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Hi - Has anyone found an effective way of removing slime algae from the tank.

I have a reef set up with 250wt light & I have a red slime coving all the substrate & glass.

I have got - 2 x shrimp, 2 x red leg hermit, 3 x snail, and an urchin + god knows how many micro organism, in the hope they would attack the slime but they are ignoring it and just going after the algae on the rocks.

Phosphate levels barely register.

Is there some chemical or additive that can prevent slime?

Thanks

Chemi-Clean, Poly-Ox, or Red Slime Remover are all additives you can use to help remove red slime.

I used a combonation of Poly-Ox (made by Kent) and adding higher flow to the tank to get rid of my cyano outbreak.

If you go to your LFS and ask for any of those 3, they should have one.

Doesn't hurt corraline algae does it?

Nope.

I've used the Chemi-Clean and it didn't hurt anything in the tank. But it's not cheep.



Dan

How old is the tank? How much current and oxygenation do you have? Are you running a skimmer?

I have also used the slime removers, but they are not a cure for the problem....they are only a temp fix for it. If the nutrients and right conditions are still there for it, it will return.......usually worse because of the added nutrients from killing the cyanobacteria with the chemical.

Mine is trying to make a comeback as we speak. Looks like I'll have to start dosing again .

-Justin

DRO is correct, you need to find a natural preditor to clean up any outbreaks you might have. Snails, small hermits, etc.



Dan

There is nothing that will eat cyanobacteria.

You can try nass. snails or a conch, but they will just keep the sand bed stirred up.

There is nothing that will eat cyanobacteria.

Not true.

Well share with use mikey! In all my searching, I have come up with nothing.

Heres a start

I was actually just down stairs watching my new mini blue legs fest on some cyano. They weren't just moving it around either, they were putting it in their mouths.

Hi Dark - The tank itself is about 3 months old although some of the substrate/live rock and water have been moved over from my smaller tank which had been set up for 6 months +.

The tank is 139gallons with an 802 + 402 powerhead for current.

I am running a deltec MCE 500 ext. skimmer so plenty of oxygen.

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Will red leg hermits also eat the cyano? If not I have 2 very small reds in there - if I add a couple of blues will I have small crab warfare??

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I have just bought some poly ox and will start using it tonight. My LFS said that they had the same thing with their tanks and it was down to the salt mix they used (Mine is Kent Marine I think). Does this sound plausible? I am pulling out my hair because I do not know what else it could be - Like I said phosphate bearly registers. I am certainly not overfeeding! I have been using the same salt since starting up & I never had a problem like this before (I put it down to having stronger lighting)

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Can anyone recomend some practical tips on avoiding this coming back?

More current will help the most.....sounds to me like your problem is comming from not enough water movement. Im willing to bet that the cyano is growing in the lowest flow/dead spots. You need alot more water movement via powerheads in a 139 gallon tank. I was running more current in my old 75 gallon (two 802's and one 402) Increase your flow and it will help.

also, your tank is only 3 months old, and cyano and other algae is pretty normal. Increase the flow and dose the slime remover.

I highly doubt its the salt.....I have been using kent for 2 years now and havent had any problems. I just recently switches over to Oceanic.