green slime algae

[Heiki]

Hi all,

i've dealing with green slime algae for a few months.
I can blow it of the rocks but it grows back in a few days.

Somebody has a clew where this is coming from and how to deal with it.
Can't find much information about this type of algae/cyano

It doesn't bother the corals ...

Kh = 6,4
Ca=380
Po4= 0,025
No3= 0,2
RO water always 0 TDS.
running a skimmer and zeolites but don't change them anymore... (I had the green slime algae before
the last change of zeolites)

If you need extra information just let me know, thanks !

 

[Lesley]

Think it's cyno bacteria

Increase flow. Feed less. Syphon & water change a bigger %. Run phos remover
Dose extra bacterias that can possible out compete it
Or
Can use Chemiclean
100% reef safe if follow directions. Gone in 48hrs
Some say it will return
It's just a bandaid
But Cyno is opportunistic and will often appear and although what started the outbreak has now gone or been resolved the bacteria itself will remain & multiply
So in a large number of cases it will not return

 

[prsnlty]

Think it's cyno bacteria

Increase flow. Feed less. Syphon & water change a bigger %. Run phos remover
Dose extra bacterias that can possible out compete it
Or
Can use Chemiclean
100% reef safe if follow directions. Gone in 48hrs
Some say it will return
It's just a bandaid
But Cyno is opportunistic and will often appear and although what started the outbreak has now gone or been resolved the bacteria itself will remain & multiply
So in a large number of cases it will not return

+1

 

[prsnlty]

Your alk is quite low and might want to bring that up a little as well.

 

[amps]

I JUST finished dealing with that problem. In fact, I was just adjusting my skimmer to help clean up 15mins ago.

My infestation looked exactly the same, neon green, easily blown off (ie. not attached to the rock/sand) and grew back in two days. I borrowed a microscope and found out that it was spirulina, a type of cyano. I had already seen some damage where it had grown over my corals and my zoas all looked like green puss. I decided to go for a 2 day 'lights out' program overlapped by Chemiclean. I have a 180g SPS dominated tank that's one year old.

Here's the exact steps I took:

Friday: Filter socks changed and blew off the rocks
Saturday: Blew off the rocks/sandbed again. Unplugged my lights at Noon.
Sunday: Turned off carbon, UV and took the cup off my skimmer so that the neck would overflow into my sump. Dosed Chemiclean powder exactly by the instructions at 4pm.
Monday: Sat and waited while trying not to freak out. Turned lights back on in the evening (just blues).
Tuesday (yesterday): Turned the lights back to 100%. Turned UV back on. Turned carbon reactor back on and added an extra bag of Red Sea carbon to sit under the overflow pipe. Did a 15% water change and vacuumed up as much of the sand bed crud as possible.
Wednesday (Today): Super excited! Not a spec of green left and my sand bed looks better than it has in 6+ months. I'm slowly adjusting my skimmer to stop overflowing (valve on airline and pump turned all the way down) so I can hopefully start pull the rest of the crud out of the water.

Zero corals were harmed and my RBTA and fish are all happy as ever. I'm pretty sure my problem was due to neglect. I was terrible at doing water changes and had never vacuumed the sand bed. I ran vodka/vinegar on a dosing pump but had forgotten to refill it for a few weeks. My nutrients used to read zero Nitrate and zero PO4 but had jumped to 5ppm nitrate and .1 ppm PO4 about 10 days ago. The jump in nutrients and the ugly looking sand kicked me in the butt and I did a whirlwind of maintenance. I topped up my vinegar/vodka, cleaned half my sand bed and stirred up a ton of gunk, and I dosed Vibrant Cleaner in a hope to knock some of the algae and green slime back. I'm pretty sure that it was too much, too fast and my flurry of activity just fed the problems that had been building over the past few months.

Now that the tank is looking good again, I'm getting back into a regular routine. Daily water changes by my peristaltic pump, weekly sand vacuuming of 25% of my sand bed, change my filter socks every week and my carbon every 2 weeks. Most of all, I'm spending a minimum of 15mins every day watching my tank, nitpicking the cleanliness, inspecting equipment and generally just sitting and watching.

So ya, that's what worked for me. I'm still obviously just finishing dealing with it but I feel prepared to keep the tank looking good for the foreseeable future. Best of luck in dealing with your problem, I hope my experience helps.

 

[Ashish Patel]

I JUST finished dealing with that problem. In fact, I was just adjusting my skimmer to help clean up 15mins ago.

My infestation looked exactly the same, neon green, easily blown off (ie. not attached to the rock/sand) and grew back in two days. I borrowed a microscope and found out that it was spirulina, a type of cyano. I had already seen some damage where it head grown over my corals and my zoas all looked like green puss. I decided to go for a 2 day 'lights out' program overlapped by Chemiclean. I have a 180g SPS dominated tank that's one year old.

Here's the exact steps I took:

Friday: Filter socks changed and blew off the rocks
Saturday: Blew off the rocks/sandbed again. Unplugged my lights at Noon.
Sunday: Turned off carbon, UV and took the cup off my skimmer so that the neck would overflow into my sump. Dosed Chemiclean powder exactly by the instructions at 4pm.
Monday: Sat and waited while trying not to freak out. Turned lights back on in the evening (just blues).
Tuesday (yesterday): Turned the lights back to 100%. Turned UV back on. Turned carbon reactor back on and added an extra bag of Red Sea carbon to sit under the overflow pipe. Did a 15% water change and vacuumed up as much of the sand bed crud as possible.
Wednesday (Today): Super excited! Not a spec of green left and my sand bed looks better than it has in 6+ months. I'm slowly adjusting my skimmer to stop overflowing (valve on airline and pump turned all the way down) so I can hopefully start pull the rest of the crud out of the water.

Zero corals were harmed and my RBTA and fish are all happy as ever. I'm pretty sure my problem was due to neglect. I was terrible at doing water changes and had never vacuumed the sand bed. I ran vodka/vinegar on a dosing pump but had forgotten to refill it for a few weeks. My nutrients used to read zero Nitrate and zero PO4 but had jumped to 5ppm nitrate and .1 ppm PO4 about 10 days ago. The jump in nutrients and the ugly looking sand kicked me in the butt and I did a whirlwind of maintenance. I topped up my vinegar/vodka, cleaned half my sand bed and stirred up a ton of gunk, and I dosed Vibrant Cleaner in a hope to knock some of the algae and green slime back. I'm pretty sure that it was too much, too fast and my flurry of activity just fed the problems that had been building over the past few months.

Now that the tank is looking good again, I'm getting back into a regular routine. Daily water changes by my peristaltic pump, weekly sand vacuuming of 25% of my sand bed, change my filter socks every week and my carbon every 2 weeks. Most of all, I'm spending a minimum of 15mins every day watching my tank, nitpicking the cleanliness, inspecting equipment and generally just sitting and watching.

So ya, that's what worked for me. I'm still obviously just finishing dealing with it but I feel prepared to keep the tank looking good for the foreseeable future. Best of luck in dealing with your problem, I hope my experience helps.

This is very good information thanks. I have yellow slime growing behind the rockwork on the sandbed for the past 5 months in the lower light and flow areas. I went as far as slowly removing all the sand and cleaning it and even keeping the slime areas barebottom, Few months later the green slime still grows over the few pieces of sandy areas and glass. I have no other algae problems and had dinos show up during these time so felt it was better to let cyano and my cheato outcompete any threat. Now I am just growing more impatient with it since its growing in small nooks within the aquacape which are more difficult to get to - My tank is 10 months old finally mature enough to grow sps but want to get rid of this cyano now that I am following good watechange schedule.

Considering using chemi-clean but concerned about adding any chemicals to the system. Has the green stuff returned and your thoughts after few months from using?

 

[amps]

This is very good information thanks. I have yellow slime growing behind the rockwork on the sandbed for the past 5 months in the lower light and flow areas. I went as far as slowly removing all the sand and cleaning it and even keeping the slime areas barebottom, Few months later the green slime still grows over the few pieces of sandy areas and glass. I have no other algae problems and had dinos show up during these time so felt it was better to let cyano and my cheato outcompete any threat. Now I am just growing more impatient with it since its growing in small nooks within the aquacape which are more difficult to get to - My tank is 10 months old finally mature enough to grow sps but want to get rid of this cyano now that I am following good watechange schedule.

Considering using chemi-clean but concerned about adding any chemicals to the system. Has the green stuff returned and your thoughts after few months from using?

I have a couple spots along the back of the tank that are starting to show up but nothing like before. I recently added a second Gyre to my tank and increased the overall flow, I think that's helping a lot.

 

[Ashish Patel]

I am considering using chemi clean just because the green slime is not going away completely. However, I was reluctant since I was hoping it would just go away with good husbandry. This is my tank you can notice all the green areas along the back and some around the coral and underside of rock. As anything once its in the tank even with very low nutrients its already established in the food web so doing bi-weekly waterchanges, skimming, and careful feeding/nutrient export helps only so much. I definitely want to break this cycle but at what risk? I have a cryptic zone with sponges would it effect them in any way? I would imagine once its out of the system the other strains of good bacteria can take its place so preventing them from getting another start in the tank.

 

[Remy Netherlands]

I'm fighting the green slime algae / cyano bacteria as well. I would rather have the red species, because it's easy to remove. But the green species seems to be the harder one.

I've a 330 liters netto tank, using the DSR EZ method (dsrreefing.com), it is without water changes. I have to add nitrate and phosphate, otherwise it will be zero and my sps complains. Since 6 months the green algae is present an i tried to raise the nitrate level a bit (to 2,5 ppm), because one site advised to do so. The green algae would survive better in the zero ppm nitrate tank. (There is so little known on the big internet... amazing...)

Twice a week I suck the algae, with a sock/return in the sump. No new spots emerge. But the old spots still return.

Since i increased the waterflow and directed it to the green spots, a decrease is visible. And for three days i'm adding a teaspoon honey a day from a local beekeeper and on the first day (after sucking the green algae) 150 ml of special blend (Microbe lift).

It's too early to make conclusions, but there is a remarkable decrease of the green algae.

I will post photo's of my tank and will give you an update

 

[Remy Netherlands]

 

[jarviz]

Think it's cyno bacteria

Increase flow. Feed less. Syphon & water change a bigger %. Run phos remover
Dose extra bacterias that can possible out compete it
Or
Can use Chemiclean
100% reef safe if follow directions. Gone in 48hrs
Some say it will return
It's just a bandaid
But Cyno is opportunistic and will often appear and although what started the outbreak has now gone or been resolved the bacteria itself will remain & multiply
So in a large number of cases it will not return

what kind of bacteria should be dosed?

 

[ReeferB28]

150 ml of special blend (Microbe lift).
The post directly says specifically which bacterial product to dose. The other person said " bacterias" but didn't specify anything. Lol