red algae

[tim]

hi
i am having a problem with my tank .a few months ago i had a brown algal bloom that lasted for about 1month now i have a red algal bloom can anyone advise me how i can stop this i seem to have one problem after another .
thanks
tim

[Macca]

Could we posssibly get a picture to see if it is dinoflagellates. It would also be beneficail if you could supply whether your tank has high nutrients and Light periods. So can you let us know your phosphate and nitrate readings as well as how often your lights are on.

James

PS A simple run down of your system will also help.

[moorish]

a friend of mine had similar trouble with the red when he put some new t5 in.within days of doing this his tank was covered in it.he tried to syphon it out but it just came back.so he put his old tubes back in and most of the red vanished except for a couple of small pieces.his nitrate was quite low and his phosphate similar.he has now started doing water changes every week and is going to try and swop the tubes back over.derek

[Kev]

Hi Tim, and welcome to the forum.

What maintenance regime do you do? Water changes etc. How old is the system?

Piccies will be appreciated mate.:D

[MR Teee]

There is more chance of it being cyano as ooposed to dino's, As dino's tend to be quite a rare ocurance and often mistaken for other algaes.

Is it producing bubbles?
Dos it look like long strings of snot?

Another factor would be how much flow you hav in your tank, so info on that would also be usefull.

[Blue]

Best thing to do is to syphon it out every time you do a water change, cyanobacteria is a real pain , but every tank will go through it at some stage.
It feeds on excess nutrients in the tank,so, make sure you are not overfeeding. Also keep on top of nitrate and phosphate. Use R.O. water. Use carbon to keep organics down. This algae also grows by feeding on itself - as it dies, new growth feeds on the dead layer and apparently this is how it can spread throughout a tank, which is why some people say"but I haven't fed the fish for days and it's still growing". This is why you must keep on top of syphoning it out, even if it means a bit each day. Eventually it disappears, although, sometimes not completely, after about 4-6 weeks. :)