Red Slime Remover.... Fail

[Delphinus]

Originally Posted by MarkoD

It straight up says don't turn off any of those things

That can't be right... I've used Ultralife before, I don't remember it saying that, but it's been a while.

This is what I remember of the stuff..

1) It makes your water pee yellow for 1/2 hour but does eventually clear up.
2) It makes your skimmer go berserk. You have to turn the air right down or turn it off. It's better to leave it on though and let it spill back into the tank. This way you have a little bit of air exchange going on because as the cyano dies off it will create an oxygen deficit in the tank.
3) It takes at least 2 days, if memory serves, before you start to see any effect. Depending on how bad the cyano is, it might take up to a week to clear. If it's really bad you might have to do it twice.
4) Once clear, you put your carbon on to start pulling out the slime remover, do a water change, and start your skimmer back up. You likely have to ramp up the airflow very slowly otherwise it will just overflow right away all over again.
5) If works really well, but it only clears the cyano. If what caused the cyano isn't fixed, the cyano will eventually come back.

Hope this helps..

PS/Edit: I remember now that the last time I used it, it took about a week for the cyano to die off, and it took almost another whole week to reset the tank after that back to normal. I find the stuff does work well, but it is a matter of last resort just because it's such a pain to manage the tank throughout the treatment.

[MarkoD]

Box says to continue use of slimmer but to dial it down. My water is still yellowish 24 hours later

[Delphinus]

The skimmer is really good at removing the red slime remover. What I do is just let it overflow like crazy but just dump back into the sump (if it's, say, in sump). I guess if you have an external skimmer that might be more challenging, in which case it might be better just to lower the water level in the skimmer to the point it doesn't actually fill the collection cup. Even still though that might have the red slime remover bound up in that foam that will sit at the water surface..

[daniella3d]

It can take a few days and two or more treatments before you see the effect. Remember that cyanobacteria has some food reserve and it can live a certain time without nutriment so you got to let it strave before you see the effect.

Most people see the effect 48 hours after the second treatment.

Originally Posted by MarkoD

So i've done everything i can think of to get rid of the cyano. but nothing, it was getting so bad that it was covering my corals.

so last night i used red slime remover.... and nothing, got home from work today and it looks just as bad as it did yesterday. and the skimmer isnt going crazy anymore so i assume the medication is done

any other ideas on what to do?

[Reef Pilot]

I used Chemi-clean on a tank a couple months ago, one treatment and it never returned. I first got out as much as I could with a tooth brush and turkey baster, and then applied the Chemi-clean exactly as per instructions, incl changing water 48 hours later. I was prepared to do a 2nd treatment, but it wasn't necessary.

Previously I wrestled for 6 months or more with cyano in this tank, trying everything, and it would always return. But not this time. So the stuff works, I am convinced of that.

[Myka]

Just take the skimmer cup off so it spills over...keeps the tank aerated as Tony says adding oxygen is very important in the treatment. It does take several days for the cyano to melt away. Adding a filter sock to the drain and changing it every morning before the lights come on will really help too.

[dc4]

I used a cyano remover and it cleared up my entire sandbed within 24 hours, on my box it said to turn off skimmer and remove any carbon. My skimmer was still going nuts for a few days after a 35% water change. Did you check the dosage? I had to use 8 of those tiny scoops for my tank and sump.

[MarkoD]

I followed instructions to a tee. I used 16 scoops for 250 gallons total volume

[daniella3d]

Another possibility is that what you have may not be cyano but rather dinoflagellates? in that case it is a very different treatment.

I used Seachem HO for elevating my PH without raising my KH and it worked well for me to remove all the dino. It never returned.

[Myka]

Doesnt look like dinos.