Need Help

fishkeeper · 03-05-2008, 10:52 AM

Ok Here It Goes I Keep Getting Red Algae On My Rocks And Sand,i Do Weekly Water Changes,ive Added A Phos Blocker,ive Added Slime Eracer,i Removed All Bio Balls And Added Cheato(did This Over Two Months Ago).im At The End Of My Rope With This Algae Its Spreading On To Somw Of Corals.help Help Before I Hang My Self!!!!!

gsago1979 · 03-05-2008, 11:03 AM

Fish a few things that I can think of...

First I assume you are using ro/di water or atleast hope so, if you are not start using it, if you are whats your TDS meter reading?

Second thing, get a UV Sterilizer and run it for a few weeks and see if it makes a difference..

Third option, get a 2 little Fishies Carbon/Phosban reactor and run some phosguard through it for a couple weeks if this doesnt clear it I am out of ideas...

I went through the red algae for a while when my tank first cycled about 6 years ago and have never seen it since...

fritz · 03-05-2008, 11:13 AM

the issue here is phosphate or PO4. Assuming that the "red algae" you speak of is cyano it will take some time to eradicate.

A while ago I used tap water in my reef. I did this for a year straight and had no ill effects from it. What I did not see was that my tap water was high in PO4. PO4 in the wild is in high demand but short supply. PO4 will be adsorbed by most things in your tank. Sand, Live Rock, algae etc. In my tank for example, a years worth of PO4 was in my Live Rock and Sand until it could hold no more. At that point no more PO4 could be absorbed by my rock and it just stayed in the water column where other things could grab it, like cyano algae.

My tank became overrun by cyano. The thing to know here is that you can NEVER fully get rid of cyano as it exists in the air we breathe. All you can do is remove it's food source thereby making your tank a place where cyano cannot live.

The problem that you will have is as I mentioned PO4 is in high demand. As your rocks leach it out it will be grabbed up quickly by many things. You want it to be grabbed by something that you can throw away, thereby removing it from your system. For example, suppose some algae grabs it. As that algae dies it will rerelease the PO4 back into your tank, no good. If your cheato grabs it and you then throw the cheato away, you've removed the PO4 from your tank. Using PO4 removers in a reactor such as phosban is a great way to remove PO4.

One thing to keep in mind is that this process will likely take months. Be mindful of what you add to your tank because you don't want to add PO4. Unrinsed frozen food is VERY high in PO4 as are mysis. Many additives such as phyto plankton and cyclopeeze are also high in PO4. By removing lots and adding none you will speed up the process.

Another noteworthy mention is the bacteria killers and antiobiotics like red slime remover etc. These attack the symptom and not the problem. Because cyano is in the air those products only offer temporary solutions.

Frequent water changes, ciphoning out the cyano along with the other steps is your best bet to solving your problem. You can also try vodka or sugar if you're brave but do a lot of research before you try unorthodox steps like that.

fishkeeper · 03-05-2008, 11:31 AM

thanks fritz i dont use tap water,or large pieces of frozen food just brine and rods food and one night a week phyto,but i will let the phos ban do its job and keep up on my water changes.

fritz · 03-05-2008, 11:55 AM

Make sure you rinse the brine really well in freshwater. I'm not sure what rod's food is but again if applicable, rinse it.
Be careful with the phyto. Homegrown is cool but the bottled stuff should be called
Kent's Phosphate UP

Rapscallion · 03-05-2008, 04:30 PM

Cyno is a bacteria not a algae as it's commonly called. and that's why stuff like "red slime remover" works. It contains mostly ethromycin which is a antibotic. The main cause of it is from high nutrients in the water, caused by over feeding,( expecally if you feed unwashed frozen foods which also add phosphates to the water.),and not fully cured rock.
without using chemicals/antibotics the best way of removing it is to syphon it out or keep a power head on it to free it from the sand/rock. and then trapping it in a filter bag. try cutting down of the feeding and feed only small amount a few times a day this along with the physcial removal will get rid of it.
HTH
chuck

bschuerman · 03-05-2008, 04:32 PM

So how does one recommend washing frozen food? Just curious things like frozen misis shrimp are kind of small... Just dump them in a cup of water throw the cube in strain it and repeat?

tsouth · 03-05-2008, 04:36 PM

The one item that I used on my girlfriends mom's tank that got rid of all the cyano was chemi clean. I know people say this stuff doesn't work but it did for me. Just follow the directions exactly as they say on the bottle. Also the only filtration she runs is a wetdry with bio media. She had no flow in the tank what so ever except for the return and the sandbed was covered in black cyano. I treated it with chemi clean, added a powerhead, and to this day it's cyano free.

rbtwo4 · 03-05-2008, 06:09 PM

Only one person mentioned flow. U need lots of flow to keep that crap out of ur tank trust me I know. I had cyano and not enuff flow it was all over my sandbed and rocks once I put more flow in the tank it was gone.

ItalianSausage · 03-05-2008, 06:12 PM

you can rinse the frozen food in a filter sock thats how i do it. also try putting a couple more powerheads in the location where the algae is growin g the most. alot of times algae grows where the water flow is low. they (algae) do not like high water flow. i would try not to add chemicals like red slim remover into the tank/ also if you use a tooth brush try removing some of the redcrap with that and use a little net to catch anything that is floating around when removing. i had alottle and added a mother of a powerhead and now i dont have any. i hope it works ALAGAE SUCKS

sjlesq99 · 03-05-2008, 08:16 PM

You need a lot of flow, water changes and time. Flow is your best friend.

fishkeeper · 03-05-2008, 08:49 PM

i have two powerheads one at each ebd of the tank and a pump that pumps 1250 gph in a 110 so ive got plenty of flow

fishkeeper · 03-05-2008, 08:49 PM

thanks to evryone it has been very educational and ive learned alot form thid thread ill keep every posted

Reefer4life · 03-05-2008, 10:45 PM

My 155 mixed reef which the only flow is from the two return pumps - Eheim 1260 submerged & external Iwaki WMD 40RLTdoes not have any algea problems with the exception of some green hair algea that grows inside the top edge of the overflows.
Now on the opposite end my 120 fowlr which has a Eheim 1262 & 4 MJ1200 on a RedSea Wavemaker is collecting red slime on the rear glass, pumps, and I believe on the rocks as well! I am attributing the slime bacterial outbreak to the fact that I was recommended to use "CopperSafe" for a Ich outbreak a couple of months ago by a trusted lfs manager who insisted, and still does that it was/is safe for the biological filtration.
for cyano outbreaks. All frozen foods are rinsed several times through a brine shrimp net before being soaked in vitamins, and such.
Plenty of flow in this tank! Was doing weekly w/c until three weeks ago - did one today!
Anyway, what I am saying is that there are many different reasons. And the fact that I do not believe tons of flow is the answer to every ill that affects our tanks. I've come to this conclusion not by reading a ton of articles, but by experience with, and without power heads over the past 7 years.
Disclaimer: I do not keep Hard to Keep SPS corals!! The few SPS I do have in my system are the low flow types!!! This is my choice since I do not like the look of PH in my displays!