Huge Hair Algae Problem

[kiLLscaLLion]

Hi, one day out of the blue this dark red / purple hair algae just started growing from the bottom of my tank, and now it's growing on my rocks as well. Anyone have experienced this algae before and know what's causing it? Thanks in advance.

 

[kroman]

that's not hair algae its cyno

 

[InfernoST]

Raging Cyano

 

[Mattl22]

Remove it right away with your hand


Sent from my iPhone using Reefs

 

[kroman]

suck it up best you can, start using "Special Blend" simply means you have allot of nutrients so do the usual thing to bring them down , tons of info on this in this site and many others. Also using Bio pellets will help.

 

[kiLLscaLLion]

Thanks, guys.

 

[TripleT]

How big is the tank? What livestock? What are you feeding, and how much?

What protein skimmer are you running?

Do you have mechanical filtration (sponges, canister, socks, etc.) and how often are you cleaning these?

Have you been keeping up with water changes? How much, how often?

 

[DrHarryLopez]

what are your nitrate and phosphates? how old the the tank?

 

[waynotcars]

I hate that stuff. I saw this product online called reef for life red slime remover. I think that was the name. I read the reviews. 85% said it was awesome and removed it all in 2 days. 15 % said they hated it and it killed their livestock. All had tried it as a last resort. I agree with everything said above. You've got some sort of problem causing it and if you don't find the root cause and address that, you'll never get rid of the stuff. No matter how hard you try. It grows in what seems like hours. I also found that I was running too much light for too long a period and stimulating it to grow even faster.

 

[jadakiss]

i agree

How big is the tank? What livestock? What are you feeding, and how much?

What protein skimmer are you running?

Do you have mechanical filtration (sponges, canister, socks, etc.) and how often are you cleaning these?

Have you been keeping up with water changes? How much, how often?

 

[e.muehlbauer]

Heavy red slime outbreaks seem to be associated with new systems. I certainly had it within my first few months of running my tank.This was maybe 13-14 years ago. I did constant water changes, removed everything I could. This was before I had converted my tank to a reef, so I was only using 2 NO 40wt fluorescents, one of which was actinic. It was also before I knew that filter pads added nitrate. At that time I was running a power filter and a skilter. (Yes, that's bad...but it did skim...was certainly no worse than a sea clone and way better than a prizm.)
When nothing worked, I bit the bullet and used that red slime remover. It's erythromycin powder, an antibiotic. I have to say that it did work....within 3 days the cyano was gone, and its remains cleaned out, never to return. No damage was done to the tank or its inhabitants. Still, it was an act of desperation, one that should not be done except under the most desperate of circumstances..and at that time, I did not know that the product was an antibiotic...found that out soon after.

 

[kroman]

Hre's an up side to red slime, it's one of the oldest life forms on the planet, in fact they are responsible for almost all the oxygen on the planet. It's because of them that all the higher life forms where able to evolve and breather oxygen.
But if you want to use red slime remover it will kill the red slime but also alot of the good bacteria as well and may induce another mini cycle. Red slime is a result not a cause of problem with high nutrients and sometimes lighting like old bulbs. Red slime is also more efficient at using nutrients than macro algae so a fuge wont really help, hece best way to fight it is manual removal then something like special blend that introduced bacteria that will out compete it for nutrients and of course find the source of all the nutrients and controll it.

 

[jerl77]

go with the Special Blend it works wonders just give it some time

 

[NL146]

Hre's an up side to red slime, it's one of the oldest life forms on the planet, in fact they are responsible for almost all the oxygen on the planet. It's because of them that all the higher life forms where able to evolve and breather oxygenQUOTE]
???? Huh???? What's your source on this info?

 

[kroman]

just do a search for cyanabacteria or look here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanobacteria

 

[kiLLscaLLion]

How big is the tank? What livestock? What are you feeding, and how much?

What protein skimmer are you running?

Do you have mechanical filtration (sponges, canister, socks, etc.) and how often are you cleaning these?

Have you been keeping up with water changes? How much, how often?

I have the Red Sea Max 130D, so it's a 34 gallon tank. The skimmer and filtration systems are just what came with the system.

I admit I've been slacking with the water changes since I've been busy. The tank is also fairly new (about 3 months).

I've only been keeping a couple of shrimp, snails, and a banggai cardinalfish in it. This past Saturday I added a six-lined wrasse and two clownfish. Because I've been afraid of overfeeding, I only feed small pieces of frozen myosis shrimp once every 3-4 days.

What is the "Special Blend" everyone is recommending? I've inquired into the red slime remover as well and it sounds like it may be a little toxic to the system. I'll only resort to that if I'm desperate.

 

[InfernoST]

It's bacteria in a bottle that competes with the cyano for the remaining nutrients that cyano needs to survive causing it to die due to lack of nutrients. I've used it, it works very well and didn't harm anything in my tank. If you use it don't expect an overnight miracle, it does take a little time for the bacteria to build up in your system & when it does get to sufficient levels say good by to your Cyano.

 

[jadakiss]

i just wamted to also add u have to do ur part in taking care of ur tank or the special blend wont work.

 

[InfernoST]

i just wamted to also add u have to do ur part in taking care of ur tank or the special blend wont work.

+1

 

[NL146]

just do a search for cyanabacteria or look here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanobacteria

Remember wikipedia is not a very trusted source and even that site says it's only a theory ("is thought to have converted ").