Red slime algae care

[assafelbaz]

Hi.

In my small tank (10gl) I have:
1. Crushed rock as surface
2. Live rocks
3. Heater / Filter / Power Head / Bubbles stone
4. 3 Snails / 1 Blue leg crab / 4 Red leg crabs
5. 1 Small clown fish / 1 Small yellow tail damsel / 1 Small three-striped damsel

In the last 2 weeks i keep seeing a red algae growing on the surface. My water being changed every 2-3 weeks. I am using tap water with conditioner before putting in the tank. My salt is a mix made by Petco. My lights are on for 8 hours (by timer), and they are fluorescent (5,000K - 14W), i have 2. My filter is Aqueon QuiteFlow 10. The heat is stable at 77F. I'm feeding twice a day a very small piece (about 3mmX3mm cube) of frozen brine shrimp. I have no test kit, but i am going to Petco every 2 weeks to check the water.

I would like to know first how to handle the red algae. Then, i will be happy to hear some pro advise of how to change/improve my small tank.

Thank you.

 

[kbuser92]

#1 You need different bulbs. The red light is fueling the growth. You need 10,000K+ bulbs.
#2 Try using RO/DI water because its pure. Tap has phosphates (generally).
#3 Ditch the air stone because the phosphates attach to the bubbles, hence the algae forming at the top.

 

[little_fish]

Well, i think improving your tank will go a LONG way to helping your algae issue. Im sure that a large part of your problem is how your tank is set up.

1. You should replace the crushed rock with sand. The crushed coral/rock is basically one big poop and uneaten food trap, which rots and then release nitrates back into your water, which is the fuel source for cyano (the red algae)

2. Im going to guess that you have some sort of mechanical filter. Also a crap trap, just like the sand. Goes to fueling cyano growth. You should remove the filter and be doing weekly water changes. Also remove the bubble stone. They dont aerate the water very well and lead to pH issues. How big if your powerhead? You want the water in your tank to be turned over at least 20x per hour. More flow is better. Having lots of flow hinders the growth of cyano and other other algae.

3. You should have a max of one fish in the tank. The other two fish are just providing more waste than the tank can handle, leading to (as you might have guessed by now) cyano and algae issues. Also you have 3 very aggressive fish on one TINY tank. It is more than likely they are going to fight until you only have one left alive anyways. So pick your favorite and return the other two.

4. Like I said before, small tanks require more frequent water changes. You should be doing water changes ever week. When you do a water change suck out as much of the cyano as you can.

5. Dont top off with tap water. The water conditioners only treat the chlorine in the water, but leave behind the nitrates, phosphate, iron and other compound that both fuel algae and cyano growth and they can also be toxic to corals and inverts.

6. How old are the lights? Old bulbs tend to promote algae growth because over time the spectrum changes to a frequency that is more favorable to algae growth. I would also go for bulbs that are made for saltwater tanks. The bulb you have sounds like its suppose to be for a freshwater planted tank, which is designed to grow algae. In your tank this is helping the cyano grow.

7. Dont feed brine shrimp. They arent very nutritious for your fish (kinda like fish candy) and they have high levels of nitrates and phosphates - which will contribute to the growth of algae and cyano.

8. Buy your own test kit. Petco/petsmart use dip stick which are highly inaccurate. Get a quality liquid kit (API makes a good one) and do your own monitoring.

 

[Northstar24]

Hannah has you covered. If your system was set up with the advice of a fish store, its time to find a new one

 

[assafelbaz]

I have a lot to do now... ;)

About the fish count in my tank, i got the idea not only from any fish store that i've been here in Brooklyn, also by online guides. For any 2 gallons of water i have i can put 1" of fish. In my tank i have 5" of fish... Mine all together are about 4".

How can i really know how many fish i can put in a size of tank (10, 30, 55, 75,...).

 

[NanoReefer]

uaually one fish per 10 gallons of water in the rule of thumb.

 

[Northstar24]

A rough rule that you will see most people use for saltwater is 1 fish for every 10 gallons. While you can overstock, it is a lot harder to do on smaller tanks. On tanks with more volume and sufficient filtration you can 'break' the one fish per 10 gallon rule and potentially get away with it (not counting compatibility /territoriality of the fishes involved)

That being said, on smaller tanks (like a 10 gallon) changes in water quality happen much faster, and nutrients will reach problem levels much faster as well, as you are seeing with your cyano (I am almost certain that one of the things contributing to your cyano is an overstocked tank)

A lot of saltwater hobbyists have heartbreak over the fish that are available to us in this hobby. So many of them are absolutely beautiful and we either want them all, or want to keep them in tanks that are far too small for them. In your case its more of the former than the later- but unless you reduce the number of fish in your tank, you will be fighting issues like cyano on a permanent basis

As far as getting advice from your fish store - the sad reality is they exist solely to make a profit off of you, and most stores do not really care about your long term success (there are exceptions to this) Any fish store that tells you 3 aggressive fish is okay in a 10 gallon is only concerned about 1 thing - taking the contents of your wallet and adding them to theirs.

When you get advice from a fish store, take it with a grain of salt, come back here and ask questions to make sure you're really getting pointed in the right direction here. None of us at living reefs charge for advice, so our motive is purely to see you succeed - and our advice will reflect that

 

[little_fish]

+1000 North

Also that rule you are using does work for freshwater tanks, but as you can see, leads to major issues in saltwater tanks.

 

[assafelbaz]

+2000 North! ;)

You are right. I will have to decide and go step by step to solve this.
I also want to go larger on my tank, so i am looking for 30-50 gallon to migrate.

Thank you all for the advice, and i will sure be here asking questions all the time.

 

[kbuser92]

Keep asking. Were not trying to make a profit off you like LFSs do so we have nothing to lose by being honest and helpful. We WANT you to succeed.

 

[Northstar24]

+2000 North! ;)

You are right. I will have to decide and go step by step to solve this.
I also want to go larger on my tank, so i am looking for 30-50 gallon to migrate.

Thank you all for the advice, and i will sure be here asking questions all the time.

I am glad that you actually take the advice that we try to give and learn from it, instead of other people that come on here, post questions asking for help, and then saying 'Well you don't know what the hell you're talking about, I read here or saw there that I can do this without issues..."

By all means - post your questions here, and you'll get answers, if not, send me a PM. I may not have all the answers, but I'll do my best to help

 

[assafelbaz]

Thank you so much!