Slime!

[Dmitry]

I've got an outbreak of slime in my tank! What is this stuff? It's mostly covering the back and sides of my tank, including all the equipment that hangs there. Where does it come from? How do I stop it? The only changes in recent weeks have been a 250W MH light (14000K), I started using RO/DI water from a new unit, and I've fed my corals marine snow. What gives?! Is it harmful to the inhabitants of the tank?

 

[Dmitry]

PS: the slime is white in color.

 

[Deanos]

Dmitry, I did an extensive search for your symptoms without success. The few references I found were just as vague as yours.

My opinion would be to siphon out all the slime that you can and "run" some carbon.

When all else fails, feed less, shorten photoperiod & WATER CHANGES!

Dean

[ June 22, 2005, 03:35 PM: Message edited by: Deanos ]

 

[marrone]

Have you added any corals or rock of later? Some thing may have come in on the rock and is sending out the slime. Do what Dean said, siphon out the slime, and see if it appears the next day, I would think if it's some thing on the live rock it would do the slime at night mostly.

 

[Dmitry]

Thanks! I have carbon running all the time in my Fluval. Tomorrow I'm going to scrub the tank and hope for the best. I hoped to attach a photo of this, but couldn't see how to do it! It's like the Blob in there! Now that I think about it...I wonder if the lights have something to do with it. This slime (let's assume it's algae of some sort) is strongest where the light hits strongest...and where the skimmer pre-skimmer box throws a shadow there is practically no slime. So...the MH lights. I'll cut down the hours they're on and hope for the best! So far the fish seem ok...

 

[GQ22]

im surprised you are running a fluval on a reef tank as they build up alot of nitrate (which may be contributing to your problem). i mostly see them being used with fresh water tanks. if i where u i would scrap the fluval and go with simple fuge if dont have one already.

 

[Dmitry]

I don't have a fuge and don't have the space for it, unfortunately. If I had the room...I'd have a bigger tank than 29Gs!! All the people without filters like Fluval do you just not bother with capture of small particles of dirt? Everytime I clean the filter there's plenty of dirt it's caught that otherwise would have ended up somewhere under a rock. I siphon out debris during water changes also, but... Anyway, it seems that no one has ever heard of this slime algae and I have no idea of the cause...

 

[GQ22]

you can try using a hang on fuge. i dont think a fluval has any place in a reef tank. the particles you are taking out is probably alot of built of bacteria from absorbtion of nitrate. slime equates to a form of algae and algae comes from nitrates and phospates. i think a fuge combined with a protien skimmer sufficient. They have hang on skimmer too for a tank your size. I dont think you can get away with not having a protein skimmer.

 

[Dmitry]

Who said I didn't have a protein skimmer? AquaC Remora.