red algae (cyanobacteria)

[kma408]

My tank have a lot red algae (cyanobacteria) on the sands, What would we avoid it. I used Ro/Di for water change mix salinity salt.

[Omie]

if you put more flow it will go away... Also u can try red slime, is a powder that u put in the tank and leave it for 48hrs and will get rid of the cyanobacteria.U need to turn off ur skimmer... Is recomended that u do a water change after the 48hrs and when u turn on ur skimmer dont be scare bc it will do bubbles like crazy...!!!

[saltwaterfishes]

Feed less, more flow.
Red slime remover, I use Chemiclean. Some may be nervous putting it their water.....try smaller dose first.

[2Addicted]

Imo dont use chemicals. you have to find the problem that is causing the cyno. Once you fix that problem(s) it will go away. Tell us more about your tank.

[bertoni]

Sometimes, more flow helps, but not always. Chemi-Clean can remove it, although it's been known to crash tanks. Also, the red slime will return over time if there's an underlying problem.

Red slime usually is a cynobacteria, and it feeds on nutrients in the system. Less feeding might be appropriate. Better skimming or running a GFO might help, too.

I'd probably spend a couple minutes every few days siphoning out the slime, if there's a lot of it. That'll help reduce the nutrient load on the system.

[Jstdv8]

I'd also get your RO water TDS tested. its free adn it will tell you if you aren't really getting pure water.

[spudmclellan]

My tank has only been up and running for two months. Everything had a nice thick coating of red slime. I just paid attention to my feeding and would turn the lights off for a day or two once a month along with regular water changes. Time will take its course and one day it will be gone.

[kma408]

Every time when light on it will get more red algae, when the light go off it wil little go away,
My tank is 150 gallon, us orbit light with 2 x 250w HQI, 4Xt5 54w total 716w.
the leng of tank is 48X28X24.
Can I turn off all light for 2 days?

[singold]

Big believer in treating the prevailing source with cyano -- less nutrients (feeding) & good flow in tank.

[bertoni]

Turning off the lights for a few days might reduce the appearance issue, but it's extremely likely the problem will come back when the lights go back on.

[Palting]

You did not say anything about your parameters. Low ph, high nitrates are also a cause.

Here's my recent experience. To make a long story short, I had a gigantic nitrate spike, went from 5 to >50 over several days. Here is what my tank looked like at the nitrate peak:




I did a close to 100% water change, vacuumed the sand, cleaned/replaced all mechanical filters. Trates went down to almost 0, and cyano has not come back since. BTW, it's a QT, so it's almost devoid of rock.

[kma408]

My tank is 150gal over 200 pounds live rock some live rocks still get red algae, I dont think I could go for 100 percent water change, and clean all live rocks. That is too much work and it may stress my corals and fishes. I did Chemi-Clean but few months it came back. When you use the Chemi-clean you must change water in 2 days and also turn off your protein skimmer.

[n8ball2013]

cyano is the devil if you are storing water in a container prior to entering it into your system you will need to celan it periodically as well. That has been a known factor as well.

[julie180]

You've got excessive nutrients somewhere. Until you find the source, and correct it, its going to keep coming back.

[Swimwiththefish]

Put some LR in there... doesn't seems like you havea lot of filtration.

[DustinB]

That's his hyposalinity treatment tank.