Boyd ChemiClean — Red Slime & Cyanobacteria Remover

Red slime is not algae, and that is why nothing you tried worked. Cyanobacteria is a bacterium that photosynthesizes — an evolutionary holdover roughly three billion years old, from before there were plants to compete with. Algaecides do not touch it. Blackouts slow it. Manual removal buys you four days. ChemiClean is the thing that actually ends it, and it does it in 48 hours.

Why it works when other things do not

ChemiClean targets the cyanobacterial cell specifically, oxidizing it while leaving your nitrifying bacteria intact. That distinction is the whole product. Cyanobacteria and the nitrifiers in your biofilter are both bacteria, and a broad-spectrum antibacterial that kills one kills the other — which is how people end up trading a slime problem for an ammonia spike and a tank full of dead fish. This does not do that. Your cycle survives.

It is reef safe as labeled: corals, invertebrates, and fish come through it. I have run it on client display systems with SPS in them and had no losses.

How to run it — and the part people skip

• Siphon out what you can first. Every mat you physically remove is a dose that goes further.
• Pull carbon and any chemical media. Turn off UV and ozone. Leave the skimmer on but watch it — see the warning below.
• Dose: 2 g treats roughly 55 gallons; 6 g treats roughly 165 gallons. The 2 oz liquid is the same chemistry in a pour-and-go format for anyone who would rather not weigh powder.
• Add aeration. A lot of it. This is the step that gets skipped and it is the one that kills fish. Dying cyanobacteria consume oxygen as they break down, and the tank's dissolved oxygen can crash while everything still looks fine. Run an extra airstone. Run two.
• Wait 48 hours, then do a 20 to 25 percent water change and put fresh carbon back in.

The honest caveat

ChemiClean removes the cyanobacteria. It does not remove the reason you had cyanobacteria. Red slime is a symptom of low flow, accumulated detritus, high nutrients, or aging lamps — usually a combination. Treat the tank, then fix the cause, or you will be buying this again in six weeks.

Be honest with yourself about which one it is: dead spots behind rockwork, an overdue filter sock, overfeeding, or bulbs past their useful spectrum. That is the actual cure. This is what buys you the clean slate to work from.