Dark red Algae, what is it and how do I get rif of it?

[coppens02]

I have a ton of dark reddish algae all over my live rock and my live sand! I do not know how to get rid of it.. My CUC seems to ignore it for the most part and it really is the only algae left in the tank! It has long hairlike strands coming from it and it is really annoying because I cannot get rid of it! Is it because i keep my coral light on too long or because I used tap water to fill up my tank! :smack: I know i know i should have used RO water but i did not know this until it was too late... All i would like to know is how to get rid of it! Thanks!

Here are a few pics:

Also this one! (i dont have nearly as much of the algae on my live sand as this picture does):

 

[bskinn77]

Cyano Algae more then likely because you used tap water and your phosphates are high. You may want to start with siphoning out all the algae you can and do a water change. Also I do not see any power heads in your tank? Cyano usually shows up where there is no flow in your tank which appears to be everywhere in your case. They sell chemicals to get rid of it I do not recommend using them and I am sure no one else here would recommend it either.

 

[l3fty999]

Cyano Algae more then likely because you used tap water and your phosphates are high. You may want to start with siphoning out all the algae you can and do a water change. Also I do not see any power heads in your tank? Cyano usually shows up where there is no flow in your tank which appears to be everywhere in your case. They sell chemicals to get rid of it I do not recommend using them and I am sure no one else here would recommend it either.

It may not be tap water, there's overfeeding, maybe the tank is still cycling, etc. Could we get some info please? Parameters, age of your tank, how much do you feed? I do agree with bskinn77, do not use chemicals to get rid of it, it's only a way to mask the symptoms of a greater problem. We're here to help, just give us some info to work with.

Take care
Aaron

 

[MountainFish]

It is probably a number of things going wrong in your tank....

First off, hate to say it, but ya gotta break down and buy an RO unit, or at the very least start buying RO water from your LFS. As others have said above, the amount of unwanted things in standard city tap water is just too big of a mountain to fight.

Second, water flow.... You want 10x-20x the volume of the tank in water flow... ie (55g x 10 = 550gph - Add up the ratings of all your pumps, skimmer, sump, etc... and figure out how much water you are moving)

Third, Lighting... what kind of lighting do you have on your system? Are the PC's?

Fourth, High Nutrients - What is your feeding schedule like? You are quite possibly over feeding and creating a high nutrient load in your tank that can't be broken down because the tank is still new and becoming established.

I would vac up as much as you can off the sand bed without stirring everything into a dust storm, and then when you are doing a water change, take the bucket of old water and give each rock a little scrub down in the water before you through it out... Ya need to rinse the rock with salt water from the tank... don't use fresh water! Also, if you do a rock scrub, be careful of CUC stuck on rock and other organism, fan worms, etc... that you don't want to harm in the scrub process... then put the rocks back and see if it comes back...

Lastly, I'm gonna agree with statements above... don't use chemicals to solve your problems, they'll just come back later... figure out the root cause of a problem and deal with it...

 

[reef dummy]

Just an FYI, it's not algae but bacteria. Cyanobacteria.

 

[coppens02]

I have a 30 gal coral reef tank.. I have a 115 mini internal protein skimmer, a Hydor turbo pump (400 gph), I 30 series of a fluval filter system.. I only have CUC so i feed every other day (about 5-6 pellets of veggie feed). my light is a coral light (I do not really know how to explain it) and that is my setup in a nutshell. The water seems very clean and the tank itself is very clean. It is just on the live rock and a little bit of it is on my live sand.. It seems to be going away somewhat and just sticking onto the edges of the live rock! I am buying RO water from my Local Fish Store and hopefully after a few more water changes then it should go away.... I would love to get more feedback if at all possible! Thanks everyone.

 

[MountainFish]

Need more info on the Lights.... How many watts? what type of bulb and what spectrum of lighting is it? Your water movement seems good, but if the only things in your tank are CUC members, I'd pretty much stop feeding altogether... maybe 5-10 pellets a week is all you need... let them feed off the stuff already in the tank.

 

[lcstorc]

Cut down on feeding the CUC.
Let them scavenge on rock for a while.
Like many things in our tank, Cyano grows on excess nutrients and light.
Low flow will allow it to gather in certain areas and old lightbulbs can help it grow, but ultimately it is the excess nutrients.
Since your tank is not yet stocked you could try a total blackout to start the die off. Make the tank totally dark for several days. Not just leave the lights off. Totally dark, like enclosed in cardboard or something similar. This deprives it of light which will give it a good kick. Then some water changes and you should be all set.