Red Slime Algae

[The Chefin' man]

I have some red slime aglae. Where did it come from? Is it bad? What do I need to do to get rid of it if the red algae is bad? Thank you for your all's help.


Thank you,
The Chef

 

[mr_X]

i went through a similar episode not too long ago.
it's not a horrible situation, but it's not good.
here is what folks told me:
http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=94750

 

[bleedingthought]

It can come from excess nutrients or CO2 build up. It is more ugly than bad. Some things you might try: Add more circulation/Reposition your circulation; Skim wetter; Feed less; Less light; Use RO water; Dose and test for Magnesium.

Hope that helps a little! :wink:

 

[The Chefin' man]

I forgot to add that there is nothing in the tank escept 130 to 150 lbs of live rock and a 6 inch agaronite base. This is a new 90 gal and a 30 gal sump startup that is 16 days old. Actually I used the goodies from my previous tank which was a 55 gal (that was 6 months old)and acutally had a crap load of purple coralline. I also had a 10 gallon DIY refuge with a 1-265 (intake) and a 235 gal pump for the return all of the pipe work was DIY too.. Well in this refuge I had bio-balls in two chambers (which was a stupid, I had nitrate spikes like crazy). I had a 24 inch grow light from a garden center (another stupid) stayed on 24-7. In the growing area I had madd amounts of the red slime. It regenerates really fast (or fairly fast), well I shut that tank down and let all of my livestock stay at the fishy day care. Any rate, I just noticed this last night and it has doubled its size. I have tried to do water changes on the old tank, well needless to say the siphon would not suck it up. And it is quite nasty to pick up bare handed.



The Chef

 

[trido]

It can come from excess nutrients or CO2 build up. It is more ugly than bad. Some things you might try: Add more circulation/Reposition your circulation; Skim wetter; Feed less; Less light; Use RO water; Dose and test for Magnesium.

Hope that helps a little! :wink:

Ditto

 

[Anonymous]

Are you going to have a sump on this tank? If you add some macroalgae (Chaeto?) to it, run it RDP, it will compete for the nutrients that the bluegreen alga (cyano) is using, eventually the slime will lose the battle.

If you want more research info, google search "Redfield Ratio".

Here's an interesting version:

http://www.xs4all.nl/~buddendo/aquarium/redfield_eng.htm