red-slimy hair algae starting! what gives?

[goinbroke]

i dont get it!
added a fuge. filled it with cheato. been diligant about testing and water changes, and still got the dreaded red slime and hair algae!
it's starting to cover a couple rocks down low at bolth sides of of the 90DT.
it's kinda like green hair but it's red. there are also a few rocks that have a red coralaline look to them.
what gives? tank has been great for almost 2 months! i've been trying to get my KH up. always at 5*dkh. started using kent coral builder 2 days ago. noticed the algea about 5 days ago.
here's my perameters:
KH: 7*
CA 440
phos: 0.1
nitrite: 0
PH: 8.4-8.8 (looks a little high. maybe from the coral builder?)
ammonia: 0
lights: actenic: 9 hrs
daylight: 8 hrs
temp: 78-80
what can i do about this? thanks

 

[fishrul11]

The params are ok, but i would try to get the phosphate to unreadable levels. Make sure u be very careful with overfeeding, as it stimulates red slime algae growth. You could also try to cut back a few hours on the lighting as well. Good Luck!!!!

 

[reefkeeper78]

I ran in to the same problem about a month ago with red algae. I ended up buying a banded sleeper goby. I gave it a head start by cleaning off the rocks and since getting him my rocks have been algae free. I might have missed this but how old your tank?

 

[rs1831]

How is your flow? I would cut your lighting back by about 2-3 hours and increase the flow in the tank. Also, what size water changes do you do?

 

[goinbroke]

its a 90gallon. tank is 3 years old. everything in its about 7 years old. flow is a mag 9.5 return, 2 korallia 4's and a small powerhead behind the LR.
water changes are 15 gallons every sunday. using oceanic salt and r/o.
i feed every other day. they gobble it up in about a minute!
what about phitopheast. that green refrigated stuff that stinks? i give the tank a small squirt every other day also. wondering if thats the problem.

 

[flower]

Originally Posted by goinbroke
http:///forum/post/3033481
its a 90gallon. tank is 3 years old. everything in its about 7 years old. flow is a mag 9.5 return, 2 korallia 4's and a small powerhead behind the LR.
water changes are 15 gallons every sunday. using oceanic salt and r/o.
i feed every other day. they gobble it up in about a minute!
what about phitopheast. that green refrigated stuff that stinks? i give the tank a small squirt every other day also. wondering if thats the problem.
It is...it is loaded with nutrients. What the coral doesn't eat feeds the algae. Try feeding just once a week. Phosphates at 0.1 is as low as you can get. My test kit won't go lower than 0.1 the tests that read 0 are telling a little lie. The 0 reading means just low as 0.1 and not to worry.

 

[goinbroke]

stupid me bought a carnation without doing research. this is why i use the phyto! i'm dertermened to keep it alive!(its the only coral my wife likes)
ill cut back on it. although i/ve been using it for a month with no red slime. i got some cheato that had some red stuff in it. i'm wondering if the cheato imported it into the tank.

tomorrow is waterchange day. gonna do 20 gallons give or take. ill also cut back on the lights. should i do this for good or untill the slime goes away(9 hours actinic/ 8 hours daylight schedual now) cut it back to 7 and 6?
tanks starting to really look good! i'm gonna get a new thread with picks up tomorrow. just picked up a sweet blasto colony, purple hairy mushroom and 2 heads of orange/green mouth florida ric's.
i'm also wondering if my filter sock has somthing to do with the algae. i put the sock in the clothes washer. ran it inside out with out soap. didnt do a rinse cycle because i was missing a hot water hose. so i just rinsed it out in the sink and put it in. i finally cleaned the washer out, ran the other 3 socks in it with some bleach. then ran them through again with just water. came out like new! thay have been airing out for two days. gonna swap a clean on for the one thtas in use now.
so tomorrow the chase is on! gonna scrape all the glass i can(picked up a stainly glass and tile scraper at the locak hardware store. it has a 4 inch razor in it, gonna make scraping a breeze! i also picked up 8 feet of clear vynal 5/8 hose for sophoning. i'm gonna get a pvc barb end for 5/8 hose so i can glue it to a piece of 2 foot long 3/4 pvc. should be easy to reach in the tank.
i'm also going to get another korolia for down low.........red slime, better watch out!

 

[goinbroke]

here is what i'm dealing with! it's starting to grow in the supply hose to the fuge. wondering if the light is causing it. there is also a pic of my DT with the red algae on a piece of LR down low.
the light is a 18 watt 7100k. i'm running it 24/7 on my fuge to keep the cheeto from spawning!
i'm also running a reactor with phoslock. not touching it! maybe switch media to the brown phoslock. that expensive fine stuff??

 

[goinbroke]

anyone?

 

[nycbob]

ur alk level at 5 isnt too bad. it looks like too much nutrients in the water. the cheato wouldnt export things into the water. from the pic, it looks like u hv caulerpa.

 

[goinbroke]

i've kept my lights on less4-9pm now, and am starving my fish(jk!) feeding every 3 days.
i figure it's because i dont have any snails left. i see one every so often. ordered some last night (turbo/astria group of 50) from this site. lets see if they clean it up. sunday i'm due for another 15-20 gallon water change. i'm gonna test my r/o for phosphate again. while i'm at it should i test for anything else that could cause algae?