Red algie on the bottom of the tank, what do I do??

[dantj99]

Hey everyone. Well, got a growth of red algae growing on my sand bed. So, what does this mean? I bought a new power head to stir up the bottom of tank a little. Do I need to add an additive. My pH, ammonia, nitrate and nitrite are all at good levels. Just did a water change a week ago. Got lights on for 11 hrs. Temp is about 78.7, 2 power heads (On upper part other lower part), and an aquaclear filter. Got a little read algae on one or two pieces of rock, but not a lot.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[The_Chad]

What kind of water are you using? RO/DI ? or treated tap? A quick and easy way to get rid of it is Chemi-Clean, follow the directions to the letter because it is powerful stuff. But this will only be the quick fix to the algae in the tank now, it wont fix it coming back. If you are using tap water I highly recommend RO/DI.

 

[dantj99]

Well, I started the tank with some tap, and some filtered water from the Culigan water dispenser from Walmart. This last water change I did I got salt water from The Coral Reef. I bought the pre-mixed water this time to make it quick. The algae had already started before I did the water change. I thought it was because I did not have good water flow lower to the tank. It is still growing though.

Dan

 

[macclellan]

Part of the algae cycle in a new tank. I'd just keep the normal maintenance schedule and do nothing.

 

[DevinWolfe]

I agree with Mac, it won't do harm its just unsightly. I used Chemi-Clean on my nano a few times and it just kept coming back. Let the tank fully cycle/stabilize and the problem will likely correct itself. If not you can add long term chemical additives later, like Purigen and Chem-Pure Elite. These will chemically remove phosphates and other undesired parameters.

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk

 

[Knox_Legend]

I have had this problem and just as Mac said just leave it alone with a fairly new tank and it usually balances itself out. The hardest thing for me as a pretty new reefer is to just leave stuff alone most of the time. Whenever I see one little thing I worry and most of the time it clears up or goes away. I use RO/DI and saltwater from the LFS as I don't have a RO/DI unit yet and I haven't a problem yet. Although sometimes I am curious about the LFS TDS of their water