Need help, red stuff covering sand...

[JC_UF_ITK]

I have a 29BC that has been up and running for about 6 months now. Last week I started to get some red algae on my sandbed and now it's covering about 75% of the sand. Can anyone help? The PH is stable and there are no nitrates or nitrites.

[riley290]

if its slimy you're probably looking at cyanobacteria

check out this link and make sure to bookmark wetwebmedia.com. Along with RC its one of the best resources on the web and Bob Fenner is a guy you can trust who has the health of your system and animals in mind when he gives advice.

http://wetwebmedia.com/bluegralgae.htm

[cowboyswife]

Red slime is just part of having a new-ish tank. Siphon out as much as you can when you do your water changes. Test your phosphates and see how high they are. If it comes down to it, you can use products like Chemi Clean or Red Slime Remover to help. Do you have any powerheads in the tank? Red slime likes to grow more in areas with lower flow.

[JC_UF_ITK]

I have the stock powerhead in the tank and was planning on adding another. I will check out the link above and also try to do a water change today or tomorrow. Does it just go away eventually or is it something I will need to battle forever?

[Shooter7]

Combination of light feeding, low nutrients (low to zero nitrates/phosphates), ro/di water usage for topoff and mixed sw, and very good flow (no dead spots) is what gets rid of it and keeps it away.

[Sk8r]

Get sunlight away from your tank. That can really contribute to it.
One way to fight it is to turn out your lights for 3 days [only one time a month] and the other is a refugium and a skimmer. YOu haven't listed your tank description. That would help. Are we dealing with a 5g nano or a 500g megatank?

[JC_UF_ITK]

It's a 29 gallon bio cube. Would turning off my lights for 3 days hurt any of the fish or coral (GSP, zoas, shrooms, frogspawn, xenia)?

[plyr58]

In my experience, if you do a substantial water change (i.e. 1/3) and syphon out as much of the cyano as you can, then dose the tank with a 1 time dose of 1.5 times the recommended dose of Maracyn for your tank size, this will kill it off.

Occasionally a particularly difficult problem might require 2 doses several days apart with another water change in between to kill it off. Leave the Maracyn in your system for 24 to 36 hours and then do a 25% water change followed by active carbon use to remove any remaining medication. This has worked for me many times and I have never seen any negative effects on corals or livestock.

My understanding is that Maracyn attacks gram-negative bacteria which many bacterial infections and cyano are without harming the gram-positive bacteria that is your biological filtration.

[JC_UF_ITK]

Would turning off my lights for 3 days harm my corals at all? Thanks.

[JC_UF_ITK]

Would turning off my lights for 3 days harm my corals at all? Thanks.

[scotmc]

no, there is a thread about this issue and the out come was no harm to corals.

[scotmc]

Her you go:
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1078532

[jamiep]

Just call it 3 overcast days! :D It also helps to syphon out any remaining bits after the 3days of no light. This is when it will be easiest as it will be at a very low level!