red algae bloom is likely actually cyano bacteria. This means you have some sort of waste building in your system and not be removed. Two basic ways you can remove it are either biological filtration or by dilution(IE water changes). Since the tank is small and you probably won’t be adding any more biological filtration and what is currently has not be enough we go back to the old saying, “Dilution is the solution to pollution” More frequent slow water changes.
If I don’t say it a lot of people are going to jump on this thread: Before trying to fix the problem you may want to look at where the problem came from. With cyano take a look at how cyano grows. It needs light and nutrients. Your corals need light as well so unless your running your lights 14 or more hours a day and can reduce your photoperiod there isn’t much you can do there. Looking at nutrients consider the type and a mount of food you are feed as well at your source of water.(tap, RO? Distilled?)
I really wish I could offer you some organisms from my system. You might consider putting a post out though and see if people can offer you some different life forms that reproduce in there systems. Miniature sea stars and little snails that come and go as your algae comes and goes can be one way to help reach a happy medium with algae growth and keep it under control. In your little tank they also add a lot of biodiversity and something interesting to look at. KaptKen has made me packs of little hitchhiking critters several times in the past so you may want to talk to him, or just create another thread. For some ideas of animals you may want to ask around for check this site out: http://www.melevsreef.com/id/
On there you will also see the clear/white flat worms we talked about in the store that are not a problem in a reef tank.
More frequent water changes than once a week? Every few days?
It is probably not the light, that was only on for 8-9 hours a day. I imagine it was too much feeding, and not the proper stuff, just plain flake fish food. Also I just use tap water. I need to get a bottle and run by the free water place.
How do I get the stuff under control?
Do a major water change and add the critters, then let it hang for a while before I add again? Should/can i scrub the rocks?
Hi. I’ll jump in too. Great advice from Jon above regarding the red slime. The only thing he left out is flow. In a little tank such as yours flow is often a problem. The water doesn’t get kicked around much, so detrious has a tendency to settle and fuel the cyano outbreaks. What do you use for flow in your tank currently? When you do a water change, you probably won’t have to “scrub” the rock to get the red slime off. Usually if you just fan a little water at it, it will peel off. But absolutely get all you can out during your water change. The light reduction and stopping the tapwater will help after that. Good luck!
I would do frequent water changes: ie 1 per week of 50%
For top off water why not simply get a 5 gallon pail and fill it at someones house once a month or so from their RO unit.
The lighting is fine.
What does your temprature range daily?
How about salinity?
For top off water, a 20oz. bottle turned upside down at the waterline filled with ro water will automatically top off the tank once the tank evaporatest to below the level of the top of the water bottle.
For power flow, there is a powerhead that has a maximum flow of 80gph that you can tune down… ill have to find the link.
Erica , you didnt mention what kind of light you have on the tank. that makes a diff of what corals you can keep. If its bright enough i could bring a sprout of xenia for the pom pom crab. when there are no anemones around they can also wave xenia polyps.
You might try adding a snip of POLY PAD somewhere in the filter to take any unknowns out of the water.
sounds like you have a plan for the future. Good Luck.
Your right Joe, flow can knock off alot of cyano and can help control it to an extent. I hadn’t mentioned flow in here because half of our convo was going on in the store and half was on here. Flow can help with some forms of cyano, however they can build in high flow areas as well if the nutrients are present. I remember about a year ago Al had bought a coral off another hobbyist which had this deep read algae on it that appeared to be coraline. Of course it was cyano that some of his animals in his display tank picked apart and spread around the tank a little. (with a qt tank this wouldn’t have happened, but luckily was fairly easy to fix)
Can you post the name and brand of the food your adding? Some food contains phosphates and other things we are trying to keep down in our tank. Also the next time your in the store, or at a DRC meeting show me how much food your adding.
First off, I want to thank everyone that is responding to my posts. Your input is very much appreciated. In many ways, I wish I had found this site before I started buying pieces for my aquarium. But at least I found it before I set everything up. Now for my question.
Does anyone have any good websites to look at for DIY sump setups?
I think I have a pretty good idea of how I want to set it up. But i’d like to get some more information, and i’m having a time finding a website that really explains what the pieces should be and fail safe ways of setting one up.
I’ve found that one of the best ways to learn is to see. When I was setting up our first tank, and this one to some extent, I went around and saw how other people had their setups plumbed and working, and took some ideas from each.
For instance: Ask everyone what their biggest regret about their sump is. I know mine is that since ours is made out of a plastic tote, it is near to impossible to put in a bubble trap/baffles because of the odd shape. I have considered changing it out for just that reason, but im lazy.
[quote=“icy1155, post:31, topic:561”]
I’ve found that one of the best ways to learn is to see. When I was setting up our first tank, and this one to some extent, I went around and saw how other people had their setups plumbed and working, and took some ideas from each.
For instance: Ask everyone what their biggest regret about their sump is. I know mine is that since ours is made out of a plastic tote, it is near to impossible to put in a bubble trap/baffles because of the odd shape. I have considered changing it out for just that reason, but im lazy.[/quote]+1 on seeing other peoples setups was the best thing for me
ha yea, my biggest regreat when I made mine was using to thin of sheets of plastic for the baffles. They stayed in place. but they bowed real bad. was only a matter of time before they got washed away.
