Help Red Slime Algae

HELP, RED SLIME ALGAE!........Ok so what does red slime algae, (Cyanobacteria) look like anyway?

Red slime algae comes in many different colors red, blue green, orange ECT. As you can see it looks like a warm soft sheet on your bed (ah no) this one will suffocate your corals to death smells bad too!

HELP, RED SLIME ALGAE!........

Causes

Poor lighting, when was the last time you changed your light bulb? Make sure your light is rated for a marine aquarium 10.000k and 20.000k. Don't leave your lights on more than 12 hrs a day (8 to 9 hrs) is best. Have at least 4 watts of light per gallon of water (10 gal tank =40 watts fish only) 6 to 8 watts is best for corals.

Nutrients: Phosphates (PO 4), Dissolved Organic Compounds (DOCs) and Nitrates (NO3) are the biggest food sources for red slime algae. Unfiltered tap water, activated carbon, fish foods can add po4s to your tank. Do not add unfiltered water to your tank use RO/DI (reverse osmosis deionizer water) or distilled water. Watch you're feeding most people over feed their fish which adds to pollution.

Flow: Increase water flow to at least 4 gph per gallon of water of the tank (6 to 8 gph) being best for corals (not beating down the corals but in the tank overall).Perform your water changes monthly 10%.

So you have done all that as I did in the tank above, after a depressed owner called me for help. I followed all of the suggestions given above even doing a 50% water change twice .I also vacuumed all of the red slime monster out, and treated the tank with a red slime algae treatment twice which has (always )worked before. Look how it came back in a week!

I performed the same clean up again and treated the tank with Kent Poly Ox for 14 days twice a day and added another slime algae treatment.I completed all water tests (perfect) .The red slime turned brown but came right back leaving the sand and moving to the liverock errrrrrrrrrrrrrr. I have addressed all know causes for this problem, no more mister nice guy now it is war!!!!!

I removed all fish to another aquarium ,removed the skimmer,backpack filter,and eheim canister filter.I removed all of the sand and rock, cleaned the aquarium and replaced the rock and sand with the same from my store tanks.

I cleaned the back pack filter replaced the bio foam and restarted the filter leaving out the charcol and added Blue Vet red slime algae remover.I am going to let it cycle for a week and I will film the results this weekend.Now back at the store, I am going to bleach water the filter and skimmer replace the substrait in the filter and rinse and run the filter on a existing system.

Ok the red slime is finally gone the tank is clear and has been for two weeks, looks great.Now to add the fish and eheim filter and skimmer and see what happens.( I hope this works, the guy that own's this aquarium at Wells Fargo loans finally has hope of having a nice saltwater aquarium. Also I am not charging him for the extra work,I wanted to show him I know my stuff and the last guy really took him for mucho $ failing to fix the problem.

• Perform two 20% water changes which will lower the nutrient level.
• Increase the current to 4 to 6 ghp flow in the tank not your filter-but flow in the tank- the more water flow you have the faster your algae will clear up.
• ADD MORE LIGHTS -Light bulbs shift to red and grow more algae when they age - change bulbs at least once every 9 to 12 months.
• watch your feeding ...use pellet type food.
• Add Phosphate control and red slime control products from Blue Life http see link below.
• Add carbon slowly - I add one tablespoon three times a day for two days to 55 gallon in a filter sock.
• Siphon out as much cyanobateria as you can - use small hose