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Okay, I need the help of all you experienced experts. I have a 75 gallon fish/live rock, though the live rock in getting buried in red cyano bacteria.

I have a red slime problem. I think initially there was too much phosphates from my well water, and that is what tests indicated. I used a product called Chemi-Clean from Boyd Enterprises to get rid of the red cyanobacteria and at first, for six months or so is worked. Now it is not working and the red slime is back. I then switched to distilled to replenish evaporated water (for past 6 weeks, about 2 gallons/week) and stopped using well water, and the slime has lessened, but there is still way too much of it covering everything. What are my options?

Phosphate levels are okay, as are pH, salinity, and the usual suspects, and I really don't have money for a RO unit right now. I have done 25% water changes every two weeks for the past 8 weeks.

Thanks for any help!

John

I know you said you can't afford an RO unit, but that's what will help(I'd say it will fix 75% of the problem). To get rid of the cyano you need to do as many water changes(with RO, otherwise it won't help) as possible, syphoning out the slime in the process. Do 10-15 gallons a few times a week. Use carbon and phosguard in whatever filter you have or place in an area of high flow. Speaking of flow add a couple more powerheads, directed at the worst areas of cyano(obviously don't pont at any sessile inverts). If you have no photosynthetic organisms, reduce the light duration to only a few hours. If your bulbs are old, replace them. Make sure there is no direct sunlight hitting the tank, and reduce the feeding...every other day should be ok.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

First, thank you for all your comments.

Can you recommend any lower priced R/O units? Also, can five gallon changes with distilled water help until then, maybe every 3 days, until I can pull funds together for the R/O unit?

Also, I have two powerheads, rear corners, about 3-4 inches from top, pointed toward front and center of tank. I was thinking of moving them toward the bottom to get more flow across the bottom of the tank, maybe even across the live rock surfaces, and moving the live rock around a bit to create channels to funnel the flow a bit. Think that will help? I do need new bulbs, and hope to take care of that this weekend. So, new bulbs, but less time on for...how long?

Thanks again!

This is the RO unit I got off ebay, I'm very pleased with it. I recommend getting the TDS meter and PSI meter....or at least just the TDS meter, which tests the quality of water coming out of the system. This way you know when to change filters. You may also need the hose adaptor for $5 if you don't want to plug into the plumbing.

And yes, using distilled water for making up your water for water changes will help until then, but I'd say it's the larger volume changes that will help the most.

Another thing I forgot to suggest is to take a reading on your distilled water after mixing with your salt...Might have gotten a bad batch.

I'd immediately change the light duration to just 3-4 hours as long as there aren't any photosynthetic organisms....corals etc. I'd keep them at that duration until you fix your algae problem.

Moving your powerheads may help a bit and making your rockwork not a "brick wall" allows flow to better circulate. In the end though 2 powerheads(depending on the type I guess) seems kind of weak. I'd make sure the flow rates are up over 10X turnover, preferably more.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

To add to Matt's comments, I agree that more water flow is probably needed and that lack of flow is most likely your culprit.

Also, be careful moving your powerheads too low. If you dont get enough surface aggitation and keep the O2 levels up high then you will have one stinky tank....speaking from experience when I first started LOL.

The powerheads are MaxiJet 1200's, which give about 98 gallons/hour. Not sure if that is enough or not. What do you think? Also, my inflow from the sump is creating surface agitation as well. I'm going to leave the powerheads about four inches from the top and in the back corners, pointed toward front and center, and toward the surface for now.

In the meantime, I'll do the water changes, and PRAY!!!

Thanks again!

How many GPH is your return pump? You could have enough flow with your return pump, but you definitely won't have too much. I'd throw in two more of those maxi jet 1200s. That will really help keep things stirred up.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

The return pump is 350 gallons/hour. So, 4 powerheads? Add two more toward the bottom I guess? That seems like a lot of flow.

Did another 5 gallon change today. I need to get a R/O system in place to make this easier. Do you guys keep a trashcan or something with the R/O water dripping in to have a supply on hand? What is your set up for that? I figure on getting two 20 gallon containers, one for clean new water, one for syphoning out the old.

I have a 350 gph return pump and two maxi jet 900s oscillating with two other powerheads at similar flow rates in my 30G tank and I'm thinking I might need more flow. Adding two more powerheads in your tank won't be too much, trust me.

Your setup with the RO sounds great. You may think about float valve to stop the water flow, those units I showed you come with auto shut offs so they are already set up to work with a float valve.

Good luck!

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Okay, thanks again for everyone's help. The red cyano is gone, of course, its been replaced by green hair algae The red cyano that is left on the rocks is turning gray (dead I guess) and I'm working on getting that off without scrubbing the life rock too hard.

I'm working on that now, running lights about 4 hours per day. Got 2 20 gallon trashcans from Home Depot for water changes. Will probably go with 20 gallon changes weekly for a month, then to every other week from then on. No R/O yet, but will have to use either my own water or buy a ton of distilled/drinking water.

Need to go and get a new heater now, mine has died. When it rains, it pours...

The hair algae is nothing to worry about. Its showing up because of the excess nutrients caused by the Cyanobacteria dying off. It should go away once the nutrients are used up. Keep up on the water changes