My name is Tim Howe. I have a 75 gallon reef with a red slime problem. It all started when I changed from a 58 gallon to the 75. I replaced all of the gravel with new crushed coral. I added about 20 lbs. of live rock and of course the extra water to make up the difference. The tank went in to a cycle and I lost all of my corals. It then developed red slime. I have tried numerous remedies with no effect. I installed a chiller unit to regulate the temperature and keep it at 75 degrees. I have torn down the tank twice and cleaned the rock and gravel. All to no effect. Can anyone help me.
Red slime
- Thread starter Tim Howe
- Start date
Cathic
Fish Wrangler
Water circulation how is that?
Also how long are your lights on?
Another note, crushed coral is not good for your tank.... just a warning,
Also, welcome to living reefs hope you find everything you need and enjoy it here!
Also how long are your lights on?
Another note, crushed coral is not good for your tank.... just a warning,
Also, welcome to living reefs hope you find everything you need and enjoy it here!
Smitty
Reef pro
Hello and welcome aboard...glad to have you. On top of the questions Cathic asked you, what type of water are you using, cause if your using tap water, that could be the source of your problem.
Cathic and Smitty,
Thank you for your welcome and replies. To answer you questions:
Thank you for your help and I look forward to your replies,
Tim.
Thank you for your welcome and replies. To answer you questions:
- I use only RO water for my water changes and change out 10% per week.
- My pump is a 4000 HH with 900 + gph. I also have two Koralia pumps to try to eliminate any dead areas.
- I have 300 watts of metal halide and 260 watts of compact flourescent actinic that are on 10 hours a day.
- I went to the crushed coral because I had an issue with red slime in my 24 gallon reef at the office. I had live sand in that tank and believed that the sand was not allowing sufficient water flow to eliminate the red slime. Once I changed out the media I was able to get rid of the red slime.
Thank you for your help and I look forward to your replies,
Tim.
Bifferwine
I am a girl
Red slime is usually a consequence of using tap water, overfeeding, high nitrates/phosphates, and low flow. It sounds like tap water and low flow are not your issues.
Your phosphates are reading "trace" because the red slime is using them all up and they are not staying in the water column long enough to read on a test kit. For this reason, phosphate tests are really inaccurate. You can be reading 0, but have a huge phosphate problem.
The crushed coral will not help. It's not good stuff. Way worse than sand. The particles are large enough to trap old food and detritus, which then rots away. Your CUC can't get to it like they can in sand, so it just pollutes the water.
Do you have a CUC? Like nassarius snails for keeping the substrate clean? If you had nassarius snails/sandsifting goby/sandsifting stars, then the sand was not your problem before, as those guys were keeping it clean.
Another idea is the live rock you added. Where did you get this rock from? Someone else's tank? Live rock that has been in a tank with high nitrates and phsophates can absorb them and then leach them out slowly over time, leading to a neverending algae problem.
I wonder if you removed that new rock that you got, if the slime problem would go away?
Your phosphates are reading "trace" because the red slime is using them all up and they are not staying in the water column long enough to read on a test kit. For this reason, phosphate tests are really inaccurate. You can be reading 0, but have a huge phosphate problem.
The crushed coral will not help. It's not good stuff. Way worse than sand. The particles are large enough to trap old food and detritus, which then rots away. Your CUC can't get to it like they can in sand, so it just pollutes the water.
Do you have a CUC? Like nassarius snails for keeping the substrate clean? If you had nassarius snails/sandsifting goby/sandsifting stars, then the sand was not your problem before, as those guys were keeping it clean.
Another idea is the live rock you added. Where did you get this rock from? Someone else's tank? Live rock that has been in a tank with high nitrates and phsophates can absorb them and then leach them out slowly over time, leading to a neverending algae problem.
I wonder if you removed that new rock that you got, if the slime problem would go away?
Bifferwine,
Thank you for your response. When I had the 58 set up that I replaced with the 75 I had crushed coral in it and never had a problem. That tank had been up for 6 years and I was told that I should replace the aggragate.
My 24 had the sand and I replaced that with crushed coral and it has been fine since. The live rock was purchased from a dealer that i have used for years.
I have 4 nassarius, a blue spot watchman gobi, and a serpent star. I have a hippo tang, yellow tang, foxface, the gobi, a pajama cardinal, and a gold stripe maroon clown. They get 1 cube of mysis shrimp about 1 hour before the lights go off.
I have tried several remedies all to no effect. I ordered a phospate reactor last night. I honestly don't know what else to try.
Thanks again,
Tim.
Thank you for your response. When I had the 58 set up that I replaced with the 75 I had crushed coral in it and never had a problem. That tank had been up for 6 years and I was told that I should replace the aggragate.
My 24 had the sand and I replaced that with crushed coral and it has been fine since. The live rock was purchased from a dealer that i have used for years.
I have 4 nassarius, a blue spot watchman gobi, and a serpent star. I have a hippo tang, yellow tang, foxface, the gobi, a pajama cardinal, and a gold stripe maroon clown. They get 1 cube of mysis shrimp about 1 hour before the lights go off.
I have tried several remedies all to no effect. I ordered a phospate reactor last night. I honestly don't know what else to try.
Thanks again,
Tim.
yote
In Memoriam
Welcome aboard Tim.
Start by doing a decent sized water change ( 30% or so ).Siphon out as much of the cyano as possible.Then turn the lights off for 3 or 4 days.The day you turn the lights back on,do another 30% water change,siphoning out any cyano thats left.
With any problem algae,you have to get ahead of it to beat it.Algae and cyano will provide it own nutrients once it gets started.
Start by doing a decent sized water change ( 30% or so ).Siphon out as much of the cyano as possible.Then turn the lights off for 3 or 4 days.The day you turn the lights back on,do another 30% water change,siphoning out any cyano thats left.
With any problem algae,you have to get ahead of it to beat it.Algae and cyano will provide it own nutrients once it gets started.
