What is all this red algae??

[wdgosnell]

Just started me tank about 6 months ago.....just recently I've had a substantial growth of this red bubbly algae growing on my powerhead towards the top of the tank....Is this bad? Good? Will it go away on its own?

 

[alyssia]

If it's red and slimy with bubbles in it it's probably cyano bacteria.

 

[wdgosnell]

it's definitly red, slimy and has bubbles in it....if it is cyno, then what do I do to get rid of it? And better yet, what causes it?

 

[alyssia]

I haven't read a whole lot about cyano...If you search on here you will find ALOT of info on it, I haven't had it so I haven't had to check out the cyano threads yet. One thing I can remember seeing somewhere is having "dead spots" in your tank (spots without enough circulation) will help cyano grow. You might also want to search for "red slime algae"
Sorry I couldn't be more help..

 

[rcbruce]

It's called RED SLIME. It's caused by excessive phosphates in the water which it feeds on. 3 ways to get rid of it. 1-water change to help lower phosphates, 2-put a phosphate absorber pad in your filter, 3-lessen your hours of light, as they die back in the darkness, but I would only use this as a last resort.

 

[unleashed]

there are a few cause of red slime algae as above sted yes higher levels of phosphates being one,also lack of water flow(dead spots).as for phosphate removal products there are many on the market but if using a filter type phosphate removal pad ect most of them only soak up so much they must be changed every few days to ensure the phosphate is not released back into the tank.i found a very good product that does not leach this chemical back into the tank its call ROWA phos PO4&SiO2 absorber.looks like dirt but it works great