Coralline Flaking Off

[gotteeguy]

I have been having problems with red slime algae. Just last month I only had about 1 square inch of it on my LR. Now it covered half of all my LR (until I scrubbed most of it off yesterday which took a few hours) and was spreading on to the back of the glass. I noticed that the red slime would spread right on top of my coralline algae. Then the coralline would flake off. I scrubbed as much of the red slime off as I could to prevent more of the coralline from flaking. I am dosing with algae-fix. It barely seems to work. Will the coralline continue to flake off? Is there a good product that targets red slime?

 

[seffieuk]

• Increase flow
• decrease amount of time the lights are on
• feed less
• change phosphate

remover if older than a month

Seffie x

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Yeah in my experience higher phosphate levels are the main cause for cyano. Add phosphate remover if you aren't using it already and if you are change it over and make sure it is getting enough flow through it.

Feeding less helps reduce the amount of phosphates going into the system and a good skimmer helps remove DOC's before they break down into phosphate.

 

[gotteeguy]

I had to take out my small-grain (non-aragonite based) sand, because the red slime was growing so fast on the sand.

Flow is not a problem. The hourly turnover of the aquarium is 21x. The aquarium is a 55 gallon (209 liter).

I do 5-10% weekly water changes. I have a large skimmer running.

I have been feeding less.

Does 10 hours of light seem good?

I ran out of phosphate remover. Will carbon work?

 

[xxBarneyxx]

No carbon (as far as I know) doesnt really remove phosphates, though it can remove dissolved solids which can break down into phosphates.

I would say get hold of a decent phosphate test kit. To be honest none of them are going to be very accurate but it will give you an idea of how high or low your phosphates are.

 

[steelhealr]

Cyanobacteria

SH

 

[AK77]

I have been having problems with red slime algae. Just last month I only had about 1 square inch of it on my LR. Now it covered half of all my LR (until I scrubbed most of it off yesterday which took a few hours) and was spreading on to the back of the glass. I noticed that the red slime would spread right on top of my coralline algae. Then the coralline would flake off. I scrubbed as much of the red slime off as I could to prevent more of the coralline from flaking. I am dosing with algae-fix. It barely seems to work. Will the coralline continue to flake off? Is there a good product that targets red slime?

I agree with Seffie.

High phophate levels are the most likely cause of your woes, as it inhibits the calcification of coraline algae as well as LPS/SPS corals. It will also give rise to cyanobacteria and other algaes too. You will need to run phosban in a reactor to help reduce it. Growing macro algaes like chaetomorpha will also reduce the phosphate levels. I was really struggling with PO4 recently, until I did 2 big water changes within a few days, to help kick the levels down. I also bought 4 huge handfulls of chaetomorpha to help absorb the remainder.

I'd suggest getting a PO4 test kit and go from there. If the levels come back as being high, I'd suggest doing two large water change as possible, within the space of a week. Purchase some phosban or chaetomorpha or both. Within a couple of weeks you should see the levels fall and the algae levels decrease.