The red slime is getting me...

[thbrewst]

I recently changed out my bulbs and ignoring the awesome new color in my tank I am also getting a significant increase in red slime algae. I turned off my lights for a couple of days and that did wonders to clean it up, but now that they are back on I can see that I am headed back down the same path. So...

- Should I reduce my photo period or is that really just a band-aid for the problem? I currently run PCs on ~12 hours, MH on ~7.5 hours.

- Does running carbon help eradicate?

- Is there anything else I should try?


My water params are good now. I did have a relatively high nitrate level about 3-4 weeks ago, but got it back down. If that spike (plus the lights) started this then if I keep them low will it go away or is it one of those things that once it gets started it is hard to get rid of?

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[rjrgroup]

I siphoned mine off with a small hose cut at an angle. Took care off it till I got slack on my w/c again.

 

[landon]

I had an issue with red slime in my tank. Never got really bad but I was able to take care of it. If you notice, when the lights come on in the morning, the redslime is not as pronounced. Red slime utilizes light for a lot of it's energy. Thanks to suggestions from Beccamc10, I changed up my lighting schedule. My lights come on for 2 hours during lunch and then five hours in the afternoon. After doing that, the red slime was pretty much gone.

My schedule:

11 A.M. - 1 P.M.
3 P.M. - 8 P.M.

And yes, siphone out what is in the tank.

 

[thbrewst]

Thanks for the tips. Becca sent me a similar suggestion as well. I will give all of this a try.

 

[jcampbell]

When I had my 26 gallon, the red slime was HORRIBLE! I got rid of it by siphoning it out around 2-3 am when my lights had been out for about 4 hours! Lots of water changes, and cut feeding so much!
Good luck!

 

[smallblock]

How old is the setup?

 

[vincenttyler]

Run gfo will help.

 

[codsack]

If all else fails..... Turn the lights off and cover up the tank for a few days !!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[vincenttyler]

CodSack;638588 wrote: If all else fails..... Turn the lights off and cover up the tank for a few days !!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's will come back, you have to know where it's come from.

 

[thbrewst]

I had already done the lights off thing for a few days, it does work wonders, but as soon as the lights are back on for a few days it starts coming back.



My set-up has been running for about 10 months. I had some in the fuge a while back, but got rid of it by reducing the lights on time. Having it in the display tank didn't really start until I put in these new bulbs.

 

[jennm]

I wouldn't run more than a 10-hour photoperiod.

The best time to vacuum it up is when the lights are near the end of their cycle. It grows during the daylight hours, then dies back overnight in the absence of light, then it re-grows during daylight. Siphon off as much of the cyanobacter as you can when it's at its thickest.

Check your nitrates and phosphates - that's what feeds it in addition to light. Water change to dilute the nutrients and you may want to use Phosguard or another phosphate adsorption resin to get rid of the phosphates.

It may take a few tries to get rid of it but that's usually the best way.

There are chemical "fixes" as well but I only suggest those as a very last resort, AFTER trying the above.

Everybody goes through this sooner or later.

Jenn

 

[90gallon4me]

Ive had my 90 set up for about 6 years now. always had coralife 20,000k. a few months ago i switched to phoenix 14k and now i cant get it to go away!

 

[swalke2]

I had it bad in my 29g added a Halloween Hermit Crab and it seemed to devour the stuff. I also did alot of water changes and cut back on feeding.

 

[thbrewst]

In my situation my nitrates were high a little while ago but I have already gotten them back in check. It could be that I need to alter my WC strategy with the new lights as they allow this kind of stuff to grow faster. I have also noticed that the algea on my glass seems to be growing faster with the new lights.

I definitely do not want to add chemicals and frankly have not even considered that option. Implementing the revised photo period is really my first attempt at solving the problem other than getting my nitrates down, so I am definitely not out of ideas yet (and by ideas I mean your alls ideas since I don't know that much about this yet)

Maybe I didn't realize how crappy my old bulbs really were.