red slime? brown algae???

[tanktop74]

Hi all....

I got a 29 gal biocube about 3-4 weeks ago, used with livestock.

I now have some interesting algae growing, 3 kinds to be exact... the brown algae that comes on the sand that I understand is normal with a tank cycle. The other two I have no Idea what it is or how to get rid of it. The red stuff is now on 2 different rocks, the One I have pictured below I pulled out and scrubbed off with a toothbrush about a week ago and it is back worse than before. The brown stuff in the second picture came within the last few days, and seems to be taking over fairly quickly.

For filtration I run chemi-pure and Epigen, this is what she had in it when I got it.... also of mention, she use to use just distilled drinking water to make her saltwater and when adding water to the tank. I have heard in the past this is not the best water to use.

Any thoughts? ph is stable, no nitrates on last check yesterday and the corals in the tank are doing great, as are the fish... just ugly to look at!

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Thanks for any help, Beth

[tanktop74]

Any ideas??? please!!!

[coralreefer]

One is probably cyano (red) and the second, while I can't make out well from photos, if there are any bubbles, may be dinoflaggelates...can you do brighter, closer shots?

DrMerle

[tanktop74]

One is probably cyano (red) and the second, while I can't make out well from photos, if there are any bubbles, may be dinoflaggelates...can you do brighter, closer shots?

DrMerle

I got some better pictures, you can see from the third picture how much the red stuff has grown since yesterdays picture. I also got a good picture of the bubbles on another rock in the tank.

Thanks for any advice... I really appreciate it!

Beth
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[reef165]

cyano for sure, what kind of flow/water movement do you have? do you have a skimmer? what are your water peramiters? when was the last water change? do you use RO/DI water?

[tanktop74]

Flow is from the pump and 1 power head, seems to be moving stuff around well. Had my water tested at lfs yesterday and they said everything was "fine". Last water change was when I got the tank 3 weeks ago, planning for another this weekend. I am using RO/DI water... but the person I bought it from was using distilled bottled water... figures I get the to deal with her mistakes... but I bought it any way! No skimmer, was told I really didn't need one on a nano... but have considered it, just have to find one!

Any suggestions? Water change and ??? to treat the Cyano....

Thanks,
Beth

[ClayTheSavageFraser]

chemi clean worked for me!

It's awesome!

Clay

[coralreefer]

I think I would dose this tank with chemi-clean and look at 3 days with no lights on.

Treat with chemi-clean...Watch your O2 level...turn off skimmer for 48 hours...will foam like crazy when you turn it back on....watch your pH level...take out any carbon...do a water change when you turn skimmer back on...

definitely looks like cyano and dinos...

DrMerle

[Benny503]

At seahorse they have a bottle get ride of cyno... I had that same issue, I changed the light bulbs didn't work, put more flow still didn't work. I talked to Issac when he was still working at Seahorse, he told me use the bottle they sell there to get rid of cyno and it did. I haven't see cyno again :-) I still have over half of the bottle but too bad I am way too far from you or else you can have it.

[tanktop74]

Thats cool... I think I will head over there this weekend and pick up a bottle... before this stuff chokes all my ricordias!!

[Benny503]

I remember what it call now, red slim remover :-) It owrks very well for me, I used it a little less then the direction labled :-)

[impur]

chemiclean works well.

But it still might come back. Good husbandry is your best bet. Weekly 25% WCs and syphon it out daily. Add some GFO, make sure you have a hefty skimmer, 0TDS makeup water, 0TDS topoff water, make sure the filters in your RO/DI are still good, up the flow, new bulbs. Takes some work. I went thru it and had to go the hard way which i just described. But haven't seen a speck since.

[Algae]

. I took Impur's advice and used Chemi-Clean and it really worked great. Also, took care of a bit of dino I believe. It won't deal with other Algae, but it will allow you to get some "breathing room" with the cyano.

[CA2OR]

I used Red Slime Control when I had it bad and one day later it was all gone.

[grassi]

I know it's easy to freak out when you start seeing this stuff in your tank, but really I strongly believe it's best to treat without chemicals/additives until completely needed. We were able to control and eventually get rid of ours by doing 10% water changes twice a week, adding a better sand sifting crew, and increasing the flow.

It's always best to cure the cause ;)

[chewie]

http://www.pnwmas.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5760&d=1252032616

That is the beginnings of Dino flagellates

Usually caused by high Phosphates.

The others are cyano, and I'm unsure on the grey looking algae.

Up the water movement in the tank, add some scarlet reef hermits, and some Margarita/Astrea snails.You will also want to address the P04 Issue and run phos-lock or other P04 removing medias.

[Fish]

I have a 37g seahorse tank and I am constantly fighting cyano from feeding frequently and having to use a weak water flow for them. I changed my water more frequently, added some phosban, and got a sea hare. The sea hare eats hair algae and cyano! I did this about 3-4 weaks ago and my problem is 98% gone.