algae.. look at what my problem is

okay i posted the other day about my red slime algae.. i dont think anyone is getting how MUCH i have.. look at my gallery and see.. it has taken over.. i have done all i can find to try and prevent it i think i might just give the fish and lr to the petstore and start all over again.. i really really dont want to but i dont know what else to do.. please help i really love this hobby and i want to beat this but i just dont know how.. look at my gallery

 

man i had the same problem and lets put it this way its not ganna b easy . i took all the rock out and cleaned it . luckly i hade an extra tank set up for the fish. Then i cleaned the glass with a algea remover and had 3 sources of filtration going on to get wut ever was come off didnt float went straight to the filters i can not tell if u have any corals but this is what i did took awhile but the tank seemes better than ever. also do a water change and let kinda go threw the motioins for a day or two

 

What type of water are you using? If it's ro/di how old are your membranes? I used red slime remover and turned off the lights for a day. After three days of treatment I did a 25% water change and turned my skimmer back on. The skimmer went CRAZY! You'll get a lot of gunk out of the water, the best thing to do is be patient and use good water for your tank.

 

Need to remove waste

HI,
Many times we over feed and the fish will be generating alot of waste, as the water becomes more saturated with soluable waste stuff you can't see, red slime a type of bacteria will take off, this is a complex problem, that came about from excesses in the waste stuff in the water, what type of skimmer are you using does it pull alot of that brown stuff offf.how many fish, how many scavengers, are you testing for phos excess phos can cause an algae bloom, did you have a algae problem with a major die off of the algae this releases more waste. If your having a re-occurance you not getting rid of the food (waste products) for the slime. I ve heard of people vaccuming the slime out when water chaning you dont want it to cycle in the tank cause when it dies off more waste. its a cycle...
So maybe the system as a whole needs to be reviewed. Do you need more filtration, what are you feeding is it being consumed completly or are there leftovers are feeding mostly frozen of flake. many flake foods donot break down very easily in the fish or the filters , are you preventing food from entering your filtration loop, I will shut down my marineland and my canisters when I feed cause the filters would eat more than the fish this becomes a waste load for the water bacteria in the filters converts thefood to soluable waste products,that may cause problems as it accumalates in the water. there has to be a way to get waste out of the clear water either thru skimmer's or dilution by frequent water changes. waste maynot be obvious in saltwater but waste happens. hehe .
Doug

here's a pretty good post about cause and effect of red slime.

About Red Slime Algae - Cyanobacteria - in Saltwater Aquariums - What Red Slime Algae Is - What Makes It Grow & Solutions for Eliminating

 

When you add your skimmer, you'll start exporting a lot of phosphates. Are you using RO/DI water?

Additionally, are you dosing phytoplankton? You have a lot of phyto on your glass as well as the cyanobacteria.

 

hmm...IMHO starting all over again does not help much with the algae problem. i just migrated from a 2 ft to a 3 ft tank and guess what. the red slime that has been with me for 2 years moved over as well:-[ . i think it's better to let the skimmer run and try to sort it out along the way. changing the way we handle the situation is better than changing the tank i suppose...

in fact the algaes din affect my clown and my regal tang (pretty sure it will affect inverts though, cos of the high nitrates) when it virtually covered my whole tank... my friends called my tank a pond, others called it a swamp. now that i have my new tank i am using my old one as a sump/refuge and get a more powerful skimmer. will update how on it goes... my 2 cts.

Regards