Miracle Mud users please red !!

[Reefguide]

I am just about fed up with the red slime in my refugium. I was at another LFS today and asked them about it. What they told me is that MM will cause red slime for a while in the begining. Something about a high waste level in the MM. He told me that as long as it didnt spread to the main tank that it would eventually go away (hasn't spread)... He told me that for the meanwhile I should drop one tablet of a antibiotic every two weeks in the fuge(cant remember the name now). I had never heard that !

He also told me not to add a powerhead to the fuge to increase the flow, that all that would do is add more oxygen to the water and the caulerpa would die off.

He also assured me that the light I was using for the fuge was correct. It's a 13w PC 8800k that comes on the ecosystems...

Any MM users have a red slime problem in the begining as he claims?

Thanks...

 

[danmhippo]

I was an ex MM user when it first came out (5 years ago?). I too had cynobacteria bloom after using it. I contribute it to excessive nutrient in MM as well, plus that at the time, my caulerpa did not take off as fast as the nutrients are released into the water.

The only thing I did to help was siphoning off as much cyno as I could on the daily basis.

Cyno bacteria bloom is a common occurances even in non-MM based refugiums. As long as there are nutrients trapped and was not readily absorbed/exported, cynobacteria and nuiance micro algae will grow like crazy.

 

[Reefguide]

Forgot to mention...

I switched to a 12hr reverse lighting cycle and it seems to have helped a bit. Not a whole lot but a bit I think...

 

[Anonymous]

I've had a MM refugium for a little over a year now. Can't grow any algae in the tank to save my life, except for a thick coat of green slime on the water's surface in the lighted area of the refugium. I pull it out on average twice a week, and no caulerpa grows. I think I have one or two spindly little strands of caulerpa in there right now. I don't know if the slime is shading/choking out the caulerpa or if it's something else at work, but it's a little frustrating. I was really hoping to grow lots of nice caulerpa for my tang to munch on. :? The upside is that I don't have any algae in the main tank, either. I magnet-wipe the walls about once every other week.

 

[Reefguide]

I too have problems growing caulerpa, it's constantly covered in red slime and it can't take up light.

Do you guys think this eventually go away like the LFS said ?? Or is this going to be a long struggle? Should I remove the MM and add 3-4" dsb in there, or maybe just add sand to the existing MM?

 

[danmhippo]

No. As long as the nutrient level is higher then what the caulerpa can export, there will always be micro algae and cyno's. Maybe try to get a big clump of loose caulerpa to throw into the fuge and hope for the best?

 

[big o]

I to had the same problem i thought it was the media in my ca. reactor. i went to ARM and also added an airstone where my effluent drips to remove any excess CO2. the red slime did go away i never had a problem growing algae.

 

[Reefguide]

Thanks for the reply's guys...

Some people tell me not to anchor the caulerpa and just toss it into the refugium and some tell me to place a rock or something on it and it will anchor itself, while other tell me to grab a bundle and just poke my finger into the mud with it. What do you think? I'm tired of having to removing floating, rotting caulerpa covered in slime.

 

[danmhippo]

You should anchor it. Don't care how. Caulerpa anchors themselves easier if it's hard subtrate, such as fragments of LR.

 

[Anonymous]

I haven't had a problem with red slime in my MM refugium. I have been struggling with a minor (but irksome) growth of it on the substrate in the display tank lately. In the 'fuge I get a little green crud floating on the surface, I pull it out manually every other week or so when I thin out the caulerpa.

I agree with Danmhippo about anchoring the caulerpa; I just poked the runners into the mud here and there and it took off.

 

[Joey French]

I have no problems growing caleurpa in my ecosystem filter,although I do get some slime growth in there also. I think that if it is competing for nutrients, I just let it go. My nano is having an initial bloom right now (too long a photoperiod,only three months old,)but the ecosystem filter I took right off of an established tank,so it had already been running for a year and a half prior. I don't know about the red slime problem upon setup for this reason. Good luck.....Joey

 

[toddius]

I've got a similar red slime - ecosystem problem as described above. I constantly remove the slime from the rocks, run polyfilter, etc. replace water with DI water only, and I still get the slime. It's been about 4 months now. I'm NOT going to treat my tank with antibiotics, but it's getting tiresome.

Is there anyway to get slime off the substrate with out vacuuming up the substrate with it? I've got really fine sand, and it's been seeded with critters from Inland Aquatics. How can I get the cyano off the substrate without ruining the sand bed?

 

[SPC]

Is there anyway to get slime off the substrate with out vacuuming up the substrate with it?

-Not that I know of, even if your very careful you will still loose a little sand and a few critters.
Steve