Red Slime

[viler]

so basically red slime is from low flow, poor lights and the release of nutrients/phosphates from sand bed/rock?

I just need to clear that up so i can work out how to deal with my outbreak.
Sand bed is becoming brown and the rocks are showing areas or red slime that have formed tendrils that whip around in the water current

[jenglish]

Yep, that sounds like cyano, and those are the common causes. THe nutrients may not come from rock and sand, they can just come from overfeeding as well.

[viler]

its a 29 gallon biocube, two clows a pistol shrimp and a dottyback are the residents.

they get fed about 12-15 pellets twice a week.

Im trying to work out where the slimes coming from, all i can think of is a recent rock placement change and a sifting goby I added. I lost the goby and had a spike of 80+ in nitrates after he started burrowing under the rocks. thats all i can think of that ive done recently. it gets regular 5 gallon water changes, ive run media pads for ammonia and i run a bag of carbon.

I just added a small bag of phosphate remover tonight to see it that helps any. Im having trouble locating a skimmer suitable in size for a biocube where I am but ill keep looking for one without having to pay more in shipping for it

[jenglish]

How long has the tank been set up? Sounds like maybe something got stirred up from the sand bed. Do you vacuum you sand bed? It looks like a little more flow would not hurt but it sounds like nutrient removal may be the root of the problem. Keep trying to siphon it out with every waterchange.

[viler]

Im pretty sure the sand bed got well sifted with the goby.

the tank has been set up since jan 09

i admit i dont vacuum the sand bed

i have 2 k1's added to the tank and i just replaced the bulbs with 2 50/50 instead of a 10k and actinic

[Fat Tony]

How often do you do waterchanges? And what type of water are you using to perform those waterchanges? (RODI, Distilled, Tap)

Also, what type of lighting and how old are the bulbs ?

[viler]

bulbs are 2x 50/50 coralife pc's.

I do 5 gallon weekly waterchanges.

I use LFS saltwater no RO/DI system yet

[Elegance Coral]

Originally Posted by viler

Sand bed is becoming brown and the rocks are showing areas or red slime that have formed tendrils that whip around in the water current

Originally Posted by viler

Im pretty sure the sand bed got well sifted with the goby.

the tank has been set up since jan 09

i admit i dont vacuum the sand bed

The cyano is from elevated nutrients. In your situation, a great deal of it sounds like it's coming from your sand.

If the goby kept the sand sifted well enough to keep it clean, it wouldn't be turning brown.

IIWM, I'd start vacuuming the sand and blowing the rocks out with a power head right before water changes.

Don't use dry foods like flakes and pellets. Don't use grocery store sea food. Use frozen food from the LFS, or seafood from a truly fresh seafood store. This will help keep phosphate introductions low.

HTH.

[Frank-n-Tank]

i had got slimed out, my goby wouldnt sift because of the cyano, lights out for a while many wc and carful removal mine seemed to spread once stirred.

[gabranth17]

i might be going a little off topic.... but could cyano harm zoas or star polyps??

[Elegance Coral]

Originally Posted by gabranth17

i might be going a little off topic.... but could cyano harm zoas or star polyps??

Yes.

[viler]

ok im going more for the water change route but i do have to admit i used the red slime remover yellow stuff.

ive let this go way too far, my mushrooms are shrivelling to keep themselves off the slime under them, its blowing long tentacles of slime in the water and its breaking off and i have one side of a rock totaaly covered which cant be good, i know that im meant to limit use of chemicals but im worried the tank will crash, or worse the fish will suffer.

and something green and hairy is lurking in a rock

[jenglish]

Cyano is a very small organism with very little energy reserve, even less than algae. A 3 day blackout, no lights, minimal ambient light will cause the cyano to die off, releasing all these nutrients back into the water. If you do not fisx the underlying causes, it will return in 2-3 days. I would try to manually remove as much as possible and try the techniques for making the aquarium less habitable for cyano... but a black out does basically the same as the chemical is going to do, kill it and break it down.

[viler]

by black out you mean no lights or you mean wrap it in a towel and no light period?

[jenglish]

Originally Posted by viler

by black out you mean no lights or you mean wrap it in a towel and no light period?

When I have done it I taped newspaper over the sides but left the top uncovered and unplugged the lights.