72 Oceanic Reef Ready Bow Front Evolution...

mikeguerrero

Active Member
Hey Reefers,

My tank has been going through a red slime attack. I know that my tank is still very immature; but all culprits of over feeding, excess phosphate and high nitrate are under control, yet I still have this attack.

I researched chemi-clean and red slime remover and went ahead and got the red slime remover since I had heard that some folks had lost there crocea clams in the process of chemi-clean.

As per the instructions I removed my carbon bags and shut off my skimmer and I pulled out some aquarium water to mix 4 1/2 scoops of the stuff to the mixing bowel, man that stuff look literally like urine sorry for the description but it was identical.

And it stunk really bad my wife said what the heck are you doing Mike, you are going to kill your fish; little does she know I have resources on nano-reef and reef central that I thoroughly read before I took this step.

Well, in went the stuff and my school of chromis tried eating the mixture, bad little guys and then my tank turned into the hulk, it's completely green. The only change I see in any of my corals are my pulsating xenias, they are not pulsating but rather retracted, I hope they make it.

Has anyone else played with this stuff? I'm just wondering how long my tank will stay the hulk color? Hope to see it back to mild manner bruce banner.

Here is a pick of my Hulk tank:



Mike G
 
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Anonymous

Guest
throw a HOT magnum (or comp) with some fresh carbon in it and it should clean it right up. Be advised a friend of mine used that stuff and it bleached all her corals! As a precaution I would reduce the photoperiod by half for about a week and then slowly bring it back up.
 

mikeguerrero

Active Member
Hi John,

Wow, so your friend lost her corals to bleaching using this stuff, that is darn scary to me. Can you be so inclined to throwing me a thread or two on such a disaster with this product?

I have read much more negative effects with chemi-clean than red slime remover that is why I went this route.

An update on my tank; less green and the slime on the rocks seems to be dieing but the sand bed is still covered with red slime, I will see how it goes when I get home from work.

My pulsating xenias are doing great, they are back to pulsating. I fed the fish this morning and everyone ate.

My PH has come down to 8.2 from my unusually high PH of 8.5 - 8.4. It hasn't dropped below that however, so I'm not that stressed; the instructions said it would drop.

If by tuesday all the slime is not gone I will be hitting it with a second dose as per the instructions say wait a 48 hour period, then after that you must wait 1 whole week before you introduce any more if your require it.

John I made sure to turn off my skimmer and pull out my carbons as per my conversation with my LFS. I spoke to a very reputable LFS who I purchase all my filtration from.

He gave me the green light to use this product and assured me that he has used it in his gorgeous reef tanks at his store with no ill effects other than dead red slime.

I will keep a close eye on my tank and keep you posted on any changes just in case my tank does go south of the border like your friends. Hopefully not....

Mike
 

dragon79

New Member
try a bigger water change too. Where you getting red slime hitting you? Is it just one area? Or is it spread all over the tank? If just one spot, you'll need to adjust where the flow is maybe to see if that helps.

As for the stuff you are using. How long has it been in there? how long has this been hulk green? Is it that it wont skim out once you turn your skimmer back on?
 

mikeguerrero

Active Member
Yesterday night was when I placed red slime remover into my tank; skimmer and carbon are out.

If you try running the skimmer while dosing you will pull it right out, in fact everyone says be careful when you turn it back on because it will overfill completely.

You need to check it every half and hour because it skims it right out and people have had the skimmer overflow all over there floor.

The red slime is on some rocks in patches and on the sand bed on the left side and right side where there is little flow.

I would have to get two powerheads on opposing sides to hit these two areas; I guess I'll be on the market to find something that is small enough but strong enough to do the flow.

I'm just trying really hard to fight this battle without having to add more heat to my tank with extra powerheads.

We will see if after I use this stuff plus I do some good water changes it will go away.

Mike
 

mikeguerrero

Active Member
Yeah,

But my electric bill was very scary this month... So I don't want any more powerheads...

In fact it's many variables to getting rid of cyano bacteria; I'm doing my best to fight it with water changes and the dosing.

Next will be increase flow if it comes to that...

Mike
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
hey mike sorry but I don't really have a link for you - here is some info from WWM though - http://www.wetwebmedia.com/maralgcidefaqs.htm' - it may lead you to some more stuff though.
my freind dosed her tank with that stuff and everything bleached, I don't know what the final result was because she ended up tearing it down and restarting basically. She didn't lose a lot though I think most recovered in time, but I have'n't seen her in a while so I'm not sure. Bleaching doesn't mean death always, but reducing the light aften helps and may prevent a bleaching episode, and then the corals may recover. I don't know if yours will bleach, but thats why I said as just a precaution I would reduce the lighting period. I don't want to bump your thread here because it is so popular, but I am going to write a thread in the 911 section tonight you may want to check out.
 

mikeguerrero

Active Member
Okay,

So I wake up on day two and look at my tank; the rocks are a lot better very little to no slime algae, but the sand bed in still covered with slime.

I decide to lower the lights to just 3 hours a day and I dosed a second time as per the instructions.

That's it guys if that doesnt' kill the stuff I don't know what will. I think I should've killed the lights to just 3 hours on the first day I dosed.

I might have given the slime some more energy from the light I'm not sure, that is why I turned down the lights to three hours with my second dose.

I'll keep you guys and gals posted.... Wish me luck......


Mike
 

sadielynn

New Member
Mike
I am sure that you already thought of this but what about siphoning it off you will loose some sand in the process but that is what we did with ours and it helped ,then I just took some old tank water put the sand in a container with a lid and shook it really well emptied the old h20 out and put some new sand ontop by the cup .
 

dragon79

New Member
mikeguerrero said:
Next project on tank is the water cirulation. After much debate on what type of powerhead to use in this setup, I went with EHEIM's 1212 Aquaball.

I went this route for the value of price, durability, heat transfer and nozzel direction. It gives off only 6watts of power and gives me 172 GPH that may be controlled. It's only $19 dollars.

They are large, I've seen them at the petshop but I can conceal them pretty well, you know me, clean look in the display is my goal.

I will be running three of them on my reef keeper; that will give me a total of 516 gallons of GPH at different intervals of water current.

I like the fact you can move the ball around like a quickcam ball for more accurate precise water control.

Here is a picture of the aquaball 1212.

Mike

so mike: as with this type of powerhead, there is not one that can fit a 6 gallon jbj tank? Looks cool and I like the design.
 

mikeguerrero

Active Member
Bro,

I wish there was, because I fell in love with it when I first saw it online. Then I researched it and found a thread where they make fun of it and call it the Death Star from Star Wars.

It's huge as big as a softball, let me find the thread so you can read it, you will laugh at the pictures that people put on the thread.

I didn't believe it untill I actually saw one in live person at my LFS, huge...

Mike
 

mikeguerrero

Active Member
Here are some FTS of my 72 bowfront tank. This tank has been up and going for 3 months now. I went through a slime phaze and now its a lot better; Slime Agae Remover by Ultralife is a great product.

I've been playing around with the settings on my camera and came up with these shots, hope you guys like them; keep in mind that my camera is terrible for macro shots.

Mike





 

mikeguerrero

Active Member
I did alot of research in fighting red slime and hair algae. Here is the order in which I picked up my cleaning crew.

10 margarita snails (smal to medium) These guys are really active at night and they eat algae off the rocks mainly.

5 astral snails (medium size) These guys are active during the night and day and do a good job like the margarita snails, but they go on powerheads and glass.

3 emerald crabs (small size) These guys are non stop picking stuff off the rocks, they didn't do nothing to the hair algae, but I did find one on my red calepera algae cleaning it.

1 yellow tang (small size) This guy nips on everything including the red slime and brown algae. Mostly just the rocks and sandbed not too much of the glass.

1 black hawaian algae blenny (medium size) This guy is picky since he was raised with mysis at my LFS so it took him a while to start on algae, he prefers the hairlike algae on the glass and nips occasionally on the rocks; was expecting more from this guy, kind of let me down.

1 lettuce nudibrach (very small) Really good at algae on the glass, powerheads and rocks, you'll find him everywhere and he's cool looking like a piece of lettuce.

1 Kole tang (medium size) This guy is extremely shy and hides a lot then he got courage after seeing all the chromis out and swimming. He's an expert at nipping on the glass for algae and all over the rocks, he even nips on a section of my coral that was damaged and was growing hair algae he cleaned that up.

1 chevron tang (small) Mostly loves the algae on the rocks not too much on the glass and he picks at the red calerpa I have on the right side of the tank.

1 blue tang (very small) This guy goes around and nips on floating debris mostly does occasionally nip on calepera algae bubbles.

That makes up my aglae crew, I have various small blue leg and only 2 red scarlet hermits; also have 4 nassiril snails from my previous setup.

My best defense came from RED SLIME REMOVER by Ultra life. I had to dose twice and then I changed out 40 gallons of my water volume, remember I only have a 72 gallon.

I also have a Deltec Phosphate reactor with rowaphos. I think the reason I got my outbreak is that my tank is still maturing and I added the phosphate reactor in the middle of my cycle, you are suppose to start it off from the beginning so it has a better chance of keeping equilibrium in the water.

I do know that my nitrates were bad and that was a huge mistake on my part because I didn't stay up on my water changes; I was doing it only once per month when I use to do it once per week.

I did place an order for a hair algae slug but he hasn't arrived that is why you see three bushes of hair on my rocks, yuck.

Hope this helps you out...

Mike
 

mikeguerrero

Active Member
Yeah Sadie,

My wife likes them and they helped bring out my two shy tangs.... They are non aggesive and if I ever do down size my fish I will remove just 4 of them...

Mike
 

dragon79

New Member
bout time. At last some FTS!! Amazing. Looks real good. Wish we could have seen a before and after picture so we could see how good your product worked.

Your tank is full of life, and I know that one day you'll make tank of the month at Reef Central. :)
 

sadielynn

New Member
know that one day you'll make tank of the month at Reef Central. :)
That wont be long he has a very clean full tank I am in aww at how
pretty it is , must be something to come home to ,
relaxing and peacfull , something to look
at at the table I can see all the worldly stresses just melting away :)
 
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