Cause of red slime algae?

[tetra]

I am going through an algae bloom, but only getting the red slime in the front of the tank. This where the so-called "true actinic" pc is located. Can this be the cause? I am not getting red algae anywhere else?

 

[pathos]

the red slime will eventually go away on its own. it is a necessary step in the maturation of your biological ecosystem. siphon as much of it as you can, but don't worry too much about it - it will go away on its own and other, more difficult to remove/control algaes will take its place.

these are some of the major challenges of our hobby - aren't they fun???

 

[tetra]

Now, what about erythromycin? I heard something about that, what is the dosage for a 60gal.? How will it affect my corals?

 

[SPC]

Tetra, I would agree with the above responces, the problem with the drug you mention is that it could harm the beneficial bacteria in your tank. One other thing I would like to point out, the red slime is using something in your tank (excess nutrients) to survive. I have a new 7 week old tank that I got a little carried away with trying to feed the sand bed and got a bad case of red slime. I solved the problem by stopping the sand bed feeding, turning the protien skimmer up, placing a high quality carbon in my sump, and most important siphoning the red slime off the top of the sand bed and this means more than once in most cases. I believe that this stuff feeds off itself once it gets established, so the worst thing one can do is stur it up in the sand bed as this only gives it more nutrients (including its decaying self) to feed on.
Steve

 

[danmhippo]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by tetra:
<STRONG>I am not getting red algae anywhere else?</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Oh, you WILL!

Just give it some time, you will get them EVERYWHERE!! The cynobacteria is just taking advantage of the excess nutrient (PO4 and other nitrogen compounds) currently exist in your tank. Siphon the cyno's out as soon as you find them.

 

[davelin315]

I used to have a big problem with red slime algae, but seem to have conquered it with an aggressive treatment. First, I ran some phosphate sponge for a couple of days, replacing it after 24 hours each day. Then I ran some carbon to polish off the water a bit. The last step was to take out all the chemical filtration and add (I was very nervous about doing this even though everyone insists it is safe) a red slime killer. I used No-cya-no by ecolibrium. I got it from that pet place online and had to reorder because I ran out in the middle of a treatment. This seemed to if not eradicate the problem completely, neutralize it so that I can't find any red slime anymore. The other problem could possibly be your lighting cycle (per a lfs) or you may need to replace your bulbs. Anyway, hope this was helpful. By the way, if you do use the red slime remover, it supposedly is biodegradeable and will disappear on its own from your tank, but I would toss the carbon and phosphate sponge back in again anyway.