red algae is a problem

[darklight2ooo]

well i have noticed since i have gotten the new power head all the green string algae is gone! Yah! but now i have this ugly red algae in its place. is this stuff bad for my tank?

How do i rid myself of it?

 

[mmkeeper]

Looks like cyano bacteria. It is a mess. Syphon it out. Just like with the string algae, more flow, less food.

 

[darklight2ooo]

is there a way to siphon without a gravel vac?

 

[Krish]

I agree with mmkeeper...Looks like cyno. Is your tank newly setup? If so, all a part of cycling and should disspate with time. I agree with siphoning up what you can and using a gravel vac, is usually the easiest method. Also, be sure to use ro/di water

 

[darklight2ooo]

nope im not in the cyling phaze but yeah ill have to do some more water changes and stuff.

 

[dnjan]

The powerhead got rid of the green slime by altering the environment, not reducing the available nutrients. So the red slime is just taking advantage of the (still) elevated nutrient levels.

Feed less. Skim more. Siphon to physically remove the slime (this removes some of the nutirents bound up in the slime as well).
I siphon slime with a half-inch rigid plastic tube about the depth of my tank, connected to 1/2" ID flexible plastic hose. Get the end of the tube close to the slime, and it should suck it up without removing much sand.

Also, check your alk more often. Alk will sometimes drop due to the nutrients that can fuel slime algae. And when alk drops, many skimmers don't work as well.

 

[apollothesun]

are you running a canister filter? by chance mine broke down, fluval 303 and noticed that my cyno started to dissapate on the sand. go figure, I would constantly change the media inside the canister, carbon and nitrate reducer every two weeks to no change in the cyno. when i removed it from my system, the cyno has slowly gave way.

 

[MnReef]

My red algae trick

When ever I get a red (cyno) outbreak, a good dose of Erythromycin will do the trick. Watch your skimmer though, it will go crazy.

 

[dnjan]

Antibiotics treat a symptom, not a problem, And since they are generally not species-specific, they can kill good things as well as bad. Better in the long term to treat the problem (excess nutrients).

 

[apollothesun]

Antibiotics treat a symptom, not a problem, And since they are generally not species-specific, they can kill good things as well as bad. Better in the long term to treat the problem (excess nutrients).

i agree, i used to use the red slime medicine, but wanted to get to the source. once you find the source it eliminates the slime.