Michigan Reefers banner
Cancel
Create thread New Forums

Red "Stuff" Build up?

Tags
build buy clean clowns cube cyano feeding filter filtration fish gallon live live rock media octopus red reef rock sand skimmer tang tank tds water water changes
Jump to Latest
1 - 19 of 19 Posts
B

Babby

· Registered
Joined
·
61 Posts
Discussion starter · #1 ·
I have a 33 gallon tank that has been set up since June of last year. Well for the past few months I have been battling this red sludge type stuff that builds up on everything. I clean my tank and a few days later it is growing back already.

What is this? What can I do to stop/prevent it?

Tank has a few clowns and a tang in it.

Heres some quick pictures of it. This is after I used a net to scrape up as much of it that was sitting on the bottom of tank.,

Image


Image
 
#5 ·
Your tang and clowns are probably producing a lot of waste to not have a skimmer, could be over feeding, not enough flow, water quality, lots of variables. Where are you getting your water for water changes, tap, rodi, fish store, retail store? I have a 30g cube w a pair of clowns, that's it and I run a reef octopus 180 on it.
 
#6 ·
I agree with blu, tangs usually require much more swimming space. Typically 90 gallon or bigger depending on which tang. If you get the proper filtration set up, sump with skimmer an maybe even a phosban reactor you can probably get away with one tang in a tank your size. As long as he eats has good color an doesn't look beat up that it is. As far as the cyano goes, I have had this issue in several tanks now, I always looked towards products like chemi clean which helped out but seemed to have only been a temporary solution to what's really causing it. Now I have a 110 gallon which I am battling cyano, made a thread not to long ago an followed some advice which was, get more water flow through the tank, get my protein skimmer pulling out more skim, keep my feeding amounts for fish in check an of course doing water changes with rodi water which reads 0ppm on a Tds,and all seems to be helping out pretty good so far. I still have it but its gone away dramatically.
In my opinion the owner of the aquarium is the best clean up crew, keep vacuuming the cyano out as good as you can look into your water source invest in a skimmer and continue checking your params. If you think you tang is out growing your tank which odds are it will, do not hesitate to trade him out or sell him. Also if your tank is not drilled there ate some pretty nice hang on the back skimmers you can purchase.
 
Discussion starter · #7 ·
I have a hang on the back style protein skimmer, the seaclone one that's just terrible. I had it on the tank for months and NOTHING would build up in it or anything at all. So I removed it because it seemed pointless. This cyano problem has been here since before I removed the skimmer.

Since the intial setup in june of last year, I have used tap water with instant ocean sea salt for water changes done weekly...

Where should I get my water?
 
#8 ·
The skimmer might just need to be adjusted if you can. I don't know Whole lot about that perticular skimmer, if you can post a pic of it an maybe I can help more with that, Alot of pet stores sell rodi water to which you can mix your salt up with that. They also sell premixed water as well, or you can always purchase a rodi unit which will save you money And time in the long run, just be aware of the water you purchase from your lfs if you go that route, cause they are it's not always guaranteed that there rodi units have new filters on to which you will still get unwanted nutrients. The protoein skimmer won't get rid of your cyano but it will definetly help eliminate the nutrients that it thrives from.
How much an how often do you feed your fish? And what are you feeding them?
 
Discussion starter · #10 ·
I have marine flake and pellet and dried shrimp. Fed a pinch of one every other day. Do you recommend i start changing my water with ready to use store bought water?

What kind of feeding schedule do you recommend?
 
#13 ·
Your feeding schedule seems pretty good, just be cautious not to over feed. I typically do every other day as well. I have a four stage rodi I bought for I believe under a 120 from bulk reef supply, some you buy will come with a Tds meter as well

Babby said:
I have marine flake and pellet and dried shrimp. Fed a pinch of one every other day. Do you recommend i start changing my water with ready to use store bought water?

What kind of feeding schedule do you recommend?
Click to expand...
 
Discussion starter · #15 ·
Ok reefers, help me out with this. I had to hold of on purchasing the Ro/Di unit but I finally did and it should be here tomorrow. I also have a TDS tester now as well. My tank is just all red everywhere. I clean what I can up with a net and scrub the glass but its all over my live rock.

How should I go about this?

My idea is to transfer my fish into an empty quarantine tank and completely start my 33g over. Should i start over completely? Get some fresh sand, clean up the live rock and throw it back in with the RO water and let it cycle all over again?

Or should I leave my live stock in there and do water changes with RO water weekly? Will this solve the problem?

I want to do this right. Please point me in a direction. Thanks.
 
#16 ·
I just came across this thread. Fist off, I would not start over, cyano is an issue relatively easy to resolve. Now that you have an RODI filter, that is the most important part in adding pure water to your tank when conducting water changes. Also, how is the flow within the tank?

I would start with a 30% water change each week, or maybe even every 3-4 days if you are able to do so.

From the sound of it, you don't seem to be over feeding, but that could still be an issue. If any, how much food is making it to the bottom of the tank while feeding? Don't add any more food than the fish can consume within about 2 minutes.

Make sure your skimmer is pulling skim, if not, it may need to be adjusted or you may need a better quality skimmer.

IMO, the key to maintaining a healthy saltwater tank is staying current with water changes, having a quality skimmer that is more than capable of handling a system larger than the one it is on, and have adequate flow withing the display creating as few dead spots as possible.
 
Discussion starter · #17 ·
Ok thank you. Now how about cleaning off the live rock and removing all the cyano in/on it? Can I just pull it out, scrub it down and place it back in there without damaging anything? Will it cycle again?

I feed every other day and just a pinch. There is never any food just left floating in the tank or at the bottom.
 
#19 ·
Removing Cyano

There is a real easy solution to this and I can not believe that anyone hasn't mentioned it. I used to do this all the time when i first started my tank. Works for most algae.

Don't scrub anything, wipe anything, so on and so fourth. Clean your glass, but don't mess with the sand or rock.

Go to family dollar, dollar general, or where ever you want.

Buy a big black table cloth. (Cheap plastic ones work great) Wrap it around your tank and use scotch tape to hold it in place, and keep your lights off for 2-3 days. Don't seal the top, just cover it. You don't want to keep it from ventilating. Just check on it when you feed your fish and you will magically see algae/cyano disappear. A 20% water change during this time will help keep the algae away after this process. If it doesn't work, you didn't wait long enough. Re wrap and wait it out. I did this with over 100 corals in my tank (mostly SPS) and nothing died. So don't worry about the lighting.

I would stray away from flake foods. Go to the pet store and get mysis shrimp and brine shrimp, frozen cubes. I buy it in sheets, as it seems to work for me. Thaw it in your tank water inside of a solo cup or something. I just dump it in, some pour it through a net to remove the juices that are thawed. Flake foods are usually full of phosphates. I don't use them.

It's a real simple solution. my friends an I do this whenever we have an outbreak. Its simple, and works.

Just make sure you keep up on your water changes, keep your sponges/filter socks, etc clean. Lower your light cycle by a couple of hours for a few weeks after this process to help cut down re-growth. We all know not being able to see your tank is frustrating, but if you want it gone, this is how.

If you have questions, just send me an email.
 
1 - 19 of 19 Posts
About this Discussion
18 Replies
6 Participants
Last post:
ReeferRusty
Michigan Reefers
posts
1M
members
20K
Since
2003
Michigan Reefers is dedicated to the marine reef aquarium hobby. Learn more about reef aquariums and maintenance, and view our large collection of coral and marine fish photos.
Full Forum Listing
Explore Our Forums
Selling Forums Want to Buy Announce Frag Meets & Swaps New Member Introductions