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Best red slime remover on reef tanks


NAGA

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I’ve had bad luck using red slime removers in reef tanks where I have killed anenomes and some fish despite using the product as directed.  I’ve heard Anti-red is better to use and apparently there is one made by Sera and one made by Aqua Medic.  It was also told to me that these products claim to leave skimmer on while in use.   Anybody with any experience with these products on a heavily stocked reef tsnk?

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I used red slime remover the other week. it caused the oxygen levels to go so low i lost all 3 fishes I had.

It did get rid of the cyano but if I would use it again it would be with caution. I did not run an air pump with a bubble stone to oxygenate the water per instructions.

 

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Red Slime Remover and Chemiclean both can do the job. Start with a half dose and wait a couple of days. Pull your carbon and pull the cup on your skimmer. Just let the skimmer overflow for a few days. It's important to keep the water aerated. There's been a lot of speculation over the years of what's in these products and whether or not it knocks back your biological filter. 

 

Cyanobacteria is a very primitive life form. It's actually thought to be the source of a lot of oxygen in our atmosphere today. It's pretty durable.  Tanks with high phosphates relative to nitrates (i.e. low Redfield ratio) favor cyanobacteria. 

 

That film that cyano produces is actually full of organics. If you were to siphon it off, you're actually exporting the nutrients that it's made of. Cyano also releases dissolved organic carbon (DOCs) into the water (typically at night). You can remove it by adding GAC to the system which will help to pull the DOCs off. 

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There are countless accounts of Chemiclean getting rid of cyano.  I was bought some myself but decided to try a more logical and natural approach.

Personally, my current system is the only system I’ve ever had cyano.  I strongly believe that the root cause stems from me starting this one with dry rock.  All my previous systems were started with live rock and I’ve had tanks with both high and low nutrient level systems, as well as a system that was pretty neglected.  The biodiversity that came on on those rocks kept my systems “rock” solid.

My current system was started with dry rock and I took everything extremely slow. Stocking is way lower than I’ve ever done in the past and nutrients has always been low (usually undetectable) and constant.  In the end, this was the system to get cyano.

When it comes to cyano, I found the best way to counter an outbreak is to find other forms of bacteria that’ll outcompete it for space.  Doing more frequent water changes to siphon out as much cyano, then introducing a number of bacteria strains (coupled with vinegar to promote growth) actually helped get them under control.  I also ended up raising my nutrient levels through more feedings.  Nutrients are still pretty low but at least now my nitrates are detectable.

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On 2/1/2019 at 7:38 PM, ReefdUp said:

Recommend finding the root cause and reducing it that way.

Sent from my SM-G935P using Tapatalk
 

Oh that’s helpful

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Your experience is what I had but lost more fish and rose anenomes.    I’m thinking of doing a lower dose and leaving skimmer on but very low. 

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(edited)

Thanks Tom,

im going to go this route based on what you say and my preliminary thoughts of trying just that.   The system is 1500 gallons (reef) so there is a lot to lose if a mistake is made.  Appreciate it Tom!

 

btw: thank you everyone who replied with their experiences and suggestions on a method of getting this done.  Very much appreciated.  

Edited by NAGA
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Jeff

 

i had some type of red cotton algae about a year ago. Nothing worked on it and I lost about 1/2 of my SPS to it. Right before I was about to do a full reboot of the tank I found out about flucanzole. I dosed 30 capsules for about 300 total volume and within a few month it all went away. Everything in the tank survived to include the clean up crew. 

 

Its been over over a year and it hasn’t come back. 

 

Not sure if it will work for you, but it’s a very cheap option that doesn’t cause any issues to the rest of the tank. 

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