Red slime Cyanobacteria

[Brandonsegula]

I've been having a problem with red slime Cyanobacteria. I finally surrendered to leave my lights off for 3 days. Today is the first day. Will leaving them off for 3 days help the situation? Nitrates are below .10ppm phosphates are at .03 ppm, alkalinity is at 9.3 and calcium is at 410.

 

[JaimeAdams]

cyano is a bacteria. I don't know how much leaving your lights off will help since I do not believe it is photosynthetic at all. There are a few products that help with cyano. I would probably just buy something like red slime remover.

 

[greenhorn reefer]

cyano is a bacteria. I don't know how much leaving your lights off will help since I do not believe it is photosynthetic at all. There are a few products that help with cyano. I would probably just buy something like red slime remover.

It is a phototrophic organism.

 

[Brandonsegula]

cyano is a bacteria. I don't know how much leaving your lights off will help since I do not believe it is photosynthetic at all. There are a few products that help with cyano. I would probably just buy something like red slime remover.

It feeds off of light and organics in the water and red slime remover is just a band aid. Thank you for your input though

 

[greenhorn reefer]

I've been having a problem with red slime Cyanobacteria. I finally surrendered to leave my lights off for 3 days. Today is the first day. Will leaving them off for 3 days help the situation? Nitrates are below .10ppm phosphates are at .03 ppm, alkalinity is at 9.3 and calcium is at 410.

Yes. Leaving your lights off will work. No coral? Fish? I had a LRO tank when I had cyano (bad water) so I just shut the lights off for a week. Worked for like a month and then it came back. I broke down and used red slime remover. http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/ultralife-red-slime-remover.html I just followed the directions( except I used a skimmer with no lid as an air stone) and after two weeks, sparkling clean. Good luck.

 

[greenhorn reefer]

It feeds off of light and organics in the water and red slime remover is just a band aid. Thank you for your input though

Are you speaking from first hand experience? I used it about 5 months ago and haven't had slime since. It just may depend on the system variables I guess.

 

[Brandonsegula]

Yes. Leaving your lights off will work. No coral? Fish? I had a LRO tank when I had cyano (bad water) so I just shut the lights off for a week. Worked for like a month and then it came back. I broke down and used red slime remover. http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/ultralife-red-slime-remover.html I just followed the directions( except I used a skimmer with no lid as an air stone) and after two weeks, sparkling clean. Good luck.

I wanna avoid the red slime remover because of my coral and fish. They say it's reef safe and fish safe. I'm just scared to use it. I'm gonna try the 3 days no lights and see where it puts me. My water conditions are good. I just believe it's due to a 4 month old tank.

 

[greenhorn reefer]

I wanna avoid the red slime remover because of my coral and fish. They say it's reef safe and fish safe. I'm just scared to use it. I'm gonna try the 3 days no lights and see where it puts me. My water conditions are good. I just believe it's due to a 4 month old tank.

I certainly don't want to pressure you into using it and then your tank crashes, that'd be terrible. At least you know it can be done with both coral and fish with no casualties. It's the oxygen depletion you have to worry about. A seneye can monitor those levels too. I had put all of the power heads to the surface for agitation, left the skimmer running with no collection cup (it freaks out for two weeks anyway) and I have a sump, which also helps with gas exchange. I also had 35 gallons of water, ready to change, when I used the remover, just in case. That's why I don't want to tell you you'll be fine only to have your fish die because you don't have the same set up. Lastly, when I did the "lights out" tactic, I had put all my coral in a qt tank, you might not have that luxury. Good luck, I hate that stuff.

 

[Brandonsegula]

I certainly don't want to pressure you into using it and then your tank crashes, that'd be terrible. At least you know it can be done with both coral and fish with no casualties. It's the oxygen depletion you have to worry about. A seneye can monitor those levels too. I had put all of the power heads to the surface for agitation, left the skimmer running with no collection cup (it freaks out for two weeks anyway) and I have a sump, which also helps with gas exchange. I also had 35 gallons of water, ready to change, when I used the remover, just in case. That's why I don't want to tell you you'll be fine only to have your fish die because you don't have the same set up. Lastly, when I did the "lights out" tactic, I had put all my coral in a qt tank, you might not have that luxury. Good luck, I hate that stuff.

If it doesn't go away I'll take the approach with the red slime remover. The fish and coral will be alright with out lights for 3 days. I'll see if this will help any

 

[ahiggins]

I wanna avoid the red slime remover because of my coral and fish. They say it's reef safe and fish safe. I'm just scared to use it. I'm gonna try the 3 days no lights and see where it puts me. My water conditions are good. I just believe it's due to a 4 month old tank.

I know a few people who are so anti-chemical in their reefs buuuut chemiclean is a very safe product as long as you follow the directions to a T. air stone, duration, water change amount. I had cyano in 2 of my tanks (one of them was 3 months old when I ran it) and I also treated my brothers reef. Its safe for all fish/inverts/corals (as long as the directions are followed).
I believe cyano thrives in low/no nutrient tanks; why most people report that after using nopox or vibrant, they get cyano.
Good luck
if you do the few days without light, it may be advantageous to dim the lights down the first few days theyre back on. Im not sure what corals you have but if you want to be on the safe side, its a good practice

 

[Best Fish-Jake]

Cyano is a photosynethic bacteria, which is why we see a reduction in red slime in the morning vs than we see towards the end of the day. The organisms are small enough to not be seen with the naked eye, and the bacteria's by-product is the 'red slime' we see. I have first hand experience with using 'red stain remover' in my 30 gal mixed reef and am happy to report it's an amazing product!

Be very cautious with cutting your lights for 3 days as you will have much die off of photosynthetic organisms which will lead to a nutrient spike.. I would personally do a 15% water change on day 2 and another 15% on day 3. This method may or may not kill the cyano as I don't know the complete life cycle of the organism. It will certainly inhibit reproduction but again, some may live through the dark period.

 

[Best Fish-Jake]

Red slime remover is much more than a band aid, and will kill any and all Cyanobacteria it comes into contact with.. it only took 1 dose and 2 days for my system, although it does sometimes take a second round. I am concerned about your fish/coral because in order for this to work, will will need to have ZERO light entering the tank as even a fluorescent light can sustain cyano. All organisms will see their stress levels rise significantly, and you may see some maleffects on your coral.

 

[sk8elenex92]

It seems like Cyano pops up when Nitrates and Phos are almost zero., but I have use ChemiClean in two different tanks. Mixed reef with sps,lps,zoas,Clams and I swear the next day everything has better polyp extension and the tank is sparkling clean. I think the lights out is more of a bandaid fix.
Just make sure to run the skimmer with the cup off it will oxygenate the water for you. Good luck

 

[JaimeAdams]

I stand corrected on the photosynthetic. I had that along with algae and diatoms in a tank a long while back and basically walked away from that tank and even after having nothing but ambient room light the cyano was still there. You could totally black out the tank with garbage bags or black plastic. I have used and know many people that have used chemiclean. As suggested taking the cup off of your skimmer and letting it run to aerate your water or adding heavy aeration is the key to not having any issues with it in a reef tank.

 

[Brandonsegula]

I stand corrected on the photosynthetic. I had that along with algae and diatoms in a tank a long while back and basically walked away from that tank and even after having nothing but ambient room light the cyano was still there. You could totally black out the tank with garbage bags or black plastic. I have used and know many people that have used chemiclean. As suggested taking the cup off of your skimmer and letting it run to aerate your water or adding heavy aeration is the key to not having any issues with it in a reef tank.

I guess it's hit or miss. I know a lot of people going no lights and it helped. Chemiclean will be my last resort

 

[Brandonsegula]

Red slime remover is much more than a band aid, and will kill any and all Cyanobacteria it comes into contact with.. it only took 1 dose and 2 days for my system, although it does sometimes take a second round. I am concerned about your fish/coral because in order for this to work, will will need to have ZERO light entering the tank as even a fluorescent light can sustain cyano. All organisms will see their stress levels rise significantly, and you may see some maleffects on your coral.

Will all do respect, I disagree with you. Meany fish stores actually recommend doing this before adding chemicals. I've done this in the past and nothing was hurt or bother. You can go 3 days no problem but not recommended to go more.

 

[Rich Cooper]

I had a similar issue with cyano but what I've seen from other Reefers experience is that it comes in different strains and depending on the strain is treated differently. I've seen some have succes with hydrogen peroxide. My succes came from kz products of cyanoclean along with coral snow mixed with a toothbrush to keep the outbreak minimal until the kz products could kick it. Took me about 8 weeks of that treatment.

 

[Brandonsegula]

I had a similar issue with cyano but what I've seen from other Reefers experience is that it comes in different strains and depending on the strain is treated differently. I've seen some have succes with hydrogen peroxide. My succes came from kz products of cyanoclean along with coral snow mixed with a toothbrush to keep the outbreak minimal until the kz products could kick it. Took me about 8 weeks of that treatment.

I'm going to give this stuff a shot. I never knew about this stuff is it totally reef and invertebrate safe?

 

[Trav7]

I had my tank covered in cyano.. I switched salts. I use coral life pro salt mix and for some reason all of it is gone. Not a spot left in tank.

 

[Rich Cooper]

It's debatable on how safe it is towards coral and invertebrates from my knowledge. The issue with the blackout method is that it just goes away but the bacteria is still present and just comes back in the same fashion with in a week. It definitely requires at least 10k spectrum white light and thrives in that. I did a lights out in the display and left my fuge light on the entire time and was able to give it an ideal growing condition and it mainly came back just in the fuge.