I have this red slime, like a carpet, starting to grow on my sand bed. Any ideas? Is it from too much light or over feeding?

Sounds like not enough flow on that particular area.

I'm going through the same thing. Cyno bacteria feeds on phosphates in your tank. Try cutting back on feeding, increase flow if that area of your tank lacks flow and/or use some sort of phosphate removal media. If the problem doesn't go away in a month there are a few chemicals that you can use. I'm not big on dosing my tanks with chemicals, so i'm battling this problems using the more natural methods I listed.

yeah def. the flow because i have NONE on my sand bed...

make sure tho in the mean time you syphon it off your sand bed, but do that right befor the lights got out, that way the cyano is at its peak of being out.

10-4 thanks for your help...:thumbs:

excess nutrient, like phosphate, as mentioned. Make sure your skimmer is running full tilt, and manage your nutrient load.

Higher flow will help, but if the nutrients are there, it will continue to grow where flow is less. I think chemicals are a short term solution, but nutrient control is the long term.

Hope that helps.

ya know, I wonder if high flow is just a hoax, I had red slime growing on a powerhead right at the out put and where the flow was hitting pretty strong. How much and how often to you feed? How old are your bulbs and do you do regular water changes?

water changes bi weekly bulbs are 2 months old. and every other day i feed just flakes and brine shrimp, and seaweed for my hippo

I want no bad comments back, but there is a product called "Red Slime Remover" turned water yellow for a while, but it works. Not sure how but it does.

You do need flow though. Just putting it out there. I used it. Not problems with any fish or invertabrate what so ever.

oh its not that big of a deal. I just wanted to know what it was. I'll just syphon it out when it appears. Thanks for the info though!;)

nah no bad comments about that product, it does work, I've never used it but people who have say it works wonders. I'ld say just do a water change after you syphon it out. I had some cyano outbreak in my old tank, I just syphoned it when I could, didnt change flow and kept on my water changes. The only other thing I did change in the tank was I checked my magnesium and it was low, after upping it i did notice the red slime go away. I'm not saying that they are connected, but that what it seemed like. You might want to check your Mg and see where its at, i have mine around 1300mg; who knows maybe that might be an issue? Let us know how its going.

Well i have some worse issues than that. ha. i never test my water, i just let my lfs do it for me. But thats why im joining the ARC so i can go to meetings to get educated.:D then really dive into the hobby. ;)

I have problem with red slime every once in a while. I used a product called chemiclean. It works just as good as Red Slime Remover made by UltraLife but doesn't kill all the plants in the tank and it's cheaper too. Red Slime Remover by UltraLife will kill your plants!!!!!

Mix Chemiclean 2 days before you change your water. Don't run UV or skimmer while you are treating the tank with Chemiclean.

Change your water often should help with the red slime problem also.

I do noticed that I had a lot more problem with red slime when my tank first got started than I do now.

I've seen that dosing Mg has helped remove it as well. I know of 2 tanks that this really helped. Test you Mg level to see if it is low or not.

Andy

...or you can not dose anything and start doing weekly waterchanges :D

I never test my water :eek:

so what salt do you use then tony? And do you dose at all?

Well i have some worse issues than that. ha. i never test my water, i just let my lfs do it for me. But thats why im joining the ARC so i can go to meetings to get educated.:D then really dive into the hobby. ;)

I have yet to test my water except for salinity. I don't even take it to the LFS; but I should. I dunno... part of me thinks over thinking is what makes this hobby seem so hard to the outsiders and I'm sure each of the new products out there are just created so those companies can get your money.

I would recommend the regular water changes though.

I use Reef Crystals... but as we're learning in some other recent threads its not always about one factor.
I used to dose Ca+ but ran out and got lazy... I just stick to frequent water changes. My tanks aren't doing all that great, but well enough for me to not have to worry about them.

btw, sorry for the crappy pics... I really dont feel like playing with camera settings right now

so I imagine that RC has dosed calcium and alk then. Hmmm, maybe the fact that I also have a 2 clams in my 15L is why my levels drop so quick :p

a lil read about RC's if people want to see:

Reef Crystals is vitally enriched with extra measures of calcium, selected trace elements and vitamins. The inclusion of these important substances at concentrations greater than that found in natural sea water assures their extended availability in the reef aquarium, thus optimizing the long-term health and growth of corals, anemones, and other invertebrates.

Fully compatible with all marine aquariums, Reef Crystals also contains a metal detoxifier that neutralizes excess heavy metals, e.g. copper, often found (in elevated concentrations) in domestic water supplies. And the best thing about Reef Crystals is that it's a one-stop solution -- no additional additives required.


very interesting.

that is interesting... I believe RC scored really high in Eric and Kims salt tests as well.

Does anyone have those salt test results?

I dont think they've been published yet...