Need help with unknown algae

[amteo]

Hi guys,

Need your help to ID this nuisance! I suspect it is Cyanobacteria, but am not sure. What do you gurus think?

The other part of the question, what can be done to eradicate it? Some people I spoke to says this is normal in a new tank (mine's about 3 months old) and it will go away sooner or later. If there is a faster way to get rid of it, please advice!

By the way, last time I checked (last week), with the exception of NO3, my water parameters are normal. NO3 increase to 10 mg/li. Previously was 0 mg/li.

In the sump, I have Rowa and Carbon in nylon bags. I'm thinking of renewing the carbon, removing the Rowa and running a FR with Seachem Phosguard (no more Rowa!). Also, have been doing 10% water change for the pass 2 weekends.

Think this is good, or is there more that can be done.

[giantbicycle]

yea, its cynao...but looks a bit nice leh for CNY.but afer it spreads... better prevent it..

[Lucifer]

will higher flow rate solve the problem????

[giantbicycle]

It do helps a tiny bit of portion and a small percentage of it .but most important is your nutrients in your water the DOC ....

[hijackng]

Use the " Red slime remover".

very effective..

[amteo]

will higher flow rate solve the problem????

SO far, higher flow rate don't look like helping. I can see strands of it swaying with the current!

[amteo]

Use the " Red slime remover". QUOTE]

Last resort. Still trying 'natural' way to control it.

[giantbicycle]

reduce the DOC then ,do water change

[Marineman]

Use the " Red slime remover".

very effective..

Effective and expensive too. Also watch your skimmer work overtime if you use this product.

It will spread very fast, I suggest you siphon it out everytime it appears or leave it for a while and you siphon a thicker "carpet". This will take you a few weeks of consistent siphoning while you do your regular water change. When you siphon it out, some sand will be siphoned out as well, quite normal otherwise the little left behind will spread fast so make sure you don't leave any behind.

[Venezia]

manual removal---use your hand or net .. scoop up affected area , may include affected sand and discard.. the sand u throw only a few cents... by doing this u r also harvesting algae that feed on the nutrient in your tank.. fastest way

[amteo]

Trying manual cleaning, i.e. ###### out the slime, and increasing skim rate to remove DOC. However, the slime is growing faster that I can remove them! Will monitor the situation for another couple of weeks to see if the increase skimming will help. Hopefully, with the increase skimming, I will remove the DOC the slime needs to survive.

As for the 'chemical warfare', I thinking of using Boyd's Chemi-clean. While this (as with every chemical product for treatment of slime) is not a total solution, it should help clean up the slime. And at the same time, it is not an anti-biotic, so should not have the disadvantage of products that used anti-biotics.

For complete solution, I will likely do the following,

1) Reduction of DOC through a better/more effective Skimmer

2) Reduction of PO4 and Si through a FR with Rowa/PhosGuard/etc. Maybe also add a piece of poly filter.

[AlfaRomeo]

Very hard to find Chemi-clean. Can only find Chemi-pure

[RAV-65]

Yup, Red Slime Remover pretty effective, but the skimmer foams non-stop!

[loowk]

red slime algae would be gone in 2 days max using red slime remover.