Need help with Algae

[b1ink]

Hi everyone,

ok so this may just be the worrisome clean freak in me... but i'm starting to wonder if this brown reddish algae is a problem. it seems to grow very quickly and i am always cleaning my front 3 glass sides.

My LFS said not to clean the back glass side and to just let it grow up with algae as it is beneficial to the tank and allows for the fish to graze on it. But this stuff just gets on everything! ive added a few pictures so you can see what im talking about... it is kind of hard to see in my pictures because of the lighting but take my word for it ... this stuff is like brown with a hint of red. I have the fake purple live rock so in the one picture it may be hard to tell its true color.

I would appreciate any feedback. Let me know if this is something i need to worry about or if i need to start doing something different or if this is normal and keep doing what im doing.

FYI - my nitrates are fine and so are the rest of my levels. I also use RODI water.

Thanks

 

[MeghanisradxD]

How new is the tank?
Do you use RODI water or conditioned tap water?

 

[Dkuhlmann]

I've never had one with an algae bloom during cycling before. Are you using conditioned tap water or RODI?

 

[b1ink]

tank is almost a year old. and yes i use RODI

 

[outy]

Looks like coralline. Sign of a good tank with decent water.

yes clean it off the front and sides. to much of a pain on the back glass



If it blows off with turkey baster and like gel, then its cyano, and this is not a good sign.


Hard and crunchy = good

Soft = bad

 

[Quiet_Ivy]

Hm I don't like the look of that stuff on the back glass at all. Does it peel off easily and come off in sheets? It could be cyano that's collected a lot of crud, or dinos. Let's hope it's not the latter. Is your phosphate low? What's 'fine' for nitrates?

ivy