red algea and phosphate help

deejeff442

Active Member
i have red algea growing now at a fast pace.i had the phosphate down to .5 now it is 1.0 today.it is a 150 gallon tank and i did a 35 gallon water change ,added new phosphate remover and add 2 more powerheads to it yesterday how the hell can the phosphate keep going up?
the tank is 5 weeks old but it has the lr from the old tank .new sand and 60 lbs of live sand.all the tests except the phosphate are great.i did add 50 lbs new lr to the old.is this thing cycling ?if so how long do i have to look at this nasty algea.the foxface and purple tank arent touching it.
 

scubachris

Member
I had some red algea in my tank. I went to the lfs and got some red slime remover. 2 treatments and it was all gone. I believe the red algea can elevate the levels, but I could be wrong. I'm still new to this.
 

deejeff442

Active Member
yea i use a 6 stage ro.plus i tested the ro and no phosphates in it.
this red crap is getting on my nerves
 

paxrom

Member
if it's red slime algae, it will go away in time with regular water change
if it's red hair algae, Mexican turbo snails will eat it
 

deejeff442

Active Member
its seems to be hairy red algea.i really dont like snails they get all over the glass then is tough to clean it with them in the way.i have some blue crabs in there now but i dont see them eating the stuff.
still need to figure out how to get the phosphates down the remover isnt working too well.
where is the phosphates coming from?
 

fau8

Member
i had the same issue with the red slime and used the red slime remover. It worked well, but you will lose your protein skimmer for 2 weeks. So you will have to watch your water quality and cut back some on feeding.
 

rileybb

Member
This is how you can get rid of the slime, if its a reef tank turn your lights off for 2-3 days no longer as it can start to effect your corals....if fish only keep your lights off for 4-5 days. Cut back on feedings as well as this can add nutrents that these algeas can feed on.
I had a slime problem and this worked wonders for me even after wasting money on phosphate removers and slime killers as they failed to help trust me do this and it will start to go away and it puts a womping on the hair algea as well :)
 

deejeff442

Active Member
actually ,i have had the lights off for a day and added 2 powerheads and i can already see the red going away.
what a pain.just hope when i turn the lights back on it doesnt come back.
 
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