Hubby ready to give up, RED SLIME ALGAE

[luvdfish]

New to the site (it is a great place for info) – we have had multiple setups and have decided that a 125 Gallon Saltwater was what we enjoyed the most.

We have a red slime algae problem, we just can’t seem to get rid of it. We scoop or suck it off everything we can during a water change but within a week it is just as bad as it was a week ago.

The tank has been up for about 2 years, our setup is as follows:

125 gallon tank
202 Fluval Canister Filter 180gph / surface skimmer attached to this line
404 Fluval Canister Filter 317gph / a Coralife Turbo Twist UV sterilizer 9W attached to this line
Emeim wet/dry Canister Filter 92 gph
Coralife Super Protein Skimmer 220gph
4 powerheads – 1 located top right, 1 bottom right, 1 halfway down on left, 1 bottom left 190gph
2 Air pumps for aeration – 1 left, 1 right
We have a Satellite light fixture on a timer with 2 Actinic blue, 2 10,000k daylight, 3 moonlights (full spectrum runs 12 hours per day)
All water tests show that everything is within safe levels (using the Hagen test kit)
Change out 10 gallons every week
Change media in the filters 1 per week, alternating

150 lbs Live Rock (all cured)
Sand Substraight
Always RO water

Our Stock is as follows:

1 Yellow Tang
1 Yellow Juvenile Boxfish
1 Copperband Butterfly
5 Percula Clownfish
1 Tomato Clownfish
1 Potter Angelfish
2 Blue Devil Damselfish
1 Banded Coral Shrimp
3 Peppermint Shrimp
1 Red-legged Hermit Crab
Approx. 30 Snails of various types
10 Hermit Crabs
2 Seabae Anenomes, each are host to a clownfish
1 Condylactis Anemone, host to a clownfish
1 Pink Coral
1 Sea Fan
Leather Corals
1 Finger Leather Coral
1 branching Frogspawn Coral
1 China Coral
Hairy Mushrooms also hosts the clownfish

We feed 2 times a day – flake food in AM and Various Frozen food in the PM

:sad: Any help is appreciated!

 

[Max]

What are your water paramaters? Also, red slime tends to grow in areas of low water flow.
I'm also a little bit surprised that your clowns are all getting along well. Normally mature clowns will tolerate a mate and on rare occasions subordinants if you get them all at the same time. Tomatoes are the second most aggresive clown species after maroons.
The box fish is a cute little guy at the moment but, as it matures it will become the monster that ate your tank. They are also fairly difficult to keep alive and if they pass away they release toxins into your water that can crash your tank.
I won't even say anything about the damsels.
Hope this helps you and welcome to A.C.!
Max

 

[luvdfish]

Red Slime

Thanks much for the reply - the low water flow is actually why we don't understand why we have a problem, 2 0f our powerheads are just 5 inches off the bottom and 1 is rotating. We don't seem to have any "dead spots" at any level of the tank.
It's funny that you say the clowns don't get along, we have heard that before but they have been in the tank for about 1 1/2 years and have not had a problem.
The boxfish is the best fish we have ever had - It has a great personallity, just like a puppy, it gets VERY excited when we get near the tank, he will eat from our fingers, he is just fun. :hi:

Our water parameters:

Temp 78
Hydrometer 1.021 may be closer to 1.022
PH 8.1
Calcium 320 ppm
Ammonia 0
Nitrate 20 ppm
Nitrite 0.1 ppm
Phosphate 0.25 or less
We use Reef Crystal salt

Dawn

 

[dorkfish]

In my 29 reef, I had cyano problems til' I raised my water flow up to about 20 times turnover per hour - low water flow could be exactly what it is.

Also, I have to say, that sounds like an intresting tank.

 

[luvdfish]

Thanks

We will get more powerfull powerheads and see if that helps, I will put out some pics of our tank later - In MHO it is a very interesting tank. I could watch it all day.

 

[fsn77]

Just my thoughts... Some are related to the cyano problem, others not.

Salinity is a bit low... could be closer to 1.025.

Tank is being overfed... Otherwise, you wouldn't be able to measure nitrites in a 2 year old tank, barring the recent death of a sizeable fish and taking the measurement shortly after the death.

A phosphate reading of 0.25 ppm is more than high enough to foster cyano growth.
Are your frozen foods the manufactured / store bought packages?
If so, do you rinse the food in RO/DI before feeding it to your tank? The solution used in these foods can contain high levels of phosphate.
Depending on the brand of flakes you are feeding, they might be a source of phosphates to your tank. Not all flake foods are created equal -- some brands contain 2 - 3 times as many phosphates as other brands. Nutrafin Max foods are generally lower than most in phosphates.

Are you using carbon in your canister filters?
If so, is it a type designed for a reef tank?
Carbon can be a significant source of phosphates, as it will leach out of the carbon (from the manufacturing process). Carbon designed for reef tanks (Two Little Fishies and Kent Reef Carbon, among others) will leach less phosphates (some claim to leach none at all) than carbon intended for strictly fw applications. Even with the reef oriented carbon brands, it's still best to soak the carbon in RO/DI for 30+ minutes (some say overnight) before adding it to you tank to remove any residual phosphates that might be present.

Calcium is low... 350 - 400 would be better for coralline growth and your LPS corals.

Photoperiod is too long... 9 - 10 hours of daylight bulbs is plenty. Actinics on for 1 - 2 hours on each side of that is fine. We run 9 hours of daylight bulbs with 2 hours of actinics before and after the daylights come on.

How old are your light bulbs? As bulbs age, the color spectrum they produce changes. If it's aloud to shift far enough, the light being produced becomes more favorable for cyano growth.

While low flow might be contributing to your cyano outbreak, it is not necessarily the only cause of it, particularly if you haven't had a problem with it previously.

Hope that helps.

 

[Mahlhavoc]

3 Canister Filters is the first thing that jumps out at me with nitrates. These are not the greatest things for a saltwater tank. With the live rock in the tank you shouldn't need any canister filters, just something to filter out larger things, maybe one would be ok since you are not using a sump with an overflow.

You should think about adding 3-4 sand stars to stir the sand a bit and deffinatly up the flow in the tank to about 8x the tank size per hour. Also may want to check to see if you have any electricity leaching in the tank, I have noticed this can help to produce slime for various reasons and with powerheads, this may be the case. I don't know how long you plan to keep your tank and your budget, but a couple Tunze would be great and the results would be quick. You can see some information here http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_powerheads_pumps_tunze_turbelle_stream_kit.asp?CartId=

The flow on these pumps is great and the wattage used is phenominal, bit more pricey, but worth it for a long haul.

When was the last time you changed your RO filters and lighting (someone asked also)?

Also, is this the skimmer you are using? http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=13924

Make sure that it is working properly and is sized correctly, this for your size tank should push about 500 gph as per this site.

You may want to look into a sump with a CPR overflow (here http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=CR1513) or something simular for better oxygen supply and to get rid of all canister filters.

here would be my list to make things work

2-Tunze turbelle 660 @ $130ish each
Skimmer (unsure what you have currently)
Overflow - $87 ish
Sump - $200-$300 ish totally depending
any external pump you desire to push about 450-600gph


Overall, with a few hundred spent on upgrading, it would be worth it I think to make the inhabitants more comfortable and have less of a maint. issue along with the fact your enjoyment factor will go up. This is just my 2cp and hope it helps some.

 

[luvdfish]

WOW you people are great-So helpfull!

Thank you for all of the great info!

Our Salinity - we are a bit confused by what you said. All of the books recommend 1.022 - even the hydrometer has 1.025 as just on the edge of becoming not safe. I always would take the assistance from someone who has or is fighting some of the same problems over a book that may or may not been written by a true fish lover. I guess some more feedback will help.

I do tend to overfeed according to my husband and I did not realize that flake food could cause problems if it is not the correct kind. Yes my frozen is store bought but rinsed before feeding - could you recommend better options? Today our phosphate is at 0, I would guess that it will vary at different times a day before or after a feeding or a water change?

We are OK with the carbon except that we are not soaking it long enough.

The calcium is OK, I think we calculated wrong - we are at 360

Our lights are about 6 months old but we do have new ones on the way When you say that 9 -10 of daylight is plenty - do you start with Actinics and then add the daylight or do you turn the Actinics off when the daylights come on?

Testing today (the last set was after 3pm) we thought that in the AM may be more reliable.

Temp 78
Hydrometer 1.022
Salinity 29
Specific Gravity 1.022
PH 8.1
Calcium 360 ppm
Ammonia 0
Nitrate 50 ppm (is this to high - what is recommended?)
Nitrite 0.1 ppm
Phosphate 0
Carbonate 160 ppm
Iron 0 Non chelated and chelated tests ran

What are your opinions on Kalkwasser Mix? We have used with the drip bag so that the levels don't raise to fast.

Thank you all for the help!

 

[dolfans1]

The SG of natural seawater is 1.026, so a SG of 1.025 is fine. Lower salinities are sometimes used as it can help prevent parasites, which can not tolerate the lower salt levels.

An interesting quote I found in "Reef Secrets" by A.J. Nilsen and S.A.Fossa:

"Low salinity has also, over and over again, proven to be a direct cause for an uncontrollable growth of filamentous algea. If you have an algae problem, check and double check the salinity, and be sure that it is within the range of 32 - 36 parts per thousand." (This is a SG of 1.0235 - 1.0265).

I don't know if this also applies to cyano algea or not.

 

[Quiltgal]

I used a product called chemi-clean by Boyd when I had this problem. This isn't a long term solution, but it really clears up the red slime in a hurry, I saw results the next day after using this product. My tank was absolutely covered in it, it was so bad that you could pull up sheets of it, nothing was left uncovered. It turned out that the make-up water I was using was causing the red slime. I used the product to get the immediate results, and then I changed the make-up water I was using to prevent it from coming back. Try googling this product, I am sure you can find it on the net. It is fantastic. Just remember that it should only be used for the short term. You need to find out why you are getting the red slime in the first place.