red algae

[steamboatwv]

I was just wondering since it was getting more and more of it on the rocks if red algae is good or bad?? its not over growing anything but seems to be growing better than the green algae is for sure...

[ReefNeck]

It's not "Algae" so to speak. It's actually Cyano Bacteria and is very bad. It will smother out corals and kill them if it gets on them.

This is usually caused by low flow and/or over feeding. How much and how often are you feeding and how long are your lights on?

[ChrisPrusha]

Are you doing regular water changes?

[steamboatwv]

I do regular water changes, was doing them every week till this week i moved up from hob filters to a large jebo canister filter just this past week. if its bad how do i get rid of it... it has been on there a while its not slimy like the pics i have seen of cyanobacteria, it looks exactly like the green only red..as far as feeding goes i only feed the tank twice a day and only half a frozen cube of food. then twice a week i put a cap full of phytoplankton in the tank..my lights = 8am actinics are on, 12pm daylights come on, 8pm daylights go off and 9pm all goes off...

[ChrisPrusha]

The red could be bryopsis, too..which isn't any better than cyano. And the canister filter could very well be spewing nitrates back into your tank, and will continue to do so unless you thoroughly clean it once or twice each day.

<---not a big fan of canister filters.

[ReefNeck]

Originally Posted by steamboatwv

as far as feeding goes i only feed the tank twice a day and only half a frozen cube of food.

There you go.....You are overfeeding.

You should never feed more than once per day and once every other day is even better! I have 5 reef tanks and each one is fed every other day only. Never had a problem.

Another thing is that you need to have a good skimmer to remove the dissolved organics. What skimmer do you have? I hope you don't say Jebo.

[steamboatwv]

i have a good skimmer and i feed twice a day only half a cube, which i am supposed to feed the whole cube for the 7 fish i have, i just split it up into 2 feedings. so i am not overfeeding. it only takes them about 1 minute to eat what i put in the tank, which as long as they can devour what i put in in 3 minutes or less then its not too much...my skimmer and filter are jebo 829 canister filter 300gph
coralife superskimmer 65gal and my water stays crystal clear. there is never any left over food in my tank. the red algae in question is only on the rocks where there was dark red coraline when i bought the rocks. so can the algae take on the color of the coraline its growing on...or was it in fact that what i thought was red coraline when i bought the rocks already had this stuff on it at purchase??

[ReefNeck]

I feed once every other day in all of my reef tanks. I started doing that 6 months ago when I was battling Red Slime. I have not had it come back since and the fish are absolutly fine.

I believe you that your water is clear and all but you are still overfeeding. Not excessively but still some. Cut down to every other day and see the difference it makes.

Also, The skimmer you have is a decent skimmer but not one of the best. It's a lot better than some out there though. I used the Coralife Skimmers before and still am using a 125 model. Great for the money. If money allows I prefer to get a better one but money does not always allow that.

It IS very possible that the rock already had Red Slime when you bought it. If it did, I would be very upset with that LFS.

[steamboatwv]

ok i will try the feeding every other day, but i still dont understand something, everyone keeps saying red slime, but infact its not red slime at all, it looks exactly like the green algae, its fuzzy same hight no slimey look to it at all, the red like i said was on the rocks when i got thembut wasnt soft or slimey and some still is hard plates like the purple coraline, the LFS said it was red coraline so i took him at his word, but i am assuming that there is no such thing as red coraline?? the algae is growing on top of it and is the same color as the red plates i will see if i can take a pic close up of one of the hard red plates without the algae on it and then a close up of some with it on it, but as far as slime goes there is none...will post pics in a short bit..and please dont take it as i dont believe you, i am just trying to learn and understand as i go, for i am new to this and want to learn all i can...just trying to figure out the slime part of it that isnt there...

[steamboatwv]

ok here is a before and after picture of the hard red crust and after the algae started growing on it...but there is no slime of any sorts on anything thats what is confusing me... , that last pic is of the red without the algae on it, it is a hard crust just like the coraline its doesnt scrub off or scrape off without scraping the rock down....

[ReefNeck]

That does not appear to be "Red Slime"! It is a bad algae though and the same feeding advice I gave you should help eliminate it.

[steamboatwv]

ok thanks and one more question about the skimmer is it better to do whats called wet skimming or dry skimming to help with this, and i will definately take your suggestion and try it, how long should it take for it to start diminishing? i just got the canister filter last week so that should help alot with the bad stuff in the water also..

[ReefNeck]

I would skim slightly wet. You should see a difference within 2 weeks max.

Canister filters are mostly frowned upon in SW tanks. Mainly because they are Nitrate factories. They trap all the "Stuff" they clean from the water which creates Nitrates. Not a good thing to have.

[steamboatwv]

wouldnt any filter system catch all the "stuff" they collect from the tank? I thought that was the purpose of a filter system was to collect it outside the tank itself, as long as you keep your filter system clean from it and dont let it build up too long...

[ReefNeck]

With a canister, You need to clean it almost every day to keep it clean.

Most people just rely on Live Rock for biological filtration and a skimmer to remove disolved organics. A Skimmer actually "removes" the stuff from the water column so it can't produce nitrates.