimmer. Ph 8.0, alk 7, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 20, phos less than 0.2 as low as my test goes.
Have yellow tang, 6line wrasse, pseudo, small clown, scooter blennie and a gobi, multiple snails and crabs, 2 starfish. pulsing xinia doing great, cup coral, 3 kenya trees, sun coral, multiple mushrooms and ricordia, hammer coral and few christmas tree and fan worms.
Have tried chemiclean multiple times, water changes and now added a hair slug to eat it. I syphon it up but it keeps coming back. Any ideas?
My calcium is high in the 705 range, not sure why or how to get it down. everything else seems great.
Lighting is 4x65watt 50/50 compact flouros and 4 lunar lights.

 

[jackdp]

What are the units on your alk measurement...if meq/L then your alk is high, if dkh then your alk is on the low side...raising your alk will help to bring down the calcium a bit.

 

[seaham358]

Do a search on cyno bacteria there are tons of posts on this.
You need to get the phosphates and nitrates in check.... Hows the water flow and how old are the bulbs. Read up and you will see a lot of info on this site.

 

[mncspradlin]

Alk is in dkh, bulbs are abuot 1 month old. I have read about everything there is on the cyano and have been following many threads on this website of the same. tried it all. nitrates of 20 are not a big deal when nitrites and ammonia are zero. My phosphate kit doesnt go any lower than 0.2 so I guess I will just have to guess. I guess I'll just suffer it like I have been.

 

[seaham358]

What is your water flow like. Cyno forms in low flow areas and is fed by phosphate. Have you checked your top off water to see if you have PO4 in that? Have you cut back on your feeding? If you have low flow areas you may need to put in a PH to get thc circulation up till it goes away.

 

[first-timer89]

And Welcome To AA

 

[jackdp]

What are you using as your freshwater source...tapwater, RO water etc? The source of your water can have a huge impact on algae growth in your tank. If you're using tapwater, check it for phosphates along with a freshly mixed batch of saltwater. If the tapwater tests high then you'll need to find a source of RO or DI water from now on. If the SW tests high then look for a different salt mix. Be sure to rinse or replace any filter media you use to keep it free of detritus. Be sure to not overfeed, stay away from flake food as many brands are high in phosphates. And definitely keep as a high a flow rate as possible trying to eliminate any dead spots. You may want to look into a better phosphate test kit to get better resolution at low concentrations. Seachem's phosphate test kit claims it is sensitive to 0.05mg/l. HTH

 

[mncspradlin]

Hey guys,
Thanks for all of your advice, I have tried all of the above with no help. I have a powerhead and find no dead spots. Using RO water since about 5 months ago. No phos tested out of that RO water. Use formula 1 and formula 2 granules for food and suppliment with zooplankton to add pods for my blennie since I starved one to death earlier this year. :?

 

[supafreak]

hi there. I just had the same problem! It was a rust colored slimy alge, it comes off really easy, and i actually shook the rock, and it just lifted off and floated away! It was covering all the substrate and live rock in the tank. It looked terrible. My amonia and nitrites were 0, and my nitrates were somewhere around 15. I know that when you have high levels of nitrates you can get alge blooms. I'v been working really hard to get mine down to a more reasonable level, and my alge has subsided. (oh, and the initial cause was installing mh lighting!) I went out and purchased a bunch of snails, and it helped. I'd work at your nitrate levels. A level of 20 isn't gonna hurt your fish, but it isn't doing any good either

 

[lando]

There is a product called Chemi-Clean by Boyd Enterprises, INC. It does a great job of getting rid of cyno. 24-48 hours and it is all gone. You still need to get to the source to stop it completely. I am guessing PO4 may be too high. Try getting a different test kit or have the LFS test it for you. Make sure there is no PO4 in your source water, test it first. Do several water changes. 15% every two or three or three days after the Chemi-Clean. I would still add more flow. How big is your tank? You said you have one PH, I would add another to aggitate the water more. Good luck and keep us posted...Lando

 

[malkore]

I don't think the seaclone skimmer is big enough for a 55gallon tank. I could be wrong though.
But let me ask, how much skimmate do you get in a weeks time? I had cyano problems with another brand of inefficient skimmer, and when I switched to a better brand/model, not only did I get 3x more skimmate, but my cyano went away without any other changes to the tank.

 

[ellisz]

If you have just one powerhead, I would add a bigger one or have more than one. I was using 3 maxijet 1200 in my 75 plus the mag 7 return pump from my sump. You still have a source for the PO4 though. I got rid of mine when I redid my aquascaping and changed out my DI filter on my RO unit. I kept getting a PO4 reading from my RO/DI water.

I figure it had to be the DI filter so if you RO water tests ok then this might be tough. I added 3 fighting conchs which are supposed to eat slime algae too.

Just keep at it. I thought mine would never go away but it did

 

[adacaro]

Hello, I had that same problem I was recomended Poly-Ox 3 drops for every gal. it takes time but it works the red slime forms bubbles and then you suck it out, GOOD LUCK.