Red Slime Algae

smoney

Active member
I think I am starting to get red slime algae. I was cleaning my tank and doing a water change, and I found some red in my sand in the back of my tank and some in the front of the tank.

What causes it?

How do I get rid of it?



Thanks alot in advance!
 
Cyanobacteria (the most common red slime algae isn't really algae at all) is caused by excess nutrients (mostly nitrates). It's a symptom of overfeeding or an immature tank. Many people argue that it's caused by too little flow - this contributes to buildup, but is not the root cause. You can often hide the problem by increasing and rearranging flow, but you've still got a nutrient problem that will manifest itself elsewhere.

If your tank is new, just wait - it'll likely go away.

If your tank has been up longer than 4-6 months, then you're probably overfeeding. Try to cut back where appropriate.
 
Yea, cool, I figured it was cyno. I am going to test my nitrates and do a water change today, I have been busy lately so I havent done a water change in a while, thats mostly likely it. The tank has been up for like... wow almost three years i think? NO, I take that back its been two years.

THanks alot jjirsa78 for the info.
 
jjrsa and scottkelly are right on, but Poor flow will contribute to nutrient accumulation because food and detritus are allowed to settle in the display rather than making it into the sump/skimmer/filtration.
Do some WC, and be sure to siphon that stuff out. Hopefully its not Dinoflagelates.
 
Well, The spot in the back of the tank is a very low water flow, and thats where I noticed the red slime starting to form there.
 
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