dragonbear

What are some ideas on how to get rid of red slime without using additives?

Annadvn

I had red slime (cyanobacteria) really bad, the things i found helped are:

Keeping nitrates and phosphates as close to 0ppm as possible. I bought some macro algae to help.

I rearranged the live rocks so there was better flow around the rock and increasing the water movement. I also moved the live rocks so as little as possible of the live rock was on the surface/touching the sand. This provided less area for anaerobic bacteria to grow as these can produce nitrates bad if there are too many of them (as aposed to reducing the nitrates).

And frequent RO/DI water changes have helped. I also would siphon all of the red slime off the rocks and sand whilst doing water changes.

I also added more CUC with more hermit crabs (mexican red legged hermit crabs) and snails (various), whilst i'm unsure if they ate the slime they helped stir things up more in the sand and kept the rocks cleaner. I also removed a fish to reduce the bioload.

Before i did this i could remove all the slime off and by the next morning all my rocks would be covered again. Now i don't have a problem with algae and sorted it from the root causes rather than covering up the problem with antibiotics or other treatments.

Anna

sgould

+1. Good advice!

pinkfloydpuffer

I have some too, but it's the green kind. And man is it a pain in the butt.

Mike

Nice info annadvn - red slime can be a good indicator of "low flow" areas. Siphon out any existing slime and then up the flow in the tank and maybe the protein skimmer can take care of the bulk of any future probs. Also do the things Annadvn suggested.

cerianthus

Well said!!

RO/DI definitely will help. These slimy can spread even without much lighting.
If RO/DI is not an option now, consider Tap Water Filter by API which is better than nothing and cheaper since no water gets wasted. If youre using well water consider other options..

Adding additives to eradicate slimy is an only temporary relief.

Just one correction.
It is an anaerobic activity which will help you to reduce nitrates to nitrogen gas thus lowers nitrates. nitrates are produced by aerobic activities which is what cycling is.
Dead zone/Anaerobic Activity should be done in separate chambers/denitrator but not in the tank though some may take place in deep sand bed, LR in the sand, etc.

As Anna has pointed out, getting to root of problem now is easier than fighting the war later on.
Good luck!!

dragonbear

What if I were to take the piece of rock out of the tank. brush it off, and place it in a bucket of fresh water for a few days? Would this help remove the red slime?

Annadvn

Yes, whilst that would treat the rock for red slime it would also kill of any good bacteria and cause a cycle in your tnak when you put it back in.

It would be better to treat the root cause of the problem other wise you will end up with all your rocks and sands in freshwater buckets!

If you want you can pull the rock out and use a soft tooth brush to brush off the slime, using a bucket of salt water only. Put the rock back in the tank and discard the bucket of salt water. This will make things look better to the eye but the problem will come back.

I would check what your phosphate and nitrate levels are and do a water change if they are even slightly high (and post the results here). Add another powerhead or move the rocks and powerheads you have to make sure there are no low flow areas in the tank. If you don't have a protein skimmer i would suggest getting one and putting it in the main tank for a temporary measure to get the slime under control and then moving it over into the sump/refrigium.

Do you have any macro algae such as cheto? If not i would get some most salt water people will have some, and it really helps in reducing nitrates and phosphates.

anna

P.S can we have a pic of how your tank looks? and what inhabitants do you have in the tank currently?

dragonbear

Well I know that my nitrate levels are at 0 PPM. I have not checked the phosphate levels yet.

The red slim seems to be growing on the rock even where the powerhead is directly hitting.

No I do not have any macro algae. What is that?

Currently I have 3 red legged hermits, 1 green emeral crab, and 2 ocellaris clownfish. It is a 10 gallon tank, which I will soon be moving over to my 29 gallon.

I will take pics soon and post them.

Thanks!

plthul

I'm hoping someone will still check this topic because I have been battling red slime for about 1 - 1/2 years. My tank was perfectly balanced when I switched from liquid foods for my mushrooms to a cube food, where the cubes sat on the substrate and slowly disintegrated. Wrong move! The slime began around the cubes. Over the last 1 - 1/2 years I have been doing a variety of things like: cleaning the tank every 2 weeks, using 2 different kinds of chemical to remove the slime, using a natural algaecide, using a protein skimmer (which did nothing), doing large water changes, scrubbing the live rock to the point that they are now dead, adding snails, crabs and starfish (the starfish always died after a few weeks, but they did eat some of the slime), removing parts of the substrate to clean it and dry it out for a couple of weeks, feeding the fish less, using several different kinds of phosophate and nitrate removers.

So here are my tank parameters: 55 gallon, established for 11 years, live rock (mostly dead), 4 green chromis, 1 royal gramma, 1 tomato clown, 2 pajama cardinals, 1 blenny, 3 hermit crabs, 2 snails. I use an Emporer 400 filter with 2 bio wheels on one side of the tank, and a 10 gal filter on the other side. I just tested the water: pH=8.4, nitrite=0, ammonia=0, nitrate=off the charts! I am taking a water sample to the local aquarium store to do a phospate test.

Today, I have removed all the dead rock, leaving one piece in that still looks pretty good, I've removed the filters and cleaned them out, cleaned all the glass sides, removed all large bits of debris and about 1/3 of the water. Now I am running a power gravel vacumn that filters and returns the water to the aquarium. I plan on adding A.C.T. (aquatic culture treatment), and Phosbuster if phosphate tests high.

Should I put the dead rock back in or just toss them? I also don't know what macro algae is - can you explain further?

I appreciate any advice, since I am about ready to give up and take this tank apart.