Red slime algae EVERYWHERE!

[KodiakBear]

I went out and bought a new return pump (Rio 1700) that's supposed to have a 352gph flow with 4 feet of head... I plumbed it to have 4 outlets in the tank (two on the surface, and two 5 inches from the sandbed). When I installed the stop-check check valves my flow went to next to nothing. I had to put my old penguin power head back into the tank to give me enough surface agitation. I'm still getting a pretty high gph through my sump, but with four heads there's no velocity to it in the tank.
Does anyone know any ways to use a check valve that won't have so much head loss?
In any case, there has been progress, these pictures are 3 days since the last water change (will be doing another today)

[Jorgens]

I had a similar problem and increasing the flow across your problem aera will help as you get it harvested.

And I'd stop that DT's stuff. Again I've seen more problems with the use of it then the lack of use from it. But those are just my observations!!

As for increasing flow. Powerheads work and also closed loop systmes can help but I can't offer much on those as I'm researching that for myself yet atm.

Good Luck!!

[saltwaterfarm]

You might want to sub oyster eggs vs. the phyto for the goni. Just my experience...
Looks like you're moving in the right direction.

[Freddie]

So far you've gotten some great info. I just wanted to add my 2 bits to the thread.
I had the same problem with red slime a while ago, so I moved a couple of my power heads lower in the tank so I'd have good flow throughout the tank and to kill the slime I used a product called Chemiclean a red slime cyano remover, it's safe for reefs, inverts & fishes. In 2 days and after a 20% water change all traces of the red slime was gone...and as an extra precaution I got 25 nassarius snails and a yellow head sleeper goby that keeps the sand nice and clean!

[KodiakBear]

Well, quick-fixes are rarely good ideas, or so I'm beginning to believe. I tried the UltraLife Reef Products Red Slime Remover and my ph dropped .2 within an hour. Sure, the red slime started falling off the rocks a few hours after that, but there's no way I'll be using this EVER again. Did a water change and added some ph booster to the new water to bring it back up slowly.
I just added a diamond goby, and he's cleaning up the sand really well on HALF then tank. Is there something about this type of goby that they don't venture far from their 'nest' or is this one just shy? My tank's only 3ft long, so I figured he'd roam the whole thing.
As for nassarius snails... I've been hearing a lot of good things about them. I currently have turban snails in my tank, but they stick mostly to the rocks. I got on etropicals.com http://www.etropicals.com/product/pr...catid=2247&N=0 and found some jumbo cerith snails which sound pretty good too. Does anyone have these in their tanks? Is there some rule of thumb as for how many snails should be in a tank?

[lcstorc]

How many snails is the topic of frequent debate. I often hear one cleaner (either crab, snail, or shrimp) per gallon of water, but personally I a lot less than that in my system.
Fighting conchs are great to keep the sandbed stirred and cleaned. Once I got a couple of them, my battle with cyano ended. I am still looking for a queen conch for the rocks, but never had much cyano there anyway.