Red Crimson slime in tank...Help

[BigMike]

I am getting a dark red , almost crimson supstance growing on the substrate
in my tank. I can remove it by hand but it comes back i a couple of weeks.
When I remove the substance it takes the top layer of the substate with it,
kinda like rolling up a snowball. Any ideas what it is and how to get rid of
it. Thanks Mike

[Roy]

Its commonly called the red slime algae. Actually its cyano
bacteria....It usually comes from an over abundance of nutrients and
poor water flow. The main ingredient it feeds on is phosphates.....Cut
back on feedings, and if your feeding flake it seems that is a prime
cause of it, as flake foods contain a lot of phosphates...so you may
want to consider switching feeds to a pelleted or frozen type. Do a
partial water change after yu remove what you can......sometimes you
can syphon the stuff off the bottom with a piece of air line tube
pretty easy. Redirect a powerhead to put more flow in the areas its
building up in, and if yu can get a phosphate sponge commonly sold in
LFS to remove excess phosphates. ou are using at least RO water,
preferably RODI right? Sometimres just changing feeds, reducing amount
fed and water current is sufficient to eliminate this red slime.

On Thu, 19 Jan 2006 03:00:28 -0600, "BigMike" <iyam@whatiyam> wrote:
>><>I am getting a dark red , almost crimson supstance growing on the substrate
>><>in my tank. I can remove it by hand but it comes back i a couple of weeks.
>><>When I remove the substance it takes the top layer of the substate with it,
>><>kinda like rolling up a snowball. Any ideas what it is and how to get rid of
>><>it. Thanks Mike
>><>

--
\\\|///
( @ @ )
-----------oOOo(_)oOOo---------------


oooO
---------( )----Oooo----------------
\ ( ( )
\_) ) /
(_/
The original frugal ponder! Koi-ahoi mates....

[Peter Pan]

Or you can use a product called CHEMI-CLEAN works overnight and is reef
safe. You can get it from your LFS. Also like Roy said, redirect your water
flow to prevent it from coming back once its cleaned up. Good Luck.
"Roy" > wrote in message
...
> Its commonly called the red slime algae. Actually its cyano
> bacteria....It usually comes from an over abundance of nutrients and
> poor water flow. The main ingredient it feeds on is phosphates.....Cut
> back on feedings, and if your feeding flake it seems that is a prime
> cause of it, as flake foods contain a lot of phosphates...so you may
> want to consider switching feeds to a pelleted or frozen type. Do a
> partial water change after yu remove what you can......sometimes you
> can syphon the stuff off the bottom with a piece of air line tube
> pretty easy. Redirect a powerhead to put more flow in the areas its
> building up in, and if yu can get a phosphate sponge commonly sold in
> LFS to remove excess phosphates. ou are using at least RO water,
> preferably RODI right? Sometimres just changing feeds, reducing amount
> fed and water current is sufficient to eliminate this red slime.
>
> On Thu, 19 Jan 2006 03:00:28 -0600, "BigMike" <iyam@whatiyam> wrote:
>>><>I am getting a dark red , almost crimson supstance growing on the
>>>substrate
>>><>in my tank. I can remove it by hand but it comes back i a couple of
>>>weeks.
>>><>When I remove the substance it takes the top layer of the substate with
>>>it,
>>><>kinda like rolling up a snowball. Any ideas what it is and how to get
>>>rid of
>>><>it. Thanks Mike
>>><>
>
> --
> \\\|///
> ( @ @ )
> -----------oOOo(_)oOOo---------------
>
>
> oooO
> ---------( )----Oooo----------------
> \ ( ( )
> \_) ) /
> (_/
> The original frugal ponder! Koi-ahoi mates....

[180Reef]

Here's an old article by Thiel:
http://netclub.athiel.com/cyano/cyanos2.htm

If you don't take care of the problem right away it could get waaaaay
out of control and almost become a never ending battle. I had this
problem and before I did a lot of research I was pulling it out every
other day by the handfuls just to find it growing right back again. It
can grow and spread very fast. Roy has a lot of good recommendations in
his response. Another thing I noticed that helped curb mine back
without using chemicals was feeding fresh cultured phytoplankton to the
tank daily (grown for 10 days to ensure I was not adding more nutrients
to the tank). I started feeding a 1/4 cup of phyto a day and worked up
to 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups a day in my 180. It helped by competing for the
excess nutrients as well as it being beneficial for my filter feeders,
etc.

[180Reef]

Just to note the phytoplankton was in addition to doing things like Ron
is recommending. Very good current flow on the problem areas is
important. If it is growing on your rock and corals you can use a
turkey baster to gently blow if off without bothering the corals too
much. It is important to try to remove as much as you can. Also try to
keep it from breaking up into too small of pieces so it will not be too
difficult to remove.

Before doing a water change I would usually turn off all pumps and then
pull out what I could by hand. Follow up with the turkey baster to blow
if off of the rocks and corals. Lightly siphon the bottom without
disturbing the live sand too much. This is sometimes hard as it "binds"
to the top layer of your sand if it has been growing there. You don't
want to distrurb the live sand too much. You can also use a fish net to
drag the water column to get out the smaller pieces. Once you have
removed most every piece you can find then follow up with you water
change.

[kim gross]

Chemi-clean will kill off the cyano, but it will not solve your problem,
if you do not remove the excess nutriants it will return. Work on
tuning up your skimmer (or get a better one) and get a lot more water
flow if possible, a normal cause for your problem is detritis settling
out of the water in a low flow area leaving nice snacks for the cyano to
eat.

Kim




> Or you can use a product called CHEMI-CLEAN works overnight and is reef
> safe. You can get it from your LFS. Also like Roy said, redirect your water
> flow to prevent it from coming back once its cleaned up. Good Luck.
> "Roy" > wrote in message
> ...
>
>>Its commonly called the red slime algae. Actually its cyano
>>bacteria....It usually comes from an over abundance of nutrients and
>>poor water flow. The main ingredient it feeds on is phosphates.....Cut
>>back on feedings, and if your feeding flake it seems that is a prime
>>cause of it, as flake foods contain a lot of phosphates...so you may
>>want to consider switching feeds to a pelleted or frozen type. Do a
>>partial water change after yu remove what you can......sometimes you
>>can syphon the stuff off the bottom with a piece of air line tube
>>pretty easy. Redirect a powerhead to put more flow in the areas its
>>building up in, and if yu can get a phosphate sponge commonly sold in
>>LFS to remove excess phosphates. ou are using at least RO water,
>>preferably RODI right? Sometimres just changing feeds, reducing amount
>>fed and water current is sufficient to eliminate this red slime.
>>
>>On Thu, 19 Jan 2006 03:00:28 -0600, "BigMike" <iyam@whatiyam> wrote:
>>
>>>><>I am getting a dark red , almost crimson supstance growing on the
>>>>substrate
>>>><>in my tank. I can remove it by hand but it comes back i a couple of
>>>>weeks.
>>>><>When I remove the substance it takes the top layer of the substate with
>>>>it,
>>>><>kinda like rolling up a snowball. Any ideas what it is and how to get
>>>>rid of
>>>><>it. Thanks Mike
>>>><>
>>
>>--
>> \\\|///
>> ( @ @ )
>>-----------oOOo(_)oOOo---------------
>>
>>
>> oooO
>>---------( )----Oooo----------------
>> \ ( ( )
>> \_) ) /
>> (_/
>>The original frugal ponder! Koi-ahoi mates....
>
>
>

[miskairal]

I had a small-moderate amount growing on the sand only along with
diatoms and still a tad of hair algae and as I was getting it off the
sand there was a lot of "snow" developing in the tank. I grabbed a spare
internal filter from my freshwater tanks and filled it with floss and
left it running for a few hours and removed it. Sure removed a lot of
debris with it so I washed the floss and reinstalled the filter for 12
more hours and removed it. Again a fair amount of gunk removed but less
than the first time. It is now 3 days later and there is definitely less
growth of cyano, diatoms and hair algae in my tank (none that I can see
so far). I left one tiny patch of cyano on the sand b/c it has a fanworm
growing in it and it hasn't spread.

A few here have mentioned water flow but my worst hit areas were where
the water flow is greatest. I really think the short term use of that
filter has made a huge difference to the nutrient levels of my tank
which is still very new.


180Reef wrote:
> Just to note the phytoplankton was in addition to doing things like Ron
> is recommending. Very good current flow on the problem areas is
> important. If it is growing on your rock and corals you can use a
> turkey baster to gently blow if off without bothering the corals too
> much. It is important to try to remove as much as you can. Also try to
> keep it from breaking up into too small of pieces so it will not be too
> difficult to remove.
>
> Before doing a water change I would usually turn off all pumps and then
> pull out what I could by hand. Follow up with the turkey baster to blow
> if off of the rocks and corals. Lightly siphon the bottom without
> disturbing the live sand too much. This is sometimes hard as it "binds"
> to the top layer of your sand if it has been growing there. You don't
> want to distrurb the live sand too much. You can also use a fish net to
> drag the water column to get out the smaller pieces. Once you have
> removed most every piece you can find then follow up with you water
> change.
>