Red algae

[ignath]

I have a 150 thats been running for about 20 weeks. All parameters are good and 20% If so, what are your suggestions? I have a sterilizer, but didnt want to hook it up too early. Any ideas or suggestions? Thanks. :notsure:

 

[earlybird]

wht is your turnover, should be 15-30x/hr? Do waterchanges and siphon out as much as your can.

 

[mopar9012]

is it red slime?

 

[ignath]

1. How do you compute turnover?
2. It doesnt look like the pics i have seen of red slime, it looks like regular algae but red.

 

[mopar9012]

could be coraline algea. I know it can be different colors or different shades or purple.

 

[garnet13aj]

If it comes off in sheets when you wave your hand over it, it's cyanobacteria. The best way to get rid of it is to increase water flow and use RO/DI water. It's a natural phase when you are setting up a new tank and can be a pain to deal with but the methods above will almost surely make it disappear. Also, over feeding can be one of it's causes.

 

[saltfreak4]

Have you tested for phosphates, cyano can really take off if the phosphates are even slightly elevated.

 

[jrthomas40]

could it be cyanobacteria??? because i have a red hair algae and i dont know how to get rid of it either

 

[fishkid2]

what about red macro algae. Does it come out of the rock and it looks kind of flakey

 

[saltfreak4]

With a tank this new it's most likely cyano. Does it come off easily when you wave your hand over the top of it?
The reason I know that cyano grows really good with phosphates is because I added fish food that had phosphates. I have been feeding the food for a few days (like 3) and my phosphates are pegged and so is my cyano. :scared: I am learning!

 

[weberian]

I have had good success lately against red hair algae. I added carbon to a powerfilter in my sump (just a bag of carbon - no other media). I cut out the flake food, just frozen mysis now. And most importantly, I think, my calcium was really low, like 160 ppm.
After cleaning the algae off with a toothbrush and water changes, and with the calcium around 300 ppm this week, things are looking good.
I even lowered the flow in my main tank, and there's no sign of the red hair algae.
I'd like to make a point here about Xenia also. You might think that a large patch of Xenia (like approaching one quarter of the tank) would help remove the nutrients that feed the red algae. But the Xenia did not prevent the red hair algae. It was not a factor.
I'm sure all the experienced reefers are saying "If I had a nickel for all the problems that were caused by not having the proper calcium and alkalinity............"

 

[saltfreak4]

Everything looked great in the tank (as far as other readings) Had no indicator that anything else was off, which is why I was thinking hmmmm, cyano, weird, then I lost my shrimp. Then I noticed that my sponge was not looking too good. So, I tested the phosphates and looked like this

[hr]
> :scared: Holy crud! Then I started testing everything I put in the tank and found the culprit. It's really unfortunate because my clowns loved that food.