[showfish]

Battle with Cyanobacteria, otherwise known as “Red Slime”. I’ve been dealing with a Cyano outbreak for about the past two weeks. I’ve have increased my water changes to 2 weekly 5% changes. In my 120gal tank this is about 6 gals each change for a total of 12gals weekly. I’m hoping this will reduce the nutrient content enough to kick this stuff. My Aqua C Remora is kicking out a good cup of skimmate per day. I’ve have checked my Phos levels, and it seems to be fine, however I’m using Phosban just to be safe. Anyone hear about this stuff called “Red Slime Remover” from UltraLife? LFS told me it works great, and is reef safe. I’m just a little leary about adding any chemicals to my display. Any input would be appreciated.

[romunov]

I would advise against adding anything that will kill red slime. As you already concluded, the problem is excess nutrients, not the bacteria itself - they're just the symptom.

I'm a two star general regarding cyanobacteria fighting. Reducing feeding to only what's neccessary (I have no fish, but I am feeding my sandbed... and Aiptasia, grrr) and some large water changes, about 100L (26g) over the course of two days seems to do the trick. It does take time for the slime to disappear. In my tank, about a month.
Bad things happen in a second, good things take time.

[BubbaWPB]

I'll add my 2 cents with the voice of experience:

1. Keep looking for the cause.
2. Red Slime Remover (UltraLife) is antibiotic-based. As the box says, it will not harm fish, invertebrates or corals. Very true. However, it WILL HARM your biological filter! If you use it, prepare for a big nitrogen spike and a dip in your oxygen level... and the red slime will grow back in a week or so anyway, especially after you do all the water changes to keep your tank from crashing.
3. I have used Chemi-Clean (Boyd Enterprises, Inc.) successfully. The Chemi-clean, by the way, removes a lot of crap from your water (it is an oxidizer). Your skimmer will foam over for a day or two (and foam and foam and foam). Follow the directions on the bottle if you decide to use it, and you'll be fine.

But the reason #1 above is still #1 is that with any of the products that kills red slime, it just grows back in a week or two unless you do #1 above.

[Steven Pro]

I concur. Treat the cause (excess nutrients) not the symptom (cyanobacteria). Eventually you will starve out the cyano if you get rid of the nutrients. Otherwise, if you simply kill the cyano you may simply replace one nuisance (cyanobacteria) for another like hair algae because the nutrients are still there and something is going to use them.

[Reefland]

What kind of source water are you using? Also, you might consider upgrading your skimmer, the Remora Pro might be maxed on a stocked 120.

[showfish]

Well I’m really running two skimmers. One in the wet/dry, its one of those skimmers that came with the wet dry (not real effective, but it works). Then I have the Aqua C Pro hang on. As for the source water, I’m using seawater from the LFS. With the aggressive water changes, I’m starting to see a decrease in the bacteria. I plan on continuing with 2 5% changes weekly, and monitor the situation; I think this is starting to work. I think I’ll stay away from the antibiotics for now. Thanks for the info. I’m also planning on adding a 20gal refugium to the system, in hopes this may also help with the nutrient consumption.

[Reefland]

You might try to do 2 10% changes per week.

[showfish]

Yes, I may end up doing two 10% changes (There goes the lunch money). Do you think the Refugium will help prevent outbreaks in the future. Never had this problem with past smaller setups.

[Reefland]

Sure it will as long as you have some macroalgae using up the available nutrients. I think you can accomplish the same thing with water changes and good skimming, although even then the addition of a refugium would be beneficial.

[Steven Pro]

I am always leery of water bought from a store. It may be the control freak in me coming out, but I prefer to use my own water purifier that I know is maintained properly and a high quality, consistent salt mix.

[Reefland]

That's a good point Steven. At a minimum if you are using store bought water you should be able to view the TDS of their source water and know what kind of salt they use and at what salinity.

[showfish]

I agree with you Steven, I would love to have a RO/DI system, but I think if I bought one now my wife would shoot me. I'll put that on Santa's list for next X-Mass. Luck for me I'm good friends with the owner of the LFS (Dive buddies) so I know his water is good, but some other places you never know what your going to get.

[Reefland]

As long as you know his water is good then that's ok. Still, nothing like the reassurance of using your own water. You can get small units relatively cheap these days so that's a plus too.

[My2heartboys]

Originally Posted by showfish

I agree with you Steven, I would love to have a RO/DI system, but I think if I bought one now my wife would shoot me. I'll put that on Santa's list for next X-Mass. Luck for me I'm good friends with the owner of the LFS (Dive buddies) so I know his water is good, but some other places you never know what your going to get.

I know what you mean about the wife suffering from "sticker shock." My problem is my husband is doing the same thing!!!!!

Kent's Poly Ox and running a dark tank for a few days also does a good job--along with those water changes.

Anne

[showfish]

Yes, I thought about reducing the photo period as well. I'm running my PC's about 11 hours now. Maybe cutting this back a bit may also help.

[showfish]

By the way Steven, I just wanted to thank you for all the wonderfull work you did over at WetWeb. I really enjoyed reading your FAQs. The folks over there are sure going to miss you.

[Steven Pro]

Originally Posted by showfish

By the way Steven, I just wanted to thank you for all the wonderfull work you did over at WetWeb. I really enjoyed reading your FAQs. The folks over there are sure going to miss you.

Thank you! I very much enjoyed my time there as well.

[golfish]

I agree that finding the casue is most important. I fought red slime on my old 150 for about 6 months. I couldn't find any reason why the stuff would grow because all levels tested right on. I used Ultralife's Red Slime Remover and didn't have any problems at all and the slime never came back. This was on a 150 gal full blown SPS tank. The key is to suck out as much slime as you can, do lots of water changes and get the skimmer running as soon as possible.

I've read that others have had the same experience, sometimes this stuff will grow like mad in tanks with perfect water conditions.

[showfish]

This sounds like my situation. Water params. are fine. 0 nitrates in fact. What is this stuff feeding on? What do you think about reducing the photo period, or the light intensity. I'm currently running my 60" Orbit 1 hour of Actinic from 7am to 8am, daylights and Actinics 8am to 7pm, and just Actinic 7pm to 8pm.

[Reefland]

I think the question becomes, are the water parameters ok or is the problem being comsumed before it can be recognized?