mling February 16, 2009 Share February 16, 2009 I am having a Red Slim problem and I would not want to use any chemicals to battle this. One of the causes is NO3 which is about 5 to 10 ppm. I think the other may be water flow. This web site suggest that they have clean up crew for it -> http://www.garf.org/redslime.html#SPECIAL I though that you can't get any clean up crew to eat red slime ? Does any one have experience with using critters to eat Red slime ? Regarding water flow, the 2 Koralia 4 I have are at each end of the tank and pointing out. The idea when I set up the tank was to have the water flow meet in the middle. Here's some pic of the tank to provide a better perspective. Oh, this was taken before the red slime problem Would a better idea be to move one to blow down the length of the tank and have the water flow not meet but to be continous ? The tank is only about 6 mths old but would changing water flow adversely affect the few corals I have. When I changed the lighting to T5s from PCs in January, many coral did not take the change too well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DDiver February 16, 2009 Share February 16, 2009 I have never seen any of my critters eat the cyano..also I think phosphates would play a bigger part in the outbreak than your nitrates would..switching the flow wouldn't be too big of a deal with your corals so long that the pattern isn't constantly changing..HTH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeanCallan February 16, 2009 Share February 16, 2009 I think it's a marketing thing to sell a few more critters. I had an outbreak and I did some extensive research on it and found nothing in regards to any critter that feeds on the cyano. There are a number of causes for cyano. Even an oversized skimmer can contribute to an outbreak. People recommend you cut down on your light cycle, decrease feedings, increase flow, and syphon out as much as possible. It'll still take a few weeks before you really start to make any progress. Or you use red slime remover and in 3 days your tank is clean. Worked like a charm for me and a number of other people on WAMAS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami February 16, 2009 Share February 16, 2009 I've never found anything that reliably eats the slime as well. But you gotta love this advice that GARF gives for cyano control "while you wait": THINGS TO DO ABOUT RED SLIME ALGAE WHILE YOU WAIT FOR YOUR REEF JANITORS - ABOUT TWO DAYS - two 20% water changes will lower nutrient level - ALWAYS USE Ocean Pure DOUBLE the power heads to increase current - the more water flow you have the faster your algae will clear up. ADD MORE LIGHTS -Light bulbs shift to red and grow more algae when they age - change bulbs Cut food to 1/2 for one month Add Phosphate control product from SeaChem Add carbon slowly - I add one tablespoon three times a day for two days to 55 gallon Siphon out as much cyanobateria as you can - use small hose Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeanCallan February 16, 2009 Share February 16, 2009 I've never found anything that reliably eats the slime as well. But you gotta love this advice that GARF gives for cyano control "while you wait": THINGS TO DO ABOUT RED SLIME ALGAE WHILE YOU WAIT FOR YOUR REEF JANITORS - ABOUT TWO DAYS - two 20% water changes will lower nutrient level - ALWAYS USE Ocean Pure DOUBLE the power heads to increase current - the more water flow you have the faster your algae will clear up. ADD MORE LIGHTS -Light bulbs shift to red and grow more algae when they age - change bulbs Cut food to 1/2 for one month Add Phosphate control product from SeaChem Add carbon slowly - I add one tablespoon three times a day for two days to 55 gallon Siphon out as much cyanobateria as you can - use small hose Yup. Basically follow these steps to fight your cyano and then add in some critters who will watch you slaving to do it your own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilary February 16, 2009 Share February 16, 2009 Aren't ceriths supposed to help? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mling February 16, 2009 Author Share February 16, 2009 I have never seen any of my critters eat the cyano..also I think phosphates would play a bigger part in the outbreak than your nitrates would..switching the flow wouldn't be too big of a deal with your corals so long that the pattern isn't constantly changing..HTH My phosphate have been measuring as zero. I do have RO and a huge skimmer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
extreme_tooth_decay February 16, 2009 Share February 16, 2009 I have watched big turbo snails eat it before. And they ate it fast, but not fast enough. I'd put them on the glass where the red slime was, and an hour later a 6" square area would be clear (but pucker marked). tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmubeach February 16, 2009 Share February 16, 2009 I got a fighting conch that eats it fairly regularly.... Unfortanlty he doesn't get up on the glass so you still get out breaks on the glass, but least its not on the corals... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterTang February 16, 2009 Share February 16, 2009 Or you use red slime remover and in 3 days your tank is clean. Worked like a charm for me and a number of other people on WAMAS. Yep - I can honestly say that it cleaned me right out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeanCallan February 16, 2009 Share February 16, 2009 Yep - I can honestly say that it cleaned me right out I don't think the red slime remover was your problem. You ran it while at least 3 others of us did as well and no one had any problems. I think there remains another issue at hand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zygote2k February 17, 2009 Share February 17, 2009 I'll chime in here since I have had numerous run-ins with Cyano over the years. The very 1st time I ever had it, I tried the red slime remover but the cyano developed a resistance to it and actually used the stuff to grow faster. The more recent times, I used the tried and true method: Cut back on feeding, Add strong waterflow targeted apecifically to the area of most cyano growth and regular weekly water changes. I have used a Sea Hare in the past which ate some, but preferred other algaes instead. DON'T USE RED SLIME REMOVER! The risks are great that you'll kill more than just the Cyanobacteria. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dschflier February 17, 2009 Share February 17, 2009 Well I must agree with Sean about the red slime remover. If used carefully, like most things in the hobby it can work very well and has worked very well for me. Proper filtration and water changes can get rid of it, or get rid of most of it, but if you have just a small amount hiding in some corner it can re-populate rather quickly. It can be very difficult to completely remove and then it seems to to be a constant battle. I have had cyno bacteria 2 times in my system. Each time I think it occurred because of either some period of time where I slacked a bit on my upkeep or part of my system was re-cycling or both. The first time was about 3 years ago and after fighting it with all the techniques mentioned I finally used the red slime remover. This product completely removes the red slime from your system. I believe this is the key. Getting most of it out just creates a long battle which can last for years. Once you are completely rid of it, if you then maintain a good clean tank it can take a very long time to show up again. My 2nd time getting cyno just happend over the past couple of months. My tank had a leak and in the process of re-setting up my new tank cyno took hold. I had been fighting it for about a month now and I wasn't happy with the results. I have about 350 gallons of water. On February 11th I put the red-slime remover in my tank I manually removed as much of the cyno as I could get to. I then turned off my media reactor and skimmer. Poured in the red slime remover and let it work for just under 2 days. During the second day I let my skimmer run and overflow into a 5 gallon bucket. I would turn the skimmer on for about an hour and this was how I would do my water changes. I also syphoned out any detrius I could find. I re-charged my media reactor which hadn't been recharged in like 3 months and let it start working after the full 2 days. Yesterday was the first day I could actually run my skimmer normally, before this I could only keep it on for an hour or two and then would have to empty the bucket. I also placed my tunzees a bit higher up so they could syphon in some air. This helped keep the tank oxygenated while the skimmer was off. I think the product is very useful and you shouldn't be so quick to say "Don't use it" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mling February 17, 2009 Author Share February 17, 2009 Looks like I have been reading my Phosphate test kit incorrectly. I was looking at the front of the kit versus the side. Anyway, the reading is 0.5 mg/l. Is this high enough to start using Phosphate removers ? Will water changes lower this ? I always prefer to do water changes instead of adding any chemicals. Thanks for all the advise posted. Nice to know I am not alone in this fight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smoothtriqueter February 17, 2009 Share February 17, 2009 yes water changes will help, but test your water to make sure you aren't adding more. Also phosguard in a media reactor isn't adding chemicals but sure would be taking some out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treesprite February 17, 2009 Share February 17, 2009 (edited) I used the remover. It worked to get rid of the cyano and it looked to not affect anything in the tank. Then recently there was a thread here talkoing about it having antibiotic in it that would kill off the good bacteria and possibly cause the tank to cycle while that cycling could cause problems for the tank because of amonia and nitrite. It's also important to note that tho chemical only temporarily rids the cyano, the cyano will come back if the problem that promoted it in the first place isn't fixed. Sometimes a week, sometimes a few months, but it will come back. Edited February 17, 2009 by treesprite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zotzer February 18, 2009 Share February 18, 2009 (edited) I'm going to suggest, in addition to regular water changes and siphoning what you can, that you reposition those koralias. You can't just "point" them at the problem like you can with a maxijet...the flow is too dispersed. Here's what you need to do: -move them much higher in the tank (mine are at about the top 1/3 mark of the tank). The surface of the tank should look like it is on a slow, rolling boil. -position them so that they are pointing toward the surface of the water, toward each other, and toward the front glass, all at the same time. This produces maximum dispersion of the flow, and a very strong downward current. Have any doubts? Put a chunk of gsp or something down on the sand, and see what happens as you reposition the powerheads. The increased air exchange and better overall flow will help eradicate the cyano. I haven't had any since I got my koralias positioned properly. Oh, and I take those flow/guard things off too. Good luck, Tracy Edited February 18, 2009 by zotzer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctenophore February 18, 2009 Share February 18, 2009 Cerith snails will eat it fairly reliably, as will Strombus gigas (queen conch), if you can find one. Every S. gigas I have ever had (at least a dozen or two) have all vacuumed it up eagerly. The only problem with that approach is you're treating the symptom and not the cause. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mling February 18, 2009 Author Share February 18, 2009 Cerith snails will eat it fairly reliably, as will Strombus gigas (queen conch), if you can find one. Every S. gigas I have ever had (at least a dozen or two) have all vacuumed it up eagerly. The only problem with that approach is you're treating the symptom and not the cause. I couldn't agree with you more. I am going to address the water flow issue first. I have changed the direction of one of the power heads to blow down the length of the tank. Now the water flow is in a continous clockwise flow versus the previous one where it meet at the front of the tank. I think 2 Koralia 4 is eough for my 156, correct ? In the mean tme I have been busy removing the red slim the old fashion way - turkey blaster ! NO3 at 5ppm and Phosphate at 0.5 is something I hope to address with more water changes. Currently I do 18Gallon change every week; I have about 200G total when you count the 50G slump. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dschflier February 18, 2009 Share February 18, 2009 Once again this is just my opinion and I am sure others may feel differently but this has worked for me twice. After I have gotten cyno I have been able to fight it with the standard measures but doing these it is almost impossible to get rid of it entirely and if you slack off for a short time it appears to come back with force. Using the red slime remover as I mentioned gets rid of it entirely, which ends the fight. At least until it is reintroduced. I find by entirely eliminating the foothold it had has given me long periods of time without seeing any in my tank. The product costs under $10 bucks and I for one no longer have to spend all the time trying to get rid of it. For me it is well worth the time saving to cost. I think I would feel differently if it came right back, in my case it didn't. I will see what this most recent use of it does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mling February 18, 2009 Author Share February 18, 2009 Here's a good article from a reliable source, Michael Scott http://www.aquariumfish.com/aquariumfish/d...3791&search Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now