# How to get rid of red algae?



## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

Hey peeps,

I was wondering how to get rid of red algae. I've got some covering my rocks sand and glass. I believe it is caused by overfeeding but I could stand corrected with this. It's easy to brush off with the wave off the hand, but how do I prevent it from occuring?

I'm currently feeding mysis, which is a little messy for my clowns and cleaner wrasse.

29g biocube, 0-0-0 ammonia, nitrites, nitrates. Lighting is about 8-10 hours a day.

Cheers,
Chris


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## beaux (Jan 18, 2011)

May be red slime check for ammonia and nitrates to see i think. I suck out some of it using air line to syphon it out every water change. Am having similar problems now. No amonia but nitrates r re occuring within a week of water change. Check my alge post an look at my pics we will see if we can figger this out!


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

I've got zero nitrates right now so I'm not sure if that's it or not. I'll try to take a pic with my phone.


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)




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## beaux (Jan 18, 2011)

Is it like the fly away kind? Comes off if ya swish water close to it? If so i think thats red slime, i only been at this about 3 years now and for a reef keeper im still new at this lol. A sand sifting star keeps my sand free of everything though so there hasnt been anything there in mine since i had him, about a yr n a half now. I used some stuff called anti red awhile back to kill off some of that fly away alge but it said to suck out all ya could before ya even used it. The red stuff i got now is like velvet and thick, so im not sure if it will work and i try to use chemicals as a last resort..lol. that stuff took a couple o treatments if i remember right. Anyways keep me posted and mabe we figure out both of em! t


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

Thanks Beaux


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## tang daddy (Apr 21, 2010)

Hey Chris, the algae you are referring to is called cyano bacteria, it is driven by nitrates phosphates and ammonia, it occurs when there is lots of uneaten food and once established it is very hard to remove. It is a light driven bacteria aswell and seems to be more active when the lights are on, more flow in the tank will help but it won't get rid of the problem.

A few suggestions, up the water changes to 50% weekly, try to suck put as much as you can when doing WC. If the problem persists get medication, there is stuff called red slime remover that works really well in killing the bacteria based algae, make sure to do a 50% WC after 24hrs of dosing and 30% the day after. Try to alternate feeding like once every 2 days or even 3 days....

Hope this helps!


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

I haven't tested phosphates, but that'll be the issue for sure.

Thanks for the info Chris.

Cheers,
Chris


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