Red Algae Attack!!

[jbrancale2]

Hey everyone I need some help. I have been in the reef hobby for about a year now, but got an oceanic biocube roughly 6 months ago. Within the last month I have had a huge red algae bloom, and I can't seem to fix it. Currently two clowns, a bubble tipped anemone, and a sunpolyp coral are inhabiting the tank. The temperature is a steady 77? and the pH is 8.0. The Nitrate are reading .2 ppm and the nitrites are reading 0. The ammonia level is also 0. I am also running an SR3 protein skimmer in the back sump of the biocube. The algae just wont go away. I have tried nutrient restriction and light cutoff, but nothing seems to be working. Please help!!

 

[MikeyZO]

did you siphon it all out before you cut the lights? Get as much out as you can first and then cut the lights for like 2 or 3 days.

 

[jbrancale2]

will the negative lighting be harmful to my photosynthetic anemone??

 

[MikeyZO]

Hmm... Not sure about that one. I know it didnt harm any of my photo corals when I did it. But I've never housed an anemone. So I would wait and see if a fellow reefer pipes up with that one. Sorry.

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

What are your phosphates?

 

[bigyankfan]

Do you mean red algae or red slime (cyanobacteria)? I had a very bad red slime problem because I never tested for, or did anything about phosphates (as the Chief mentioned). I am glad to report that I have cured the problem by doing the following:

1) frequent water changes
2) adding a phosban reactor
3) using Blue Life Phosphate Control
4) test for phosphates on a regular basis

When I had my outbreak, my phosphates were over 1PPM and now my levels are 0.05PPM and have been for 6 months now - HTH.

 

[rgun2515]

Do you mean red algae or red slime (cyanobacteria)? I had a very bad red slime problem because I never tested for, or did anything about phosphates (as the Chief mentioned). I am glad to report that I have cured the problem by doing the following:

1) frequent water changes
2) adding a phosban reactor
3) using Blue Life Phosphate Control
4) test for phosphates on a regular basis

When I had my outbreak, my phosphates were over 1PPM and now my levels are 0.05PPM and have been for 6 months now - HTH.

What is this "Blue Life Phosphate Control"? HOUSE - do you carry it? Does it work?

 

[dacaptain78]

Hey jbrancle2,

How much/often are you feeding? Also, how often are you doing water changes and are you using RODI water?

 

[pmui]

.

 

[jbrancale2]

Hey everyone and i really haven't checked the phosphates. What should I test with. And I was feeding the fish daily and the anemone a small piece of krill every 4 days but that has been reduced to feeding the fish every other day and krill once a week. And I used distilled water for top offs.

 

[bigyankfan]

I forgot to mention one other thing - if you feed frozen foods, thaw them in a net and rinse it off before adding it to your tank. Bill and Chris at Reef Fantasy told me that the water that the food is frozen in is a source of phosphates. Good luck.

- Eric

As far as the Blue Life - here is the link
http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_viewItem~idProduct~BL2131~tab~1.html

In a hobby with more of its fair share of snake oils, this is one product that actually works.

 

[ihatefish]

if u can just wipe it of and it comes off in almost a sheet its red slime just add some ethromicin by the way i so spelt that wrong or saltwater maracin it will clear it up

 

[juggernaut]

Really sounds like your phosphates are out of wack. I think you should invest in a salifert (Seachem if you have a Chemistry Degree) test kit and see what your phosphate levels are running at, Cutting back on the feeding will help as well.

 

[juggernaut]

if u can just wipe it of and it comes off in almost a sheet its red slime just add some ethromicin by the way i so spelt that wrong or saltwater maracin it will clear it up

Erythromycin will only clear red/slime (cyanobacteria) for a short period of time as it is a bacteria and erythromycin is for bacterial infections. Hence, you will still need to check levels,cut back on feedings and start looking into either an RO unit or Phosban reactor as erythromycin is just a temp fix. IMO