Red slime algea

[Jakebob]

So I’ve been battling red slime algea for awhile not, it totally covers my rock and most of the sand, looks like hell
It’s a 10g with about 20g sump ( planing on upgrading so I can just keep the Sump going)
At the beginning I realized my rodi was worn out, after buying new filters and seeing how fast they wear out I upgraded my rodi unit so my initial problem should be solved ( reads 0-1 ppm )
I have also since added a protien skimmer that is working awesome
I just purchased some chaeto for the sump and have started to notice pods on the glass ( only a few days)

Yesterday I clean all the red slime of the rock and since it’s already coming back, I know my salinity was way to high for awhile while I was setting up the sump and chances are good I wiped out the live rock but since have been stead around .024-.026

I have several corals, a clown, coral
Banded shrimp, 2 blue legged hermit and 3 snails that are all doing awesome, hairy mushroom
Coral is getting huge

So my question is is there anything else I should or can do to eliminate the red slime or do I need to let the system cycle again? My sump also is full of rock so when I upgrade it’s all live but I’m also wondering if I would benefit from removing it all for now?


Any thoughts are appreciated

 

[JasonK84]

What are your nitrate and phosphate readings?

 

[Jakebob]

My nitrate are pretty well 0
As for phosphate I don’t have a tester, I assumed that was my issue and was hoping the chaeto would help with that
I also check my ammonia and it was up a bit , and my nitrite which was 0

 

[JasonK84]

Phosphate is probably the culprit but would need to test to confirm.

 

[Jakebob]

Say phosphate is the issue, what do I do to reduce it?

 

[Tiger Brown]

Here's the thing, you had a lot of issues going in that led up to this issue.

1. Your RO wasn't truly cleaning impurities out of your water so who knows what was going in
2. Your salinity was too high so you very well may have had a good bit of die-off from your live rock
3. You didn't have anything exporting nutrients before you added your skimmer
Add to these things the fact that, even with a 20 gallon sump, you have a very small amount of total water volume which makes keeping salinity and other values consistent more difficult.

On the bright side you have addressed all 3 of the issues I noted. You could add a Phosban reactor if you really wanted to but IMHO I would just test often, especially since your ammonia spiked a bit, and also keep a bucket or two of heated replacement water handy at all times and be vigilant about water changes for a while. If you do that, along with hand cleaning or siphoning off your red algae you should see results.

 

[Jakebob]

Ok thanks for the advice, that’s what I was hoping to hear

 

[JasonK84]

Nothing without testing first. If phosphate is extremely elevated then for that small of a system water changes are your best and quickest solution unless your top off or make up water contain phosphate as well.

Get a phosphate test kit and test your RODI and freshly mixed saltwater and verify your not adding any that way. If you see phosphate in the RODI then it’s time to change filters on your unit. If you register phosphate in the freshly mixed saltwater then shop for a different salt mix.

Solutions other than water change would be GFO or liquid phosphate remover like phosphate Rx. I’ve never tried the phosphate Rx but am about to order some and give it a try.