saltwater aquarium build

Sorry for the long read, but I have a few concerns with my tank.
Well, I got back from my Christmas vacation and I have some good news and some bad news. Might as well start with the good I guess. My ATO worked awesome, the power went twice and everything started up fine with no floods. My clowns have gotten bigger and so have my zoas.
Now the bad - I had my first lost, though it’s not confirmed, I expect that my lawnmower blenny has died. He was large when I got him, and for the first week he ate a lot then after that he didn’t eat anything at all. I even tried spot feeding him algae disk, but it didn’t work and before I left for Christmas his belly was shrunken. My pineapple brain is defiantly starting to fade white and I don’t know why? Worst of all my sand bed and a rock is completely covered in a black/red slime. (see pics). This was something I have been battling for a while now and it has gotten much worst and I don’t know what it is, but I think it might be Cyanobacteria. My friend who was watching the tank called me one night and said that I had a big outbreak of scum on top of the water, so I told him to point the powerheads at the surface and it cleaned it up, but when I got back my skimmer collection cup was basically overflowing.
So I went ahead and did water test yesterday and my results were:
PH: 7.8 (This never goes higher, maybe to 8.0)
Ammonia = 0
Nitrate = 0
Nitrite = 0
Sg 1.024
Calcium 400 – 440 (This has been low, so I have been dosing lately)
Temp = 78
Antic lights run for 12 hours and daylights for 10
This is almost exactly what I get all the time when I test my water, to me it seems good. However, I am beginning to grow suspicious of my low PH, could this lead to the black/red slime I have? Or could it be the lights. Even though, I didn’t think I over fed, could this cause this as well? I’m a bit sad about all this because I wanted to add some corals this week.

What I plan to do and have done now is:
I picked up some red slime Cyanobacteria remover and dosed the tank last night. Will does the tank again on Thursday.
I also have a water change ready to go for tonight.
Going to pull as much of it out by hand as i can.
I have some PH buffer and will begin dosing then tank during the water change; I will also dose Calcium as well.
I picked up another 7 nass sails for the sand bed.
I am going to cut the lights back to: antics for 10 hours and daylights for 8.
I am going to raise my sg to 1.026.
Pick up more rock (I have like 70ish lbs in their now, would this help raise the ph)
Do another water change Saturday.
This is all I can think of doing. I was considering picking up a magnesium test kit as well, any input or suggestions on this problem would be appreciated. Again sorry for the long read. Thanks guys.
 

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Sorry, I'm of no help, I have no idea what to do about it. Sorry about your blenny loss as well. The tank is looking great other than the slime though. I love the way you did your rock work.
 
So begins day 1 of the 3 day blackout. I sucked as much as that crap out as I could last night, raised the ph to 7.9 - 8.0 as well as the sg to 1.026 then added a bit more calcium and red slime remover, just a tad. Will monitor the water parameters today to make sure nothing goes horribly wrong. Once the blackout is over on Friday I will does with red slime remover again and do a water change on Sunday.
 
IMO there is no reason to keep dosing stuff into the tank..You don't have enough coral in their to require dosing. Next time you buy salt, maybe consider buying a different brand with calcium added.

I've never used Red slime remover, but you need to find that cause of the red-slime, otherwise it's just going to keep coming back.

Keep the lights off, increase your flow, do water changes and see what that does. I believe you'll see a significant improvement in a few days.

Personally, I'm not a fan of pouring bottles of stuff in the tank to solve issues....I don't know if any of that stuff works extremely well.
 
I'm with PRC on this, you don't need to dose Calcium or pH. If your pH and Calcium are at 7.8 and 400 both are acceptable levels. Especially if they're stable, all you're going to do by dosing is make another chore you'll need to do for the tank.
 
I think that through my research the cause to my red slime has been a combination of, flow, decaying food, and excess light. Now during the time that I have been away my friend who was taking care of the tank might have been over feeding and also adding a few too many algae disks, combine this with the death and non removal of the lawnmower blenny I might have had a lot of decaying stuff in the bottom. Also I always had my powerheads on a wavemaker setting, and I noticed that they have been cutting in on reverse since I got back (less flow then normal). So I went ahead and placed them on permanently now.

I feel the same way about dosing, and I have added the calcium because last month I was getting low readings of 300 and I do have a few corals in there. I also stated to add the PH buffer, because I have never seen my ph raise higher then 7.8, so I want to try to get that up a bit higher as well. I am hoping that one I get these levels up they will begin to maintain themselves. Finally the reason that I am trying the red slime remover is because I was recommended it by a trusted local reefer so I thought I will give it a go. However I am taking your advice and I will not dose the tank a second time now and I will cut back on the calcium to see if the levels will improve, it may have been low because of a delayed water change. I want to use the ph buffer for a little longer to try and raise the ph to 8.3 do you think that more live rock will help me maintain this? Thanks guys.
 
Some new pics, sand has cleared up i hope i can keep it that way.
 

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Wow! Until you commented on my build thread, I had never realized that we both have 50 gallons! I don't know how I missed your thread! I can't believe how successful you were with combating the cyano - Awesome job! The tank looks great!! And, I really like your set-up overall. Very cool that it's in the wall, awesome sump & skimmer (kicks mine's butt ;)), and your rkl monitor thing sounds pretty sweet! Lovely fish and coral, too! I really like your hammer coral! :bowdown:
 
I don't know whether to keep saying MORE PICS! or say YOUR TANK LOOKS AWESOME!!!.


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MORE PICS!
YOUR TANK LOOKS AWESOME!
 
Wow! Until you commented on my build thread, I had never realized that we both have 50 gallons! I don't know how I missed your thread! I can't believe how successful you were with combating the cyano - Awesome job! The tank looks great!! And, I really like your set-up overall. Very cool that it's in the wall, awesome sump & skimmer (kicks mine's butt ;)), and your rkl monitor thing sounds pretty sweet! Lovely fish and coral, too! I really like your hammer coral! :bowdown:

Thanks – I’m so happy that I have been putting up a good fight against the cayano I got to say I was sad when I came back from Christmas break and saw that mess. I feel bad for your corals, but I think they are coming around.

I don't know whether to keep saying MORE PICS! or say YOUR TANK LOOKS AWESOME!!!.

Wow thanks a lot! New pics will come when I get that Green Mandarin I’ve been obsessing about!:sfish:
 
I just park this new whip in my drive way!!! (sorry about bragging but I can help it I’m in love)
 

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