Red algea

[pamover]

I have red algea growing in my tank. I have only been salting
since august. I have had the red algea, but now it seem to be
growing and covering everything. Is this algea something to wory
about?

[davejnz]

Can you describe the characteristics of this red algae?Is it slimey,hairy,leaf like,etc..?Most likely your experiencing red slime algae a.k.a. cyanobacteria.This is a completely normal stage in a reef-tank as it matures.Cyano is photosynthetic like all algae but it actually a bacteria.This bacterial bloom is caused when organics/detritus starts to accumulate and conditions are idea for its growth.It will eventually subside but you can speed things up a bit by providing more current and siphoning out detritus while doing waterchanges.
BTW,How much current/what kind of pumps are you using for flow?

[KG]

Sounds like the dreaded cyano as someone else pointed out. I think the better question is what is the source of the high phosphates? Low water flow and poor light sprectrum are also probably to blame. Here are some things you can do to help:
1. It can be in the flood (flake is terrible) or;
2. the water (tap is loaded with them and using an old RO/DI unit with a worn out membrane) or some cheaper salt mixes are high in phosphates as well.
3. Try turning up your skimmer so it makes a wet skimmate instead of a dry foam.
4. Rinse your frozen food really well before feeding with old SW.
5. Try dialing back your lights a little (just a few hours will make a big difference).
6. Increase the amount and frequency of your water changes, and as a last resort;
7. Add a phosphate binder.

If you're seeing negative effects to any corals or other inverst whenyou add the binder, then you should add less (only submerge half the bag), leave it in for a shorter period of time, or not at all.

Good luck!

[zoo-a-holic]

fairly new tanks will get that for the first while. i think its called a Diatome bloom. But dont worry about it, cut back on feeding and change a little more water than usual! hope this helped

[Fally]

I am on the tail end of this type of bloom myself. I setup a new 75 and when I moved my sump I took out the deep sand bed so I could use the sand in my new tank... I think that Cyano feeds of Nitrates because I have no Phosphates.

My main stratagy was to suck the cyano out with a baster, but only stuff that was growing close to a coral. I let the stuff grow on the sand and the baserocks, that way it would eat itself out of food. I figured if I sucked it all out then it would just grow back. I kept watching it until I noticed that it wasn't growing anymore, then I sucked it all out and It hasn't grown back yet...

I did weekly 15% water changes for four weeks. I usually do half that.

I wish you luck, at it's worst this bacteria can really give you a headache.

[lReef lKeeper]

if you want a good chemical to use on red hair algae ... i use a powder called "chemi - clean" when i have some getting out of hand. the rest of the time my emerald crabs eat it up, but i only have two of them and sometimes they cant keep up.

[unleashed]

i went on vac last summer left my sister to tend to my tanks neeless to say she fed my fish a full months supply of food in 4 days I returned home in 7 days to find my reef tank(which i never had an algae problem with covered in red slime) i bit the bullet and purchased a product called red slime remover in 24 hrs all red slime was gone but had turned into green hair algae.i was fortunate to have lots of herbivores(tangs) in my tank within days it was gone.im lucky enough to say I cant grow hair algae with my fish i litterally cultivate it in a 10 tank with other forms of macro alage.i use as treats for my fish.including the hair algae.