Red film/algea?

[pastelball]

Looking to get some ideas on getting rid of this algea/air film. Its all over the back of the tank. Here is a few pics. Any suggestion would be great. I am running a skimmer, the water test fine and I do a 3 gallon water change every week and its not going away. I feed the fish everyother day and corals once a week. My flow is good. Just can't figure it out.

http://thereptileroom.org/forum_gallery/albums/userpics/10049/Picture%20065.jpg

http://thereptileroom.org/forum_gallery/albums/userpics/10049/Picture%20066.jpg

[tjay]

You have cyano, welcome to the club and good luck
In the past month I have tried
doubling my flow
Chemi Clean
Phosban Reacor
Snails
And I am still fighting it

[bencozzy]

poly filers helped a bit on my 10g but im going to try and switch from carbon to purigen to see if that helps even more with hair algea and cyano

also im going to get some volcanic shrimp and see if they will eat it, i dont think they woulb be good in a tank with fish because of there small size(im pming you)

i feed my tank daily

ben

[WmTasker]

make sure you keep you alkalinity high. At least 12 DKH or higher. It worked to get rid of mine. I also added some mexican turbo snails, and doubled the water flow.

[pastelball]

I keep pulling out what I can. I have slowed feeding I might try a few chems.

I will raise my alk a bit

[Buckeye ME]

I got it too, didn't have it until the last few weeks. My alk is only around 8 so I will have to try to get it up and see if that works without any other treatment.

[WmTasker]

I used an airline tube to go around and vaccume it out. Worked pretty good. You can also just turn the lights off for a few days. The corals will just close up and think its a cloudy day.

[zeppelin]

Haven't had to deal with that yet (Zeppelin crosses fingers), but I've heard good things about the higher alk helping. I just started using Purigen in my display. I have used it from time to time on the prop tanks, but hadn't used it in the display. Not sure why I ever stopped. Nice thing about it is that it is rechargable.

[bencozzy]

how do you recharge purigen?, since im getting some id like to find out

thanks
ben

[NEEDMONEYFORMORESALT]

I'm sure there are a ton of reasons for cyno outbreak, but i got mine under control when i got my alk in check. I read low alk can cause a cyno outbreak

[Buckeye ME]

Is 12 the higher limit for a good alk? 8-12 good for corals I think is what I've seen.

[pastelball]

Great info, have a few things to try now

[WmTasker]

I do believe that 8-12 dkh is recommended by most for corals. Mine has been between 15-18 dkh for months now and the corals are still growing like crazy.

[sammie]

RO,RO,RO Check your RO membrane and/or replace it.

[zeppelin]

Originally posted by bencozzy
how do you recharge purigen?, since im getting some id like to find out

thanks
ben

You soak it in bleach for 8 hours, then in dechlorinator for 24 hours. Then I rinse it and put in clean water for another 24 hours. It changes back to tan from almost black. You can really tell when its ready for a recharge. Mine lasts about 5-6 months.

[Bcollins111900]

I noticed when I started to use water from a better R/O filter the problem went away. Another wonderful thing to help... yellow jaw goby, moves the sand so much cyano has no time to grow. I also bumped up the flow in my tank and problems went away 100%

[cfishrun]

Originally posted by zeppelin
You soak it in bleach for 8 hours, then in dechlorinator for 24 hours. Then I rinse it and put in clean water for another 24 hours. It changes back to tan from almost black. You can really tell when its ready for a recharge. Mine lasts about 5-6 months.

Make sure it's a bleach solution, not 100% bleach. About 10 parts water to 1 part bleach. If it's too strong it will cause the beads to shrink and they'll literally slip through the bag (I know from experience). Just follow the instructions on the box or check on Seachem's website. I tried to use Purigen and Phosguard to help with my cyano but didn't notice either product helping out much. But FWIW the Purigen looked like it literally absorbed the redish hue from the cyano.

Cyano is almost always caused by high levels of disolved organics in the water, so however you can cut those back will help. Some people have already said to check your source water and raise the Alk level; both are good places to start. More frequent water changes are probably in order. Syphon out as much of the cyano as you can, but whatever you do, don't stir it up. Also, get VERY aggressive with your protein skimming. You should be emptying that cup daily. Also, I noticed that not putting hands or arms in the tank as frequently really helped out. Or at least make sure that you wash them beforehand if you have to reach in. You wouldn't believe how much dirt and oil can be on your skin; it not only puts more crap in the water system, it cuts down on skimmer performance.

The cyano got to the point on one of my small nano tanks where I decided to break down the whole thing. I put all the LR in a bucket, dumped in some Alk buffer and an air stone, put the lid on, and let it "bake" for about 10 days. It killed off all the cyano. So if your system isnt very elaborate that could be an option too.

Very few animals will eat the cyano, it's fairly toxic. Bumping up your flow may help, but don't just drop in a PH and stir everything up, that's not going to solve the problem. At least do a water change and syphon out as much cyano as possible first. Buying an animal to constantly keep things stirred up probably wont help address the cause either, in fact, I could only see it making things worse. I've always had better luck when I've tried to minimize the amount that the cyano can spread throughout the tank.

Hopefully this helps, good luck in whatever method you choose.

~Aaron

[bencozzy]

thanks for the info.

what type of dechlorinate do you recommend?

thanks
ben

[zeppelin]

Originally posted by cfishrun
Make sure it's a bleach solution, not 100% bleach. About 10 parts water to 1 part bleach. If it's too strong it will cause the beads to shrink and they'll literally slip through the bag (I know from experience).

Ya, its on the container. Mine says a 1:1 bleach/water solution. Thats what I follow.

[TacoKing]

Ozone helped cure my cyano.

[cfishrun]

Originally posted by zeppelin
Mine says a 1:1 bleach/water solution.

Yeah zeppelin, you're right. Their website also says 1:1 bleach to water solution. Sorry I didn't realize the solution was quite that strong.

Originally posted by bencozzy
what type of dechlorinate do you recommend?


Any dechlorinator will work fine; you just want to neutralize the bleach. Most local fish stores sell about 5 varieties. I use Genesis b/c it's cheap.

[cincy_bob]

FRESH WATER MARICYN

[WmTasker]

Originally posted by cincy_bob
FRESH WATER MARICYN

Last resort .... can also kill inverts and corals along with your red slime.