Red Bubbles

[marinelife]

What cause red algae with bubbles in it to be on Live Rock only. I have had it for a few months now and can not get rid of it. it is not killing anything but looks like crap and it seems if the temp in the tank goes up it gets worse

 

[Krish]

That almost sounds like cyno algae. On my first ever saltwater setup, I had some red algae that grew on my rocks full of bubbles and every so often I'd see a few float up. It pissed me off because I use to vaccum it off and it would just grow back. If it is algae, then chances are you have excess nutrients in your tank that needs to be taken care of (phosphates, nitrates etc). What are you nitrate levels at right now?

 

[marinelife]

I have so many bubbles I can not even see the red algae. Not sure I am going to see fireworks so I will have to check when I get back, I did big water changes and skimmed wet for a while and nothing change, even removed the skimmer and nothing change, nothing has helped. Phosphates was at .01 the last time I checked

 

[Krish]

Wow! Are you using ro/di water?? That was my problem when I had my first setup because I used well water and the nitrates read over 160ppm coming right out of the tap! If your phosphates are low, then your nitrates may be up then because algae needs something to fuel it so it can grow so something is fueling it somewhere in your system which can result from a number of things. I guess the best place to start is figuring out your nitrate levels and then work from there. Maybe you can post up a few specs of your tank to see if anything there hits home to one of us (like tank size and age, type of sand bed if using one, what you use for filtration etc) That may help out a bit knowing these things

 

[burning2nd]

i had the same problem in the first few weeks, regular water changes and added movement will help

do not burst the bubbles (will make more) add O2 to the tank since i beleave the cyno slime will suck it out of the water. Make sure that your RoDi water has 0 TDS's In time it should die.
phophates are a major reason as well.

what are your full water parameters??

how much light (hours a day) are you giveing (2 much will not help)

 

[marinelife]

I will get full parameter check today, tank has been up for 6 years. 2 Actinic VHOs are on 12 hours, MH are on 8 hours. Can not add any more flow, I have 2 6100 streams, a wavebox and the return from the sump

Tank is a 180 connected to a 100 gallon sump half full with a 300 gallon tank connected to it. Been using RO/DI water most of its life. Rock is a mix with some of it being as old as 11 years. I have 1000 pounds or more of live rock, just started using Cheato again in part of the sump. Skimmer was a BIG ETSS 1400

See more info here www.marinelifeweb.com

 

[Krish]

That's a pretty big setup you have there! I guess testing your nitrates will be a big help here. With a tank being set up that long, I've read that some people over time have LR that becomes "clogged" or "full" and can no longer perform denitrification so you get a build up of nitrates in your tank. The same goes for some dsb. I guess once you get the nitrate numbers posted, then it would be a lot easier to figure out what is going on. I think adding chaeto to the sump was a great idea to help compete with using up the excess nutrients. I hope you get things sorted out really soon

 

[marinelife]

That is what I have been thinking that the rock is just getting old or releasing some built up stuff. I will be running out later to get a new test kit

 

[Krish]

Sounds great! I'll keep an eye out for the test results. Here's a good read on saturated rocks incase you've never seen it.

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11905&highlight=cooking+live+rock

 

[burning2nd]

ya, i was watching the descovery Tv a couple of days ago, and i hurd something about that. but in the sea when the bad storms come and wreck the reef all to hell. thats one of the things that gets fix. rocks that need to be crushed and moved....


you tank sounds very very very awesome,

 

[marinelife]

Calcium: 425-450 ppm
Alkalinity: 9.5dKH
Specific Gravity: 1.026
pH: 8.26
Temperature: 81°- 83°F
Nitrate: 0
Phosphate: .01ppm maybe hard to tell

I think I am getting low numbers because from what I read the Bubble are trapping the phosphates that are being released from the rock. I will finish reading the thread you posted. I read elsewhere about Live Rock holding Phosphates for years then releasing it and I think that is what is happening. The wavebox was added at xmas so maybe it changed the flow to the live rock and that started the problem

 

[Krish]

Yeah...The only way to get rid of the nitrates and/or phosphates is to export it (physically remove the algae from the tank) What some people do is harvest it from the tank and use it in a fuge to out compete what's growing in the tank. You'd want to make the conditions in the fuge more favourable for it to grow there in relation to the tank. If the conditions in the tank is better, then it will just keep growing there. I'm not sure how you would go about testing to see if a rock is fully saturated, but I guess the only logical way I can think of it is if you are reading un-detectable nitrates and basically no phosphates, and you export all that algae you can from the tank and it shoots right back up, then I would think that something is producing quite a bit of nitrates and/or phosphates in there causing the algae to grow which can be from like we mentioned saturated rocks, clogged sand beds, etc. Just a thought...Not necessarily right though

One more thing...How old are your bulbs? Bulbs that have lost their spectrum will cause nuicance algae to grow.

 

[marinelife]

bulbs are only 6 months old. I am hopefull the macro in the sump will help. I have a 250w 6500k over it

 

[Krish]

bulbs are only 6 months old. I am hopefull the macro in the sump will help. I have a 250w 6500k over it

That's cool on the bulbs About the macro, I've heard a few people had to toy around with different bulbs to get the chaeto to grow well. I've never tried any before (eventhough I wanted to) but if I did, I wouldn't know where to begin with a bulb because I hear so many different things about which bulb is best...Hopefully your setup will work out just fine for you

 

[NeuroDoc]

Is this red stuff spreading to cover your sand bed as well? Is it slimy looking? Does it come off in sheets if you pick it off? If so, it is probably cyanobacteria.

I had a bloom of cyanobacteria in my tank that always had bubbles in it. The thing about this is that it is a bacteria, not an algae, so the standard treatment of limiting nutritients and light doesn't make it go away. You need an antibiotic to make it go away. I used Red Slime Remover, and it worked like a charm.

Also, cyanobacteria is ubiquitous in the environment; it actually helps prevent soal erosion in the high deserts of the West. I am certain I introduced it into my tank after I had been working in my garden. I hadn't used gloves, and hadn't cleaned under my nails to make sure all dirt/soil was gone. Now I take much better care to ensure my hands are clean, and I have a pair of gloves on order.

 

[marinelife]

nope it is just on the rock and not really slimy like I have seen Cyano before. I really do not see much red anymore just bubbles.

When I started the tank I had a 100 gallon tank that I grew macro algae under the 250w mh bulb, I could never get it to grow under anything else. The Little amount I do have already has tripled in size since adding it. So I think we are good there. Hopefully it will make a difference, I knew I should have never gotten rid of the algae tank when I added the skimmer a few years ago