90g Red Slime Algae. I ahve tried everything!

[MonopolyBag]

Ok, I have red slime algae problem. I have already done a lot to try and fix it. I also get brown slime algae sometimes.

The tank:
90g reef ready tank, x6 t5 HO
Sump with Bio Balls, filter pad, and coralife skimmer
A bunch of live rock
Live sand
x2 Koralia 4
Nano Koralia and Koralia 1
I run Carbon
I have a Phosban reactor with NP Biopellets in it
9w Turbo Twist Coralife UV Sterilizer

Fish:
x4 Ignitus Anthius
x4 Green Chromis
x4 Percula Clowns
x1 Brown Powder Tang
x1 Gold Head Gobby
x1 Six Line Wrasse

Coral:
x1 Elegance
x2 Plate Coral
x1 Toung Coral
x1 Cup Coral
Galaxia
Bunch of polyps, zoos and mushrooms

Inverts:
x1 Anemone
x1 Peperoni Shrimp
x1 Serpant Star
x1 Sand Sifting Star
x2 Cleaner Shrimp
Some turbo snails, hermits

Parameters 4-17-10:
Salinity 1.025
pH 8.1
Nitrate 0.0
Phosphate 0.2
Temp. 78

I have test to test Alk

Maintenance:
15gal water change using Instant Ocean reef crystals every other week. Change filter pad, change carbon, clean skimmer every 3 days, clean algae and over flow. Clean the glass tops and get dust and salt off.

Here is what I have done to try to remove the red slime, all with no luck:
-Added the nano Koralia in the lower corner, added the Koralia 1 in the other lower corner.
-Changed the UV Sterilizer bulb and sleeve.
-Did Chemi-Clean twice in a row, along with a 20gal water change after each one. (it would be gone, then come back after)
-Have blue leg hermits in there (have read sometimes they eat it)
-Took out all the live rock and replaced to get all the detritus out and suspended, then picked up by multiple filter pads and the skimmer.

Ideas I have yet to try:
1. I read that someone got rid of brown slime algae using CupraSorb by Seachem. It reduced the iron in the tank. I am hunting for an iron test to try out that route.
2. Adding a few types of conch, which eat it
3. Camel Shrimp eat it, but they also eat coral
4. Trying Chemi-Pure as a regular filter media
5. Tryign Rowa Phos as a regular filter media
6. Bombing the tank with the Chemi Clean again, this time with the new bulb and sleeve in the UV and after moving all the rock.
7. Raising Alk to get rid of the Red Slime

Things that are good to know:
Tank is not over fed
Skimmer works great
Pad is regularly replaced
NP Bio pellets work great
Lights are only 8 months old

Some reasons that may cause the slime algae:
-Only thing I can think of is that maybe there are too many fish. I know it is heavily stocked, but I had it working for a while. Non of the fish are big, aside from the powder brown.
-Also, I think raising Alk will help, but can low Alk cause a bloom? I was reading up on this with little info found.

Any input is helpful, this is kinda an advance level of it. Other tanks I have done when I get it, I use Chemi-Clean and then a few water changes and its fine. I really need a good way to rid of it. One that will last. I do not know the cause. IMO the tnak is not too stocked because the Phophates are low and so are the nitrates. It looks really nice.

[Mthomp]

what is your feeding regimin? i ask because i was recently laid up in bed for a couple weeks and just before i had a redslime/cyano outbreak. I was only feeding 1 time a day durring this period and by the time i was able to actually do stuff on my own the cyano was gone. Just a side note, I knew that over feeding was my problem when i got the outbreak, i just love to watch my critters eat.


also your phosphates and such are most likely low because the cyano is using it to grow.

[MonopolyBag]

I don't know, I service tanks, and I am not the one to feed. The guy seems to know how to feed well. I have seen him before. I know that we feed pellets/flake every day, then maybe once a week - two times a week frozen is food in place of the dry. I will watch him feed next time, and then tell him to feed less. Does anyone think it will hurt to feed every other day?

Also, I would like to add that lights go on from 10 - 10. 12 hours total. Dim lights are on from 10 - 12 and from 8 - 10. Then all lights are on from 12 - 8. Think knocking down the light, or making it more regular with the sun will help? Like if I have the light come on from 7-7? And main lights on from 9-5?

[MonopolyBag]

OK Update on feeding. I called my client, he said he feeds a 2 pinches of Ocean Nutrition Pellets once a day and a pinch of Ocean Nutrition Spiralina Flake once a day. Frozen food is fed once a week with no dry food.

I am going the Wednesday and I am going to watch him feed his regular feeding way, then I am going to cut back feeding and see if the fish can handle that. Maybe a pinch of pellets a day that is all.

[Mthomp]

flake food is probably one of the biggest causes for cyano what doesnt get eaten hits the floor and tends to rot. also cyano from what i have read isnt an algae but a bacteria. meaning it does not need lighting to grow. feeding everyother day isnt a problem, and often times it isnt how often a person feeds but how much you feed them each time. iam down to feeding one time a day and with only having 3 fish i found it easy to measure exact amounts. I feed strictly rods food so what i do is mix up a batch every week and put it into one of those plastic containers that frozen brine comes in, freeze it and voila i have a some what measured amount to feed my fish every day, now i could spread this amount over the day or feed it all at once. its really up to you but it seems to work for me.

[MonopolyBag]

Most food gets eaten with the clean up crew. So you are saying the flakes probably get stuck and rot faster? The thing is the Phosphates are low and Nitrates at nothing.

Yeah, I need to look into it, someone else may know, but I think Cyanobacteria does require light tog row. My lights are 12 months old, 4-21-09 was when they were installed. I think I may replace them and that may fix it. I know that the red slime will not be there even if lights are old if the nutrients are not, but I am at a loss.

I use to have it going good. I am really confused.Use to actually feed more frozen (which causes higher nutrients IMO cuz the fish pass more through their body)

Switching food? New Life Spectrum? Any idea on that?

How is Rods? I never tried it yet. Have heard good things.

[Mthomp]

your phosphates are going to read 0 because your cyano is eating it up, so in reality it is probably much higher. i have always been a fan of spectrum food although i have yet to use it in saltwater. rods food feeds everything, if you get a chance grab a pack and look at whats in it, it feeds my coral, herbivores and carnivores

[MonopolyBag]

I looked it up online. Looks nice.

[MonopolyBag]

My pH being low (8.1) may be the cause. My friend said the low pH may be from low Alk (I must test) which results in fluctuating pH and the low pH. When the pH drops even lower during night, the red slime grows.

[yvr]

I agree that many commercial foods contain excess nutrients and other undesirable things like nitrates, phosphates etc so I strain/rinse my fresh/frozen foods before feeding my tank. You may want to consider feeding your fish less often.

[MonopolyBag]

We have knocked the feeding regiment down to one pinch of New Life Spectrum pellets once a day.

Using frozen once a week in place of the pellets, and flakes once a week in place of other food.

I discovered today that there were some floating Omega One pellets in there, that hardly ever get eaten and just float. We are getting rid of those.

Marine Buffer by Seachem has been added today and the pH will be raised to 8.3.

2 hours of light have been slowly taken away.

We will; see what happens now.

[KingAmir]

Have u Try PhosGuard by Seachem?My Brown Algae completely removed when i put PhosGuard.

[Tonz of fun]

Mthomp said it. Cyano is eating it up. You have to run red slime removal to get rid of the problem then find your source. First place to start checking is your water source...where is it coming from??? RODI? I hate all bioball, canister filter, and anything of the nature, personally i would say your problem is coming from their. Also over feeding seems to be a issue, I feed 3-4 times a week...maybe

[MonopolyBag]

OK, I cut back feeding. I am going to attempt to clean the bio balls. I will also add some Chemi-Pure.

I fixed the pH and it has been at 8.3 with more red-slime growing. Feeding has been cut back as well for a week now with red slime coming back. Should we stop feeding for a while?

We now feed 1 pinch of pellets a day.

I have not tried Phosguard on this system. I dislike the stuff. I am going to try Chemi-Pure.

And yes, RODI water is always being used.

[MonopolyBag]

**** ton of detritus in the lower sump, going to use a shop vac to clean it out. What do you use in place of bio-balls and canister filters?

Refugium and filter socks and skimmer?

[kwilliams30]

Ok. Let me give you some pointers on red slime. Main causes are poor circulation, which it does not sound like you have a problem there, and bad bulbs. I would recomend replacing your t 5s. Try aquatic life bulbs. You should be able to find them online. If not, let me know. I may be able to help. Secondly, make sure you are following directions exactly with chemi clean. It does work, but if the root source is still there, it will come back. Did you cut off skimmer and remove carbon for first 24 hours, then add back, and do 18 gallon water change after 48 hours from dosing tank? In my personal experience, I didn't like chemi pure. You may try seachems seagel. It is carbon with phosphate control and in my opinion, its the best I have used. Another hint that you may try. If you have the room to do it, add a small flourescent light to your sump with some caulerpa. These may sound like crazy ideas, but they worked for me. But remember, these fixes won't work if the original problem is still there. Change your bulbs. Snd one more thing. What is the flow rate on your uv? Although uv may not help this problem, the slower the flow rate, the more luck you will have. Less than 100 gallons per hour. And I wouldn't clean my bio balls if I were you. All you're doing is washing out the bacteria in them. The dirtier they are, the better you will be.

[kwilliams30]

Good luck with the problem and I hope something works. Keep us posted. Oh, one more thing. Replacement for bio balls is live rock rubble. This works great with the light I mentioned.

[MonopolyBag]

Um... I like my balls clean, but yeah I know I get rid of a lot of bacteria, but my thoughts are years of use, they are due for a cleaning, the bacteria will grow back in no time in an established tank. I do not have room for a light down there. It is pretty tight with the two pumps (skimmer and return) and the skimmer. If I could I would add a refugium, I think it would fix the problem. I have heard good things on Chemi-pure. not only as a phosphate remover, but remove other things as well.

Regarding the lights. I think replacing the lights will fix it, but I read that even if the lights are bad, the algae will not grow unless there is a problem (phosphates) so I am trying to fix that and lastly change the bulbs as a last resort. I like the Giesemann bulbs a lot. Have been using them for a few years now on a number of systems with good results.

[kwilliams30]

I see your point, I would seriously consider bulb replacement. And as faar as the seagel, it is a combination of matrix carbon and phosguard. Of course there a lot of different opinions but I would consider it. You hav_ tried everything else. One more change can't hurt

[MonopolyBag]

Well not everything. I just added Chemi-Pure yesterday. I have heard good things about it. Cut back feeding for only a week now. Want to clean sump first.

Thing is, if I replace the bulbs now, it will probably fix the problem, but the phosphate problem would not have been fixed yet and I will not know when it is fixed.

Thanks for your input!

[MonopolyBag]

Update. I have added chemi-Pure, Bio-Pellets, used a shop-vac on the sump, cleaned the bio-balls, continued water changes, adjusted pH and all other parameters, cut back light output, and cut back feeding. I even added some colurpa two weeks ago.

We have lost two cleaner shrimp, not sure why.

My plan now is to do black out, and change the bulbs, the bulbs were installed 4/6/09 and are Giesemann Powerchrome 48".

The tank looks like **** now the client said, I will take pictures and upload today when I go.

So, my question is, even with addressing basically everything, can the old light bulbs actually be the cause? Should I expect it to get better when I replace them? The tank is covered in red slime algae and brown slime algae.

[MonopolyBag]

I got some pics. This was last Friday 6/4/10 before my maintenance on the tank. Since then the black out worked. 2 days without light and it killed of all algae except s little red slime. Its been three days today with light and I am going to perform another black out today and replace the lamps and in two more days when the new lamps go on I hope the red slime does not come back.

Again phosphates have already been addressed.

BTW, the hair algae is new as well. Only grew last 3 weeks. Never had this problem before, but it is not growing a lot.