[lefty53]

what causes red algea and how do you prevent/stop it all numbers seem right I have live rock an 4 fish in a 75 gallon tank

[Saltwaterhobby]

How long have your tank been runing? Did you used tap water to for your salt mix? If so, when you do water change, use reverse omosis water( in other words, drinking water). This will definetly help. Usually, red algaes are caused by using tap water. And also, try not to turn on your light if you can, if you have the blue lunar moonlight, use that instead, it will help stop the spread.

[leebca]

If you think the red algae is of the 'slime' variety, then you'll want to read this thread:
Red Slime Algae

[mandarin_watcher]

I fought Red Slime for a very long time.
And you can have more than one factor in play. It is like having alergies, You can take a pill to stop sneezing, but until you find out what is causeing you to sneeze it will come back. That is all the Chem Clean will do, and at 25 to 30 bucks a shot,It will break you, and you will still have Red Slime.
Red Slime is caused by phosphates and extra junk in the water.
First DO NOT USE TAP WATER! EVER!!!!!!! If you did in the past STOP, and do weekly water changes using RO (Reverse Osmosis) By the way not all drinking water is RO, Drinking water is just filtered. not the same. Good places to get RO water. Local Fish store, Wal-mart (the machine) not the bottled. or some other suppermarkets, Check the machine to make sure it say reverse osmosis also check the maintanace card to be sure the machine is regulary maintained. This will usally cost about 50cents a gal. Then you will need to buy salt and mix it properly. Or most LFS sell RO water already mixed, it usally cost about 1.20 a gal. But this is a must. Do use Distilled water, that water is dead. no oxygen in it.
But you water is only one issue. Check your feeding. make sure that you are not over feeding. You may not be, Just watch what you put in and what they are eating. Your lights can be feeding this alge in two ways, One is how long are they on, Should not be one more than 7 or hours a day. That is any and all lighting you use. Another way the lights could be the calprete is how old are you bulbs. Older bulbs are off on some of the pars and whatever. Just make sure the bulbs are less than a year old. And the last problem could be your flow. Make sure you have good circulation going in that tank, Not just your filter, but your powerheads. Make sure that there are not dead spots. The water in the tank needs to be constantly moving. under rocks and behind them too. Dead spots tend to have junk build up which is a good food source for the algea, any algea.
Do water changes 15% to 20% useing RO water, change you filter media as well. Check your feeding, check your bulbs age, Limit the time they are on. Check your water flow. Add more power heads if you need, I ended up with 4 in my tank, along with 2 emporer 400's and a Rena XP3. Took a while but "nothing good happens quickly in this hobby."

[lobophyllia]

i've never heard of red slime algea, but i think you mean cyanobacteria.

It is like having alergies, You can take a pill to stop sneezing, but until you find out what is causeing you to sneeze it will come back. That is all the Chem Clean will do, and at 25 to 30 bucks a shot,It will break you, and you will still have Red Slime.

i used to get tons of cyanobacteria and i used chemi-clean for a bit, but all it does is kill the stuff for 3 days and its back twice as strong. its a waste of money.

Check your feeding. make sure that you are not over feeding. You may not be, Just watch what you put in and what they are eating.

overfeeding could definitely be the cause but do not cut down on the feeding unless you are sure that you feed them too much.

Your lights can be feeding this alge in two ways, One is how long are they on, Should not be one more than 7 or hours a day. That is any and all lighting you use.

umm no. my lights are on from 9am to 8pm, 11 hours a day. there is almost no unwanted algea in the tank. 7 hours a day sounds to me like a bunch of dead corals. lefty, how long do you keep your lights on?

Another way the lights could be the calprete is how old are you bulbs. Older bulbs are off on some of the pars and whatever. Just make sure the bulbs are less than a year old.

my bullbs are about 1 1\2 years old and there's nothing wrong with them. i dont see how this would be connected to the algea either.

Do water changes 15% to 20% useing RO water, change you filter media as well.

15% to 20%? how often?? every month and a half or two maybe.

[lobophyllia]

my suggestion is to get a kole tang it ate all of mine

[lefty53]

My lights were on about 12 hrs daily. I have since tried to keep them off till I get a handle on this. I will be getting some ro water. If I can find it I will also get a kole tang Thanks for all the good info!

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by mandarin_watcher

Red Slime is caused by phosphates and extra junk in the water.

Assuming we're discussing cyanobacteria, then phosphates have nothing to do with it. Phosphates are nutrients for algae but cyanobacteria feeds on nitrogen, carbon dioxide and dissolved organic compounds.

First DO NOT USE TAP WATER! EVER!!!!!!! If you did in the past STOP, and do weekly water changes using RO (Reverse Osmosis) By the way not all drinking water is RO, Drinking water is just filtered. not the same. Good places to get RO water. Local Fish store, Wal-mart (the machine) not the bottled. or some other suppermarkets, Check the machine to make sure it say reverse osmosis also check the maintanace card to be sure the machine is regulary maintained. This will usally cost about 50cents a gal.

Good advice to avoid tapwater but for a reef aquarium, R.O./D.I. water would be even better than R.O. water because the D.I. cartridge removes silicates and phosphates that may be missed by the R.O. membrane.

The local Wal-Mart Supercenter near where I live sells R.O. water for 25 cents per gallon in bulk. You bring your own containers. It's R.O. and then it goes through a U.V. sterilizer just before being dispensed. Since it's intended as drinking water, they do not utilize a D.I. filter stage. That's also why home R.O./D.I. systems will have a valve to allow you to use the water before it goes through the D.I. cartridge for drinking water and still have full R.O./D.I. water available for your aquarium. I wouldn't recommend drinking R.O./D.I. water, or distilled water, on a long-term basis. It's OK to drink it for a few weeks, especially if you're trying to detoxify your system, but long-term it's not a good idea because of the lack of electrolytes (sodium, potassium, chloride).

Do use Distilled water, that water is dead. no oxygen in it.

I assume you meant to say "do not use distilled water?" Distilled water is perfectly fine for use in an aquarium and it is certainly not "dead" in any way, shape or form. It's often called "dead" in the medical profession because of the fact that it is purified (stripped of all minerals). Distilled water is ideal for making saltwater but it's more expensive than R.O. water (or R.O./D.I. water) and therefore hardly anyone would consider using it. All of the minerals are contained in the salt mix. This can be confusing because some manufacturers will tell you on their label that their product is intended to be used with regular tapwater. I have no idea why they do that but they do. Some of them anyway.

Your lights can be feeding this alge in two ways, One is how long are they on, Should not be one more than 7 or hours a day. That is any and all lighting you use.

In this particular situation, reducing his lighting to 7 hours a day will not cause any harm because he has no corals or other photosynthetic animals in his tank. His tank was set up in mid-March and all he has it in right now are a few fish and live rock.

However, 7 hours per day is certainly not adequate lighting for a reef aquarium. It may be OK as a temporary measure to deal with overheating or other problems but 11-13 hours per day total lighting is much better and more natural. It is impossible to meet the light demands of most corals, especially most SPS, with only 7 hours/day total lighting.

Another way the lights could be the calprete is how old are you bulbs. Older bulbs are off on some of the pars and whatever.

What you mean to say is that lamps have a tendency to shift to the red end of the spectrum as they age (degrade). The reason this affects cyanobacteria is because cyanobacteria is a photosynthetic bacteria -- it's no longer classified as blue-green algae. It's really quite complex and in a category all its own. It does have certain characteristics that make it similar to algae but it's truly bacteria. Cyanobacteria, which is more than 3 billion years old, is the precursor to all plant life in that photoplasts evolved from cyanobacteria.

Depending on exactly which species of cyanobacteria we're dealing with, the pigments will absorb certain wavelengths more efficiently than others. The most common pigments in cyanobacteria are phycoerythrins and their absorption level is optimized at 555-564 nm. That means that as your lamps age, they produce more light in the range favored by cyanobacteria.

Just make sure the bulbs are less than a year old.

While this is good general advice, it can't really be applied equally across the board because not all lamps are equal. Some lamps (e.g., 400w Radium 20,000K) should be changed every 6-8 months, while others may be good for 18 months. Some fluorescent lamps (especially VHO run on electronic ballasts) could easily go 18 months, 12 hrs/day. Some DE metal halides are good for only 12 months while others (especially 150w 10,000K DE) may be good for 16 months.

And the last problem could be your flow. Make sure you have good circulation going in that tank,

The reason this is important is because water currents will physically break up the strands of cyanobacteria. This is also the reason that aiming strong water currents directly at the problem area is helpful.

Points to remember:

Cyanobacteria can be a natural part of the new-tank cycle. Most people do experience a certain amount of cyanobacteria during the first few weeks or months after setting up their tank. It's nothing to get all worked up about. It will usually go away on its own if good maintenance practices are followed.

Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic bacteria that are nitrogen limited. They are unique organisms in that they can perform both nitrogen fixation and oxygenic photosynthesis. Cyanobacteria is a VERY natural part of the environment -- terrestrial and aquatic -- and has been for billions of years. It will occupy any available space given the right environment and a lack of competition. It is quite common in new tanks and not something to be alarmed about.

Cyanobacteria is less common in fully-stocked, mature reef tanks but it can pop up suddenly for no apparent reason. A slight change in the equilibrium can make the tank more hospitable to the cyanobacteria. The slight change could come in the form of aging lamps that have shifted to the red, it could come in the form of sudden temperature changes, it could come in the form of a sudden increase in available dissolved organics, etc.

[mandarin_watcher]

Thanks for helping to explain certain area's in more detail. I was just trying to keep this simple. But the part about the lights been on for 7 hours. That is meant for while they are dealing with the outbreak.
My light are on from 9am till 11pm actinic, and the Metals are on from 11:30 am to 9:30 pm. and my night light are on from 11pm till 3 am. So I have my lights on long enough.
I couldn't explain the old bulb part right, but I am glad you understood what I was trying to convey. I read it in a reef keepers magazine, when I was a newby and fighting my own outbreak, I bought Red Slime remover and Chem-Clean 25. to 30. dollars a pop. every week for 9 months. And every time I would ask my LFS what I was doing wrong, He would tell me that obviously I am overfeeding my fish. I had cut my feeding back to once every three or four days. Those poor things were starving. I was ready to pull my hair out. It is very fustrating,
The part about the bottle water, might be old school, But I was under the impression it was dead, because the water is in a jug for lord knows how long. The oxygen has long been done.
All the minerals are gone out of the water. which some are good for the reef enviroment.
I also use an RO/DI 6 stage filtrations system. And yes that is best. I was just refering that in a fix until they could grab an RO/DI system of thier own, then RO will due in a crunch, Just stay away from tap water by all means. (Heck you would probley be better off spitting in that tank than using Tap water. And I am not adviceing spitting in your tank.
But that is why these site are now here. To ask fellow hobbist about their experience and how they handled a situation. And the answers you get or not trying to sell you anything like at your LFS.