salt water red algae

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Newt;2413144; said:
What's the phosphate reading?

Extra phosphate causes all kinds of algae problems in saltwater. Check your salt brand, some have more phosphate than others.

Sounds like you have green bubble algae too. DON'T break those little green bubbles! It releases spores and only causes more algae.

If it were me I'd put some phosphate removing resin in the filter, add some more powerheads until you have at least 10X tank volume in water movement, and bump up the skimmer.
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Couldnt it simply be high phosphate in his tap water?
 
thats more then likely the cause of this issue, but phosphate can climb in aged water, not just straight from the tap. So of all the possible issues combined its no surprise that this is happening. A clean source of water and more movement in the tank, better maintanence will help solve the issue. In time, i have seen it just clear up also, but i wouldnt count on that. Start doing more water changes or larger water changes and you should see it clear up a bit. add more power heads if you can, and remove it manually for now, until it resides. Removing it prevents it from spreading, and takes some of those phosphates and nitrates with it, being thats the bacterias food source.
 
I bought an ro unit (with out di) and I am still having the rusty looking algee, people told me it is my well water, but now I see it's not!
 
Have you tester your water in the tank as you notice the algae?? Sometimes the algae can soak so much of the nutrients that they will not even register on your tests. Its a good idea to look at light schedule and what not as well. The longer the lights are on, the more prone algae is in exploding lol. Water movement is huge, one power head and a filter in most tanks is not enough, unless its a 5-15 gallon. Id suggest looking at the entire setup and adding whatever is needed to add more water movement, keep the lights on about 8-9 hours and not longer. Also removing larger amounts of water at one time and replacing with what "should" be clean water, will help rid of the plague lol. Test the RO before adding it and test water before changes to see the difference. Also make sure you changing water often enough, once a week for now until algae disappears.

Last comment on the subject is if this tank is newer then it could just be going through a stage of diatoms, and over time with reside on its own.

Good luck.
 
I have this same problem in my 55 with 2 Koralia 2s, a 330gph filter, and Aqua C protein skimmer. Inhabitants, aside from clean up crew are almost non existent including two small "brackish" eels, which only eat about once or twice a week, and 5 green chromis, none of which are even an inch long. I also do a 10% water change about once a week. It's getting really annoying and starting to crawl over my corals. I have to battle that tonight.
 
sounds like a phosphate issue which can be a number of things the water you are getting for the tank, feeding, tank flow, the amount of snails in there to consume algae, dead zone's. I would test for phosphates, check your tank for any dead zones where you see alot of detrius build-up or food accumlation. get at least 1 snail per gallon to help consume the red slime astrea snails love it so do ceriths, trochus, and abolone snails. What type of feeding do you do and how much and how often?

mr.reef24
 
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