red slime and flow

[A1C scooter]

I have 120 Gal tank it's been up sence Aug. All water test are good.I have a mag drive 1800, 2 maxie jet 1200, and a Rio 400.But I have red slime on the top of my sand and on my rocks. Is this enough flow. Or is it something else

PLEASE HELP!!!
A1C scooter

[Jr]

there could be many other things that could be causing the red slime. Your tank is only 2 months old so it is only part of the cycle, its pretty normal to get red slime but it definetly isnt good. Are you using R/O water? What kind of lighting do you have and are you keeping them on too long. (8 hours a day should be enough) Are you feeding your fish too much? If you want to get rid of it you should get "chemi-clean" its what i use and it works great. Red Slime is a cynobacteria so snails and crabs or reef "janitors" won't take care of this problem

[A1C scooter]

No I use tap water.
I have a 400 watt MH and 4 36 watt PC.Thay are on for about 9 hours a day.And yes I think I feed to much.What is chemi-clean and is it reef safe?

Thanks for the reply
Larry

[Jr]

well thats your main problem. tap water contains many harmful trace elements and just a bunch of crap you dont want, even if you use amonia remover its still not good enough especially with a 120 gallon tank. Your current flow is more than enough and your lighting is fine. Try looking into a reverse osmosis unit. R/O water isnt that expensive (only 25cents/gallon) but with 120 gallons that adds up after awhile. Chemi clean is a reef safe, invertabrate safe, desirable to macro algaes, nitrifiying bacteria, and fish. It removes diseases causing red cyano bacter. its about $15 and it treats 300 gallons. good luck!

[cyberchef]

Chemi clean is an antibiotic/antibacterial agent that kills off cyano "Bacteria"... It is also a broad spectrum anti-bacteria agent that is non-selective in the bacteria it will kill, meaning it will kill of good bacteria as quickly as bad. It is also been known to cause bleaching/death in SPS corals (I know from first hand experience). It does not remove cyano bacteria it only kills it off temporarily. It is not freindly to niter bacteria or nitrosomus bacteria (denitrifying bacteria) nor is it ovrly freindly to macro algaes.

Cyano is a natural occuring bacteria that feeds off of excess nutrients in your system and it is also one of the "cycles" that your tank will go through as it matures.

The best thing to do is cut back on the overfeeding, do a few large water changes and syphon off the cyano bacteria which will remove the nutrients it has tied up in it's cells. If you run a skimmer,crank it up and replace the wet skimmate with fresh ASW on a 1:1 ratio.

Also get either RO/DI water to use for water changes and replacement water, or if you can afford it get yourself a RO/DI unit. they are well worth the investment. Tapwater can be high in phosphates, nitrates as well as heavy metals and chlorine. All of which are bad for the Reef Aquarium.

Chemicals are not the answer to a problem whether it be cyano or some other algae. That will only mask the symptoms not solve the problem. Killing off the cyano in your tank without removing it willonly release all of it's stored nutrients back into your system as well as any toxins itmight have absorbed or made.

What are your water parameters ("good" is not specific enough)? Also since the tank has only been setup since August what else do you have in the tank besides LR, substrate and Cyano? What do you feed and how much/how often. Also what other "additives" are you using/dosing (iodine, strontium, calcium, DT's...etc)?

One of the things you need for this hobby is patience, nothing good will happen quickly. It takes aproximately a full year for the SB to mature enough to handle the majority of the nutrients and such that we add to our systems. Also did you let the tank run it's full nitrite/nitrate cycle before adding anything to the tank besides the SB, LR and water?

[Dorsalfin1]

A1C scooter, Airman First Class Scooter? You in the Air Force?

[Dorsalfin1]

Yes, I see you are, what do you do a Travis, you don't happen to be a 2T2?

[A1C scooter]

Yes I am a 2t2. Are you a porter?

My water tests all came back perfect. I even took the water into my local fish store and had it tested, and they too say it is perfect. Everything that was tested was... nitrates, nitrites, ph, alkalinity and amonia.

Is an R/O the only option that I have?

-Larry

[Harpo]

Hey, Larry & Alysha, gladd to see you two joined up.
I have to agree, need to do something about your water source. Tap water is not a good thing. Check around and see if there are any water services like we have back here at home. If not, a quick fix for now, you can see if any of the local shops sell water. I know your on a budget, but it will help till you can find a clean source.
Dad.

[Reefdude5]

An RO unit is in my opinion a must for a any reef tank but especially reef. I have a 120 and I noticed the tank improved after I added RO. I used Chemi Clean against Cyno with great success, but that doesn't mean everyone does. I did not have many corals in when I used it. I increased water flow over the sand bed and it seemed to help. I would definatly invest in an RO.

[Geoff]

i totally agree with cyberchef. if you feel you feed your tank to much then skimming will be your best bet for getting this under control. this will not be overnight. it will take a while for enough of the nutrients to be exported even with all of the water changes and skimming. this is a slow process. it may take a month to get it all back in check. the siphoning out the slime and running wet skimmate is the way to go.

G~

[A1C scooter]

Thank you for all the help.


Larry

[Python73]

Just to be the voice of dissention here... in many areas tap water is fine for a reef. I have two reef tanks that have been running for a year and a half with tap water and have no problems. I do have a bit of cyano in the bigger tank in the low flow areas. But cyano isn't typically a tap water issue. You can have the purest RO DI water and still have cyano.

Larry - the things you had you tap tested for are not the issue. Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are animal waste products (or result from them). PH and alk are not affected by RO filtration anyway. The big things RO filters remove are metals, chlorine and chloramine, phosphate (which can cause ALGAE growth), etc.

I'm not anti-RO, I think they are great. But for me it is an unnecessary expense. Cyano can be dealt with by increasing flow, and I've heard from some people that keeping your alk high also helps. I've used the anti-bacterial products before and it did work. But that was in a tank with no corals or fish at the time.

S !

[A1C scooter]

We have corals in our aquarium and are unable to use anti-bacterial products. Could it be our skimmer? We have a Jebo 180 Gallon Hang on Protein Skimmer, and our aquarium is a 120 gallon. Not sure if anyone else has here has ever used this skimmer, or this brand of skimmer. If so, is this a good skimmer, or could it be that our skimmer is crappy and not doing it's job?

-Larry

[Python73]

My 90g FOwLR has been without a skimmer for 6 months. Not a spot of cyano.

S !