# Red Algae



## keiser (Nov 22, 2010)

My tank has been over taken with red algae. I cant get rid of it, I have tried a product by chemiclean for red algae and it helped a bit, but I did 3 water changes in a week and didn't want to over do it and change too much. Can anybody help? Was I headed in right direction, or is there something else I can do? Its killing all my polyps and my plate coral is almost or already dead. Thanks


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## beefORchicken (Apr 23, 2010)

sounds like a cyano problem. one thing you can do is make sure your water quality is under control, too many nutrients in the water with good light makes that stuff bloom. water changes are probably helping, just keep it up. 

the other way to deal with it is to black out your tank for a few days by turning off the lights and covering the glass so no light gets in.

what are your nitrates? phosphates? whats the light cycle?


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## keiser (Nov 22, 2010)

nitrates 20, phosphate 0.5, and light cycle is prob too long, its 10am-9pm. I add 1 1/2 caps of purple up once a week, essential elements once a week, and do water changes once a month. Its a 75 gal.
how long should i keep lights out for?


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## beefORchicken (Apr 23, 2010)

how much water do you change when you do a water change?
i'd cut out the dosing for a bit, shorten the lighting cycle to only a few hours a day. continue with water changes, getting those numbers down will really slow down the algae. the algae needs a good 4-6 days of no light to die out - i'd try this as a last resort.


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## tang daddy (Apr 21, 2010)

add some sugar like 1table spoon daily for 5 days then change 25% of the water.... the sugar becomes a carbon source and outcompetes the cyano bacteria and eventually destroyes it...


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## Chewie (Jul 21, 2010)

Will that be safe for lifestock?


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## tang daddy (Apr 21, 2010)

Chewie said:


> Will that be safe for lifestock?


there is no adverse effect for adding sugar to your tank, but chemiclean and other medicine can kill corals....


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## keiser (Nov 22, 2010)

thanks, I have had lights out for 2 days, might try the few hours of light and no more supplements for a couple weeks before trying sugar.


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## gklaw (May 31, 2010)

Make sure there is good current in the tank.


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## tang daddy (Apr 21, 2010)

If something dies in your tank then you'll have cyano, I have used the sugar method and nothing has died!!


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## fkshiu (Apr 22, 2010)

Be cautious before putting sugar in your tank. Adding sugar willy-nilly can lead to significant issues. 

Sugar is a form of carbon dosing. The theory is that it supplies certain strains of beneficial bacteria with a kickstart in food which causes this bacteria to outcompete cyano and other nuisance bacteria/algae for nutrients. The danger is that an overdose of carbon sources will completely throw your bacteria levels out of whack. 

Google "carbon dosing" and read as much as you can. Others have tried using vodka and vitamin-C as well. There are commercially available carbon dosing systems such as Zeovit which work on the same basic concept.


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