Red Algae

Lobster Boy · #1 02-28-2002, 11:34 PM

I have a 52 gal tank, started in early Dec/2001. Approx 30 lb rock, recently due to over feeding I lost 75% of my fish. I tested and found high levels on all 3 of the standard. I did a 18 gal water change and thing have now become more stable. Levels all back down and the remaining fish seem to be happy. I do however have a heavy film of red covering the entire glass, And it appears daily.

Any suggestions would be a great help. Or will this just go away.

Seaquest · #2 03-01-2002, 12:35 AM

Control of these algaes are very important. Food for algae comes from feeding your livestock, adding "trace", vitamin and other chemical "additives". Be careful concerning adding anything to your system. Wear dedicated rubber gloves to prevent pollution form your hands, arms. Algae are almost entirely composed of water; just a speck of solids from the above sources can produce several orders of magnitude weight in unwanted algae growth. Frequent, partial water changes are the Order Of the Day for all marine systems. They are the best way of diluting nutrients. Don't get involved with medications which temp proclaim to be able to remove such algaes. It is also important to know that algae are an important part of a marine eco system, and should not be looked at as a pest but as assurance that your system is doing well and that you just need to control its nutrients.

Happy weed eating

SeaQuest

Reefmaster · #3 03-01-2002, 12:36 AM

Lobster Boy
welcome to the board.
its tough to provide much without knowing more about the tank, ie how many fish, lighting, protein skimmer, water source for changes, sand depth etc. all of these components play a major role in the ballance of the tank. the red film sounds like cyanobacteria which is just one of the several types of algae that usually show up for a while in new tanks. fme try to keep the current quite strong and that might help.

as for overfeeding, if you don't already have some, you might consider getting a few hermit crabs. they do a good job of cleaning up any excess food. i don't think anyone in town has em affordably so j&l (www.jlaquatics.com) in van is the best.
shane

Achilles · #4 03-05-2002, 01:54 PM

J&L Aquatics is actually in Coquitlam, on Austin just up past lougheed mall.

We don't want to send him in the wrong direction :-)

Goodluck!

Reefmaster · #5 03-05-2002, 03:35 PM

lol, good point i guess. seeing as he would be coming from victoria i figured van was a general description, sorta like calgary, in case he didn't know about j&l.
shane

Mak · #6 03-08-2002, 05:34 AM

Lucky J&L they don't have to pay a dime for advertisment!!! Do we get a discount or something? LOL :D

Seaquest · #7 03-08-2002, 06:29 PM

Read over Bob Fenner's article on BGA on wet web media. Cyano can be a pain, but it can be beat. Don't use any liquid poisons aka red slime remover aka antibiotics in your tank your likely to kill more than just the cyano with this stuff. What may finally worked is patiance in siphoning it out, and adding circulation with a powerhead. When conditions finally do become unfavorable for the cyano it will just disappear. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Cheers

titus · #8 03-08-2002, 09:09 PM

Hello Jay,

There was discounts for the last monthly club meeting given out by J&L. BTW, are you suggest that I should charge them for a fee now that they are getting good reviews here? I think Troy would be the one to get that first since he approached them about the URL link.

Mak · #9 03-08-2002, 11:07 PM

TITUS, Humm!!! Maybe discounts are fine. Definatly a good deal for them. Maybe a little cash flow to keep this site running!!![no clue what it cost's to run a site].BTW Maybe I'll get a hold of Josh Miller and come down to your next meeting, that would be kewl!!!

Rainman58 · #10 03-14-2002, 03:13 AM

I also recently had a problem with Cyanobacteria. After talking to several people (and getting different answers from everyone) the folks at Pauls Aquarium in Surrey suggested using a product called Nitrate Reducer by Acquamarine along with regular water changes. It`s been 2 weeks now and i`m happy to report that most of the red slime has now disappeared. I know this may not be a permament solution to my problem (a new protein skimmer is on my list next) but it seemed to solve the problem for the time being.