Hair Algae and Cynao red slim help

[subie_driver]

I need some help figuring out what happened and how to fix this before it becomes to much of an issue. I knew I had a couple spots of hair algae in my tank that I have been dealing with since I threated for aiptasia. The other night with no signs or even the slightest discoloration on the sand I had a ton of red slim or cynao bacteria. What is the best treatment for the 2 hair algae and cynao? I shut the light off last night and was going to leave it off for 3 days and do a couple water changes and syphon the sand for the cynao. I'm not sure if this will get rid of the hair algae. I've been doing some reading and it looks like I probably had a phosphate spike but I have no idea why or how.

 

[Curren007K]

I've been battling hair algae in my old 75G set up. Like your situation it seemed to happen over night.
Water changes weren't working for me, and my initial manual removal only made things worse.
I also tried a sea slug but he really didn't touch the stuff, there's some other alternatives as well some people say they've had luck with tangs, turbo snails, scarlet crabs etc, but all would only be a temporary fix if the root issue isn't addressed.

I monitored the parameters and found my dKH was low and had some excess phosphate, only .5 ppm but still present.
I use RODI water in an ATO reservoir which I think may have been the cause of the phosphates, I think it may have sat stagnant for too long.
I was recommended to raise the dKH with baking soda up to 12, but don't dose more than 1.4 dkh per day. There's a calculator on Bulk Rulf Supply to help you figure out how much to add if you need to.
As for the phosphates I set up a GFO reactor with phosban to remove it and keep it out, and cleaned out my RODI container.
Then I manually used a tooth brush to scrub off all the hair algae I could from the live rock and did an additional water change and scrub of my in tank equipment.

Good luck to you! My advice is treat it early before it gets out of control!

 

[mvallee]

How old is the tank, what type of rock, what size tank and what kind of bio load you got.
Do you test regularly for Nitrates and phosphates.

Other things to look for; is the sun hitting your tank throughout the day now that it is lower and it was not before? I know it has not been cold but closing up the house more can raise C02 in the house lowering PH in the tank which can have downstream impact, doubtful but something I discovered when I was fighting the same thing so throwing it out there. How about lighting change recently, old bulbs, change of spectrum?

Phosphates can leach from lots of places mixing buckets, sand, rocks..... be careful with adding GFO I nuked all my coral by starting too fast with GFO, I only did the recommended amount but found out later to start off slow and work your way up to recommended amount. I have also heard the BRS bulk GFO has cased issue for folks which is what I was using. I do not use any GFO now so I have no recommendation just cautioning.

I have a Lawnmower blenny that is a beast, he is the fattest thing you ever saw and never stops picking, he has been about all the cleanup crew in my 180 that I needed for pest algae's no help with Cyano though.
I added a sandsifting Goby and sandsifting star to help with sand turnover and that seemed to help with cyano but now that my tank is healthy they are probably a detriment to the sand bed, if you want to try a sand sifting star I dropped it in my sump earlier today and he is yours if you want him.
Best of luck it is all discouraging but also part of the challenge

 

[subie_driver]

I got a 2 little fishies 150 reactor and I took all the rocks I could out and scrubbed them with a tooth brush after leaving the lights off for 3 days we shall see if that does the trick.

 

[jokersplayground]

Hook up a refuge. I did and all my hair algae is basically gone. How I got rid of red slime is I used red slime remover at double the dosage for 3 days.

 

[JFAB78]

For the cyano I'd shut the lights Dow for a few day and increase flow in the tank and see how that works, if no luck check out the cyano remover product, for the hair algea I'm going to sound like a broken record but boost your magnesium specifically with Kent tech m, I swear it was gone as quick as it came when I started using this and haven't seen one spec in my tank since, also a lawn mower Blenny works great

 

[STiTCH87]

Cyano will pass as tank matures, part of the beginning phases. As far as hair algae, a refugium or ATS will help largely. You can run both actually.
Algae always exists purely on the fact of available nutrient. Reduce those and you're good.

 

[Reefless me]

Are you using any type of mechanical filtration? Canister filter, foam blocks floss etc. If so remove it immediately. By trapping unbeaten food, waste products, it breaks it down exponentially faster and releases the nutrients that the nuisance algae thrive on, then if it is left to natural processes in the aquarium.

The only thing necessary is rock, sand, and a good protein skimmer. Feed judiciously. The most common mistake when I hear about algeal problems is from trying to filter a reef like a freshwater aquarium.

Hope this helps.

 

[jdeb101]

+1 on algae Blenny. He keeps my ha under control and picks all day. In fact he doesn't eat anything other than the ha in my tank!

 

[Cpage101]

I am only a only just over a year in the hobby.I run all hob equipment on my 55g which has 55lbs of live rock. As long as you want to commit to hood husbandry of your system you can be successful keeping phosphates at bay so the gha does start and take over. Through reserching I have read. Check your ro water or tap water if you are using. Also try reducing the amount you are feeding. You need to find out why your phosphates are elevated gha feeds on phosphates and will give you false test results of phophate levels if gha exists. If you run hob stuff or canister filter you can not wait months to clean all filter materials they need to be cleaned/replaced weekly. I also run a hob skimmer. Don't get me wrong my next setup hopefully will be a 120G rr with a sump BTW my algae blenney is one of my favorite fish. There is no guarantee he will eat gha though.
Cyno will sometimes go when flow is increased and reduction of light. If it is a tough case I have heard people being successful using chemiclean. You have to aerate your water when this is used due to it depletes O2 in the water. A
Diatom bloom which is more brown typically go away as the tank matures they feed in the silicates which is usually in the new sand. By no way am I stating everything is 100% stated correct but this will give you some things to further research. Hopefully you are able to resolve this. Happy reefing.

 

[STiTCH87]

An algae blenny would only be a band-aid on the issue, not a solution. And that's if it even eats the algae (most eat pellet, then starve).

Solution to pollution is dilution. Waterchanges, ATS, and skimmer are what's going to do it. And feeding less.

 

[reef87]

On the red slime algae, I would say keep doing frequent small water changes. Like every 3-4 days.
And each time you do the water changes, siphon those suckers out.
You will win eventually.

As far as hair algae, i have no clue.
Last time i had it, i ended up breaking down the tank.



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[Reefless me]

In my experience there will always be a little red on the front glass or somewhere in your system for quite a while until the tank matures and beyond. It's usually manageable though.