Battling red slime

[corkyGramma]

I agree with most of what was said however... Teeb, I think you are doing too many water changes...allow me to explain. You can export phoshate, debris, cyano without removing so much water (every so often) and consequently removing your nitrofing bacteria --> you could cause ammonia poisoning.
Someone said to add polyfiber, this is recommended by bob fenner to do just that. I would take a turkey bastor and blast any and all cyano off your rocks and sand etc. and an hour or so later throw away the polyfiber and replace it with new. repeat every day until it doesnt come back. This stuff is super cheap and every effective. Good luck!

[corkyGramma]

. I'm doing large (30% - 40%) water changes every 5 days as well.

...per this

[ErikH]

I would not try an 8g with tap water. That is your problem. You keep adding phosphates, silicates, heavy metals and other garbage. It's just too nasty of water for an 8g feasibly.

that's assuming you are using tap.

[Teeb]

I've gotta reitterate cyano meds are primarily antibiotics and will deplete your denitrifying bacteria..... Leaving you w/ the nitrates spurring on cyano. If you are still using them, stop and give your bio filtration time to catch up. With heavy cyano production its possible your parameters aren't an accurate representation of your nitrates like phosphates tests. Recheck for build up of detritus. If you have bio balls,LR, algae, filter floss in the back chambers they will need regular rinsing on SW.Have you tested your new SW to see if there's any contaminates? I've had a dirty powerhead (used to mix SW) give off ammonia. I've had my own theory that when you have an excess of cyano and or algae the die off will only feed new growth. It might take an hour or two, but vigorously removing every visable piece will put a damper in its production.

I tried that after you had mentioned the sponge in the back. I removed everything from the rear chamber and washed it out. I filled the rear chambers up with FW 3 times and siphoned them out. There was a lot of crap back there. I've been squirting off all of the rock that I thought could have be detritus built up. I change my floss every 3-4 days. I have done anything with the LR in the back chamber, I didn't think I would need to rinse it off. I only use RO/DI water and my TDS meter generally reads about 1-2ppm. I replaced all of the filters/DI resin in the unit when I bought it. It has maybe been used to make 200g at the most. I thought that Cyano was a bacteria, not an algae. Would it still need light to grow? I'm running a ton of Phosban and Cheato in the middle chamber hoping to snuff it out, but no luck yet. I'll keep the red slime meds out for a week and see if there's any improvement. This stuff is a PITA.

[corkyGramma]

I would not try an 8g with tap water. That is your problem. You keep adding phosphates, silicates, heavy metals and other garbage. It's just too nasty of water for an 8g feasibly.

that's assuming you are using tap.

Well, it should be easy to fill 8gal of ro/di right. I still carry jugs...ever walk by your tank and decide to sacrifice your bottled water?

[justahobby]

I say rinsing (w/ SW) because they are just as likely of a detritus trap as the chambers themselves. IMO there is far less free floating bacteria that would denitrify vs. the amount of bacteria in and on your rocks and I think a microscope would back me up. However, large WC in a small tank requires a keen eye to ensure you aren't messing with the chemistry too much (far more keen than me). You're right, cyano is a bacteria. Unfortunately, A photosynthetic bacteria that really doesn't need much light to keep going.


Sorry if my sentences were broken up, I was googling you some helpful articles at the same time. I've become a little nuts w/ reading Randy Holmes articles and boy is there A LOT of them! Here's some articles that may given you some more insight to what you are fighting.

Nitrates: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issu...t2003/chem.htm
Organics: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-10/rhf/index.php
Iron: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/oct2002/chem.htm
Dinoflagellets (not the same thing but they share a common ancestor and can help you in understanding the cyano, also dinos tend to pop up after you have finished w/ cyano.)
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-11/rhf/index.php

[Teeb]

That's a lot of reading Justin. Well after dosing Microbacter7 for a few weeks now, I have seen some relief in my larger tank and the cyano seems to be receding. It's still full force in my Biocube though. I'm not really sure what else to do. Anyone want to loan me a small HOB skimmer to try that? I bought a phosphate test kit and my reading weren't that bad .25-.5ppm. I've cut to very liberal feeding every other day. Any other ideas?

[justahobby]

Here's another idea hehe:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0ttJ...eature=related

...........................
Sorry 'bout that, I couldn't resist. I've read good things about the microbacter7 when fixing vodka induced cyano. Measuring PO4 during an outbreak won't do a lot of good if the cyano is gobbling it up first. Sorry if it's in a previous post (head ache to bad to read em all) - Have you measured the PO4 in your water source? What are your nitrates now?

It wouldn't hurt to take out the LR and rinse the vigorously in a separate bucket. Your rocks might be full of organics that are leaking out over time. I've read somewhere that fish can convert 50% of food into energy (dependent on tank temp) while humans convert 20%. As far as feeding - What we think is too little may be too much

I have a biocube skimmer that's not being used right now. I have never personally operated it so I can't say if it will help or not.... or even worth trying. BUT I do know that it's past due for a new air stone.

[Ping]

How many fish do you have and how much do you feed.