Red slime

[Oldbro]

My 75 gal tank is doing well. The issue is the red ?? covering everything that gets direct fluorescent light. It's been up since oct of last year and has cycled brown to green to red over that time. What is this, algae, bacteria or ??.
The fish are healthy, is this a problem, how can I eradicate this if needed.
Thanks all

 

[Oldbro]

 

[BigRedsReefs10]

Cyano bacteria. Reduce feeding, increase wc's using ro/di water. Remove as much as you can manually during your wc's.

 

[Sniperhank]

Cyano is a nutrient issue in the water column. BigReds is hitting the nail on the head. I would also point out that gravel tend to be nutrient sinks and end up catching poop and uneaten food, which won't help with your issue. It also can be that those long fake plants are impeding flow, which cyano forms in low flow areas. Removing them and increasing flow can assist.

 

[Oldbro]

Thanks to both. Is this condition harmful to the fish!
I have an old style wet/dry using a 30 gal long as the
for the sump. I do 30-45 gal water changes every 3-4
weeks. What schedule do you recommend for changes?

 

[Sniperhank]

Weekly water changes to get your parameters in check. Red slime won't harm your fish, but what causes it, nitrates and phosphates, can if levels get too high.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[Oldbro]

So, my ammonia is 0, nitrites 0, PH 8-8.2 and nitrates 80. Even after a 45 gal water change the nitrates remain high. I have about an inch of crushed coral on the bottom and a rock formation end to end with the faux plants. The rock is some tufa and other
heavier rocks. How much water should I replace per week and how do you know what to feed. The fish, 10 total, including 2 triggers, are doing great but are always trying to swim through the glass wanting to be fed. I feed mysis shrimp plus chopped raw scallops, shrimp and squid, and freeze dried kelp. Mix it up day to day.

 

[Sniperhank]

Daily feeding is one big part of the issue...along with having some really big fish in there. I feed three times a week and half a cube of whatever frozen I'm alternating with. You want all food to be eaten in a minute or two, and then remove any still remaining.

What kind of triggers? I'm not aware of any that can live happily in this size of tank, since a standard 75 is only a wider 55.

Having fish oversized for a tank leads to overstocking. Tie that in with your rock not being porous, so there isn't much area for beneficial bacteria to grow...isn't helping matters. Big fish = big poop = big bioload.

For water changes, 10% weekly is good maintenance. But what does it really mean in terms of helping you understanding your issue at hand? If your nitrates are at 80, a 10% water change will only take out 8, leaving you with 72...which will then increase until your next water change! A 50% water change would bring you down to 40.

To get that number down to an OK level for a FOWLR system, I would do large water changes until the nitrates are under 40. I would also remove the triggers back to your LFS. What other fish are in there? Check out liveaquaria.com. These guys have really realistic tank size recommendations for fish.

 

[Oldbro]

I have one 4 inch rectangle trigger, a one inch clown trigger, 2 yellow tail and one domino damsel, one fire hawk, one royal gramma a silver dollar size yellow tang and a 2 inch wrasse and a 3 stripe damsel. Tank is 9 months running. I have a 30 gal. sump for my old style wet/dry, with 700 gph pump and heavy aeration. So just feed like every other day, I will. I'll start with a 45 gal flush and then 15 gal a week for a month and see where I am. Would a protein skimmer help? Thanks

 

[Sniperhank]

Using a protein skimmer will remove protein, excess food and poop, from the water column before it can start to decompose. It would be of assistance, but I would still suggest rehousing the two triggers.