Red Slime = Diatoms = let it run it's course?

[duijver]

Hey Guys.. Hopefully a quick question here.. It looks like either my Typhoon III DI or my cleaning the bottom substrate (to remove green algae) has caused a MAJOR red slime/algae bloom. It has lasted for I think 3 weeks now. A few days ago ( about 3-4 days ) I put in A LOT of PURA PhosLock ( PhosBan alternative ) into my overflow as it seems a lot of folks recommend this to eat up any phosphates that exist in the tank. After putting the PhosLock in I scrubbed about 1/3rd of the LR in the tank in a low sal solution - water was very brown to black after. Most of those are red again. I keep blowing off the red from things that can't fend from themselves, but it just seems to be getting worse?

Do I just let go? Will it subside or do I need to use a red slime remover?

I've also seen folks mention flow problems that cause this, but I can't imagine this is the issue. I have 4 power heads in my 47 gal tank.... 1 is like 320gph and the other 3 are 160gph. The three 160's are on a wave maker with 30 sec delay.

I just can't seem to figure out what's causing the problem. My poor fish only get food once every 3 days - for the past month.. so I can't imagine that's the root cause. Although, it did seem to start AFTER I used some PetSmart frozen brine shrimp (1 cube for 3 small clowns and 1 damsel)... was really way to much...

I've done 2 - 20% water changes since then.

Thanks guys!

 

[magic]

Duijver

When you feed the brine shrimp do you soak them in RO water and then drain the shrimp in a net before you put them in your tank? The water that they are packed in is filthy and adds a lot of nasty stuff to your tank.

Bob

 

[Phyl]

What kind of lights do you have and how old are the bulbs? PCs will create red slime every 6mo like clockwork.

 

[duijver]

Bob: I didn't.. I figured that they were ready for consumption. I had only used them 1x since the red bloom started and I didn't want to chance adding any other possible impurities.

Phyl: I'm using a Coralife 36" PC - 2x96 bulbs - http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewItem~category~Coralife_36_Inch_Aqualight_With_1_96W_Actinic___1_96W_10_000K_Lamp_Square_Pin_Base_(with_fans)_Saltwater_Aquarium_Supplies_Lighting_Fixtures_Power_Compact_36in_Units~vendor~Coralife~SearchStr~~action~view~idProduct~ES53104~idCategory~FILTFIPCTS.html. I bought it new, supposely, in September. Is there any way to really determine if the bulbs are on the way out - maybe decrease the light to < 6 hours or so and see if it decreases? Right now I am on a 10 hour schedule/timer for the 1 bulb and about 9 hour for the 10k (30 minutes of Actinic period before and after 10K's)


Also.. my skimmer broke (3 months ago) and I just finished removing all of the bioballs in the filter.. i've moved onto a new filter method - besides LR and Chaeto. I followed some guys instructions to mod my wet/dry filter into a "Mega Powerful Nitrate and Phosphate Remover - DIY!" filter found on a few forums. I'm hesitant to believe that's the root cause though.

 

[mkreef]

My tank passed has passed its first birthday in Aug-Sep, but I ran the tank for two months with only about 20lbs of sands and two small pieces of live rock until Nov (Hidden reef had its blowout sale where I bought all my LR and Sand). So you can think this month is truly its first birthday. Since then, I went through the four stages of algae/cyano (Brown->green->cyano->coraline). My battle with red slime/cyano period happened around March/April/May this year. My tank was around 5-8 months old. How old is your tank? It was also about that time when Kenya Trees FLOURISHED in my tank. It was sick how much it grew and propogated. It was everywhere! The reason being, some say, that Kenya trees LOVE dirty new tanks, and the reason why some say Kenya trees are great beginner coral. It gives newbs (which I still am) some confidence and to help fill the empty voids in the rockscape.

How I beat it? Well, to tell you the truth, I dont think that "I" did. For the most part, I believe that over time, it ran its course and I believe it will do the same for you. But I did try to manage it. I beef-ed up my flow by adding two Koralia 3's in my 75. I increased the size of my sump/fuge to fit more cheato & LR, and upgraded my skimmer. I used a toothbrush to brush the patches off the rock every day, and syphoned off the clumps during water changes. There was a period that I was so frustrated, that I completly blackout my tank with a sheet for three whole days to kill off the cyano. Then after, i did a large water change and syphoned all that I could get. It came back, though not as strong.

So now I would like to say...

Hello everyone. I'm Mark. And I have been Cyano free for three months. With your support, I can be free from cyano forever....

 

[Hawkeye]

red slime is typically more descriptive of cyano bacteria. Have you googled diatoms and looked to see if that is what you have? or cyano?

if you bought the PC light in september - I doubt that is the problem.

The loss of a skimmer though is certainly something that may be contributing to your inability to get ahead of the algae (or cyano).

Curious what this new DIY method is the explosion in algae (or cyano) coinciding with the removal of your bioballs?

 

[duijver]

Sorry... but the forum just lost my entire original posting.... So here's a lighter version.

I don't think it's diatom's, but I do have plenty of green algae underneath this "red slime"

The entire bottom of my tank, and many of the rocks, look exactly like this picture.

The link to the DIY project and information on it is here: http://www.myfishtank.net/forum/saltwater-general-discussion/54076-mega-powerful-nitrate-phosphate-remover-diy.html

 

[JohnS_323]

Definitely cyano. The trapped air bubbles are a tell tale sign.

 

[duijver]

John: Thanks!

OK.. so to use a chemical or to not use a chemical? It seems like some of these things can do more damage than good - when it comes to LR destruction. One other thing i've noticed, I have A LOT of "junk" in my rocks when I blow it off with a baster.

Has anyone made, or purchased a vaccume type device that has a filter as part of it?

I was considering something like a tube attached to a powerhead that is like 3-6" in length and goes to a small box that has some filter material and then discharges into the tank. Then I can "churn" the water and instead of it just settling it's removed into this device. I'm very tempted to make it myself, but I'm curious if anyone has done it and someone already has a design?

 

[JohnS_323]

An easy thing to do is to get a length of 3/8" PE tube and a wooden dowel. Zip tie the tube to the dowel in a couple of spots and use it as a vacuum. With the small diameter tube, you can cover a lot of ground without losing a ton of water. Top off whatever you lose and call it a water change!

 

[duijver]

What if I syphon it into a 5gal bucket and before it hits the bucket it hits some type of contraption with a filter pad.. then in the 5gal bucket a powerhead just spits it back into the DT? Or am I asking for trouble? It stirs up way too much for me to get out with even a 20% WC. I've done three in the past 3 weeks and there is still plenty.

 

[JohnS_323]

I'm sure you could run the water through a filter sock or something before it goes into the bucket. That would probably work.

 

[duijver]

One thing that I just noticed and it made me think of another question...

"Important:

First time use of a brand new filter sock may cause increased protein skimming. Normal protein skimming function should resume within 24 hours. Be careful to monitor protein skimmer collection cup level so that it does not overflow."




I started my tank with some felt pads that filtered the smaller organics. When I bought the wet/dry filter the previous owners mentioned that when these thin pads are used up I can go to Michaels and just purchase some more felt pads. Now that I think of it, it may be possible that the major bloom started after I began using these new filter pads. I don't pre-rinse.. I just cut and began using. Does it sound like a possible culprit?

 

[redfishbluefish]

Whoo...Houston we have a problem...nonwoven products have binders and other stuff in there to hold them together and keep them “fresh” (biocides).  I would not use fabrics that either I didn’t know the additives or that were not made for aquarium use.  Some (if not most) binders could raise havoc with an aquarium, not to mention what the biocide stuff could do.

The binders I use to work with were acrylic compounds...good food stuff for some buggers.

 

[duijver]

ah... I'm such a dummy.. It just never hit me until reading that disclaimer. Well the good news is I know that i NEED TO STOP. But, the question is what is my best plan of attack from here on out? I will swap the quazi-filter pads out, but should I just scrub/blow and suck and let it run it's course with the Phoban type chemical?

 

[redfishbluefish]

I want to clarify...I’m not saying definitively that the Michael’s felt is the cause of your problems. I only wanted to state that nonwovens, such as felt, have stuff in them that would leach out when exposed to water. Some of this stuff is “bug” food, while other stuff is “bug” poison (and potential poison for other living organisms as well). Unless you were changing these pads with frequency, I would guess that the water-soluble binders would be “washed” out within a short period of time…especially if used where flow is constant. Therefore, it would not be a steady source of “food” for your now, three plus weeks of continued bloom. Here’s the bottom line...I don’t know what I’m talking about when it comes to aquariums!

 

[duijver]

I understand your stance but it's not a bad idea to remove it as a high-risk/potential culprit. I'm probably better off with some better type of material anyway. It's not exactly the best at filtering due to it's thin profile. I purchased a 36"x36" felt pad for $2 or $3 and the pieces that I cut, for filtering, are about 6"x6". I have been changing them about every 1-4 days depending on how dirty they visually appeared. They currently in my overflow, right after my u-tube, so they see a pretty good amount of flow.

 

[redfishbluefish]

One last point...”felt” could be wool, a wool blend or totally synthetic. For filtering aquariums, fully synthetic would be the best, assuming it was made for that application.

I’m done!

 

[onefish2fish]

just like the "wool" the "blue fish" is standing on?


got it!

 

[calaxa]

That cyano is a pain to get rid of. I was on business for about 3-4 months during which time, my kids took care of the tank. They were feeding 2 cubes 2-3x a day. I came back to massive hair algae and at the time wasn't sure what it was floating at top of tank. I got the hair algae down to about 3 rocks now but that's when they cyano came. All across the substrate and on the hair algae. I got flow going everywhere at the moment to try to fix this. I dumped in about 100 janitors but no one wants to touch the cyano or hair algae (guess plenty of other goodies in the tank). Slowly it's disappearing but it's been almost 2 months. I'm adamant about not using a chemical solution.