Red Purple Slime Algae

Reefer Rob · #1 07-17-2008, 04:07 PM

How old is the system? If it's less than 6 months Cyano is just one of the phases it will go through. Eventually it will go away on it's own, but if you have to get rid of it now a 3 day black out will knock it back. Cutting your photo period back to 1/2 and then slowly bringing it back up after the cyano has disappeared will work too. Cyano is always present in aquariums, but will bloom when it can take advantage of a change.

ElGuappo · #2 07-17-2008, 06:57 PM

i did a black out and it worked for a while but since i added more flow i havent seen any . a black is great to knock it down. i did a total blackout for 24/5 and cut it back almost entirely. but it did start to come back monthe later, until i added flow.

Hope it helps just my 2 cents.

supersmile · #3 07-17-2008, 07:14 PM

I added more flow as well and now I have it under control. Doing the black out was only a temporary measure for me. It didn't go away totally until I increased flow in the tank. I also changed my bulbs.

truperc · #4 07-17-2008, 08:53 PM

Chemi Clean is a great SHORT TERM solution to your problem, I have used it on my customers tanks to get rid of the slime. I agree with the others posting here but if you want to get rid of it in a hurry, then deal with the source of the problem. Just my $0.02

petzoo · #5 07-26-2008, 07:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by truperc

Chemi Clean is a great SHORT TERM solution to your problem, I have used it on my customers tanks to get rid of the slime. I agree with the others posting here but if you want to get rid of it in a hurry, then deal with the source of the problem. Just my $0.02

I agree, chemi-clean is awesome stuff but some caution should be used. It is important to do a water change after it has done it's job. It is also very important not to use carbon or ion exchange resins like chemi-pure at the same time as it will rapidly remove the chemi-clean before it has a chance to work. The stuff is expenisive but it sure works well!

fishoholic · #6 07-26-2008, 03:00 PM

When we had a smaller tank we used chemi-clean and it worked like a charm, however after awhile it would start to come back. We got use to adding chemi-clean (with no adverse affects to fish or corals) whenever the cyano showed up and it kept it in check. However on our 230g the chemi-clean didn't work at all.

Got some good advice from a LFS and started to add a magnesium supplement (Kent Marine Tech-M) to the tank, this helped a lot but there was still some floating around in the tank. Cut back our lights by two hours a day (every day, used to run 2pm-11pm now 4pm-11pm) and since we started doing this the cyano is pretty much gone.

ElGuappo · #7 07-18-2008, 01:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by supersmile

I added more flow as well and now I have it under control. Doing the black out was only a temporary measure for me. It didn't go away totally until I increased flow in the tank.

Agreed.

banditpowdercoat · #8 07-18-2008, 02:42 AM

Hmm, how much flow are you guys having? I have a Quiet one 3000 in closed loop , 6 1/2" loc line nozzles and a Mag 3 sump return., Throttled halfway I guess. SHould be approx 800gph for QO 3000, Its in tank, in overflow so 0' head and another 150Gph? for the sump return. This on a 45g. No real strong currents near the sand tho.

I got RSA that keeps coming back, getting Green slime too now.

ElGuappo · #9 07-18-2008, 05:59 AM

i have a rsm tank 34 gallons and i added a koralia 1 behind the rock for debris and a nano for turbulance in the tank. aimed directly at one of the original PH's. have in the last 3 weeks removed the nano as it was needed in a hospital tank. i find "crossing the streams" works nicely when aimed Upish.

digital-audiophile · #10 07-18-2008, 02:04 PM

Red slime is the the nightmare that keeps me up at night. I have been fighting it for the past 2 months and am losing. The tank is not new either.. 1-1/2 years running in this set up.

Good luck!