Bright Red algae in my BB reef

I had this stuff and a combination of things worked for me. In the real thick areas that the snails wouldn't touch I killed it by squirting it with really hot water from a syringe. Mexican Turbo's took care of the rest.
 
There is a lot of confusion in this thread about what red turf algae is. moonpies4misfit's description is accurate. Chem Marin's "Stop Aiptasia" will kill it. Turn off the flow and saturate it with a syringe. Wait 15 minutes and suction most of it out with a turkey baster. The algae will turn bright red almost immediately, then turn white and after a week or so flake off.

Urchins, fish and snails will do little or nothing to control it if it really is red turf algae..
 
Hi
I have the same stuff.It started in my previous tank that i break down to try to get rid off it.
I had all my rock in pure bleach for five weeks,and all the rock was tuned white.
I washed and scrubbed it and thought it was clean.
All the rock stayed out of water for more then five weeks,when i was constructing my layout mounted pieces of rock.
After putting the rocks in the new display it started all over again,and took hold of all my rocks once more.
It's strange how none of the products makers never came with an answer to this terrible issue.
I+ ll subscribe to this thread,and hope it will be kept alive until we can get an answer on the the practical way to eradicate this madness.
 
Just read this thread (all of it, yes !)
same situation here... began on a tiny spot then took over about every rocks (and shells) mostly those with high flow and light...
0 nitrates, gfo running and sps growing fine....
nothing seems to beat it... turbos may be munching a little bit on it...
only drawback for me is that it traps sediments and then cyano grows on some spots...

here is a five months growth of the algae (and acro !)

Capturedcran2011-05-28173210.jpg


Capturedcran2011-05-28173238.jpg


do someone happen to have a scientific name for this algae (beside red turf algae) ?
 
good old hot water treatment

good old hot water treatment

I have a similar algae in my tank. It is red/maroon color and is very coarse and threadlike. It is not slimy. I used a method I have used with other tank problems like unwanted hitchhikers. Grab a syringe from the drugstore. You can get one of the bigger ones without the needle. You may have to ask for it at the pharmacy counter. Then, put some RO water in a coffee cup and heat it up in the microwave until it boils. Take your syringe and suck up some of the hot water. Use this to blast the algae. Be careful that you do not zap any surrounding coral, fish, etc. When I did this, the algae immediately turned a burnt orange color. Over the period of a week, it has turned completely white and appears to be completely dead. It may take several treatments, but this should do the trick, especially if you get on it well before the algae spreads too much. You can also use this method to blast other types of bad algae. I also used it to take out a Mantis shrimp that was hiding in a hole in one of my live rocks.
 
Bringing back this thread!!

I have a huge outbreak...esp cause I have a TON of rock...and haven't filled out with corals yet...

For sheets and wiggles...I put some Joe's Juice on a patch and it instantly killed it and it literally disappeared.
Might be a expensive solution...but really is effective!!
 
Yes please do. I'm fighting the red death also. Last month I even installed an algae turf scrubber on my system to see if I couldn't get the red algae to grow on the scrubber. So far it seems to b helping a little. It stopped growing on the glass bottom and and has even receded a little. I hope time will tell.
But I do have a question to anyone that is fighting this red turf algae(RTA).
Are u running a calcium reactor? Also what type of media are u running in it?
I'm just asking cause I'm thinking back to when I started to get the RTA was a few months after I changes from using ARM media to using a large bag of crushed coral and was just wondering if the RTA likes an eliminate that is in the crush coral. Just over the weekend I went back to ARM I hopping that helps too.
 
I had this in my tank many years ago, what I did is take my kalkwasser water and blasted it with a syringe every day. It took a few weeks (only a 45 gallon cube) but it would turn pink and softer, then white. With me doing my part and what I was told were indo-pacific turbo snails doing theirs it was gone and never came back the rest of the time I had the tank set up. HTH
 
Bright Red algae in my BB reef

Well the ATS seems to be helping me fight the red death. The BB has only a few spots let of the red algae. The rock still has a lot but it does seem a little thinner in spots where the tangs eat on it.
I cleaned the ATS today and the red turf algae was thick on the screen.
Here's a few pics of the algae I scrapped of the screen
f0bb2ba0d91f84e044dd0942d3de0aba.jpg

2de96ab5de043fde6a21c81b71a2017b.jpg

I'm hopping that an ATS is a natural way the battle the red turf algae.
Here's a pic of the scrubber a few days ago
1fea39c166903c14d81940f0d894b0b8.jpg
 
I read this hole thread, and it seems that this red algae is unbeatable.
Its taking over my tank slowly. Growing between my zoas. I have a fox face, this week I bought a sea hare, sea urchin, I have two turbo snails and nothing resolves the problem
I wonder if anyone here ever beat this thing. Im getting tired of seeing this algae taking over.
 
I went to a lfs and got 7 Mexican Turbo snails, 30 Blue legs, and 2 ruby emerald crabs.
Im hoping this will work... If it works I will double everything I bought it. I want to be free of this red algae.
 
Bump. Have anyone thought about the fresh water mollie fishes? I heard they do an awesome job with algae. I might try them.
 
Yesterday by mistake I had some aptasiaX on some of the red algae. It burned the algae. Im going to try to kill this way. Hopefully this will be a way to kill it. I already tried all types of CUC with no success.
 
Anybody got an update on what might kill this stuff? Lots of the dark red tuft algae that often has bubbles that the tops of the stalks. Very tough, almost like short bristly hairs. Looks a lot like the earlier pictures in this thread.

Mickey
 
Back
Top