Guys i NEED help with this!!!

[xmjxflipx]

I have a friends tank....took pics.........this brownish powdery algae.........doesnt look like diatoms but its growing on the powerheads and the glass i tried to take pics of it.

What is this algae.............Are these really diatoms or cyano or red slime or something? i would appreciate help with this. I told him to probably invest in maybe blue life red slime.

he has a 60 gallon system..........its running 150grams of phosban now and he just started it maybe 2 days ago............

params
alk 9
calcium 430
mag 1350-1400
nitrate 10-15
phos 0 (unreliable through api)

He was dosing one of those phosphate additives with lanthanum chloride to remove the reactive phosphates in his aquarium..............

 

[xmjxflipx]

bump!!!

 

[reefpeeper]

nitrates are somewhat high. try doin some water changes

 

[xmjxflipx]

are the nitrates that high for a reef tank to cause these algae problems?? hes doing the same thing as me with the reef biofuel dosing with brightwells microbacter

 

[Paul_N]

I had zero nitrates for the longest time and what I thought were zero phosphates. Even though the test kits read zero they were not. You need them to be well below 1. The only way to get the proper reading is with a meter. FWIW I have seen tanks that run the nitrates in the 10-20 range and have beautiful reefs.

 

[xmjxflipx]

well if he runs phosban how long do you think itll take for the phosphates to lower or the algae to kill it..............could it be cyano??? should i tell him to go do a dose of the blue life red slime remover?? itll help kill some unwanted algae other than red slime wont it?

 

[xmjxflipx]

well since its possibly cyano i told him to buy the blue life red slime remover..........anyone have any suggestions on how to use this.?

 

[reefpeeper]

just follow the directions on package. just to let you know this stuf will help get rid of the red slime, but if you do not get the levels done for what is causing this it really is no help

 

[bkoppes]

More flow is what I would recommend

 

[litenyaup]

i have used it and i did what the directions said....worked like a charm!! was gone in a total of four days!!

 

[ficklefins]

I'm sorry but all of these shots are of the tank walls. Are these problems also on the rock and corals, or just on the glass?

 

[xmjxflipx]

nice...........flow isnt the problem...........theirs 60x turnover with powerheads..........he was dosing with lanthanum chloride, like the blue life phosphate control liquid to lower phosphates............im not sure what triggered it though but i hope that blue life will work on his tank.

Litenyaup did you have to turn off your skimmer?? Did you have to turn off your lights for those 4 days or could you leave them on like regular 8-9 hours while using red slime remover.

 

[xmjxflipx]

problems is on his powerheads, glass and frag rack...........they havent grown on the corals or rock but he wants to prevent it before it gets serious

 

[ficklefins]

It may just be me, but the use of .......... is really hard to follow. If you want to separate your points add spaces
Like
This
For
Thought

Second, tell us about how long your buddies has been setup for?

 

[xmjxflipx]

setup for about 10 months, he has a PM refugium/sump with a mag5 pump, his skimmer is a remora pro with a mag5 pump as well. Lighting consists of NEP 6 bulb fixture run about 10 hours a day. He just started with phosban 3 days ago and he was dosing reef biofuel last wed after the 2 week initial seeding of using microbacter 7.

 

[Sikryd]

How much phosban did he add?

My guess is that will solve the problem.