# Algae Problem



## Tallonebball (Apr 6, 2009)

I have a 34 gallon red sea max that have been up and running for probably about 2 months, the light is on around 10 hours a day, which the saltwater basics says it should be, and all my water parameters are correct. My problem is that my tank is completely overgrown with red algae. I have a lot of water flow in my tank which I thought was supposed to keep red algae from growing, but its even growing on the fan itself! Now I know all tanks go through certain algae stages and mine has already been through the brown algae stage, so im wondering should I clean all the algae off the rocks etc myself? or is this just a stage that will eventually go away itself? any tips?


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

is it slimey?


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## Tallonebball (Apr 6, 2009)

Yes it is!


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Red Slime.
Royal pain.
Grows best where green stuff can't.
Adding magnesium often makes it fade away.
Actually a bacteria, not an algae; a so-called blue-green alga.
Common in new tanks.
Usually either totally takes over or goes away, sometimes both in that order.
Can be chemically nuked, but only as a last resort.


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## Tallonebball (Apr 6, 2009)

Well all I can say is it went crazy for a while and now it seems to have stopped, even tho its still there the growth rate has slowed to almost nothing. I asked a friend who has been doing salt for a while and he says overfeeding is a big reason for its growth as well. If that is the case than im in trouble because I have a carnation, flame scallop, and emperor gargonian to feed. Right now im feeding coral frenzy twice a week and DT's Phyto twice a week as well.


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

do you spot feed them?


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## Tallonebball (Apr 6, 2009)

No there is no spot feeding beyond me feeding the anemone the occasional shrimp. All I do it use a teaspoon to just drop the DT's in and I use a glass mixed with coral frenzy!


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

Try spot feeding with a syringe. It will cut down on the waste.


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## Tallonebball (Apr 6, 2009)

Hmm I might need a little more detail for that, I have some other corals as well like a couple ricordia, a few colonies of zooanthids, some green star polyps, some pineapple coral, some frogspawn, a feather duster, and other easy to keep corals. How do I syringe feed the carnation, gorgonian, and scallop, and feed the other corals without overfeeding? Oh and how do I syringe feed to scallop (he is living in a cave behind my liverock that is very hard to get to but that also has plenty of waterflow through it.


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

Spot feeding with a syringe is easy... add a bit of the food to be fed to the water 10-15 min before hand. Polyps should be extended on the coral by then. Then go up current of the coral and slowly inject some food into the water 1 or 2 inches from the coral. You will use less food doing this.


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## Tallonebball (Apr 6, 2009)

Oh so you mean to spot feed all of my corals then? So you think I should keep on my same feeding schedule but spot feed instead of just pour it in?


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

less waste = less algae.


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## Tallonebball (Apr 6, 2009)

Yeah I get less waste equals less algae but my question was even if I am syringe feeding, if I'm feed on the same schedule with the same amounts then I would assume that the same amount of waste would go in, does syringe feeding cut it down that much even if I use the same amount? And second do I have to scrub all the red algae off or wil it eventually fade away once there isn't enough food? Would magnesium help a lot?


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

the idea is you don't need as much. Manual removal will be needed to get rid of the stuff as it grows its own nutrients under its thick slime layer.


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## Tallonebball (Apr 6, 2009)

Ok cool, I will switch to syringe feeding, unfortunetly the gorgonian died.. but I only had that because my parents decided to get that (and the carnation) without asking me because they were "pretty" lol but I've read they are both very hard to keep and I'm waayy to novice but I guess I'm learning the hard way. lol Let me tell you both how happy I am to have both FF and TOS helping me, thanks a lot guys, I'm sure ill have more questions so bare with me lol


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## jrm402 (Jan 21, 2010)

Do you have above 10 mg/L (ppm) of nitrate in your water? That can cause algae blooms. Algae feeds off of nitrates. Look into building/buying a denitrator, which will grow bacteria inside it to turn nitrates to nitrogen. DIY Coil Denitrator Plans.

The problem with the nitrate to nitrogen process is it requires very little dissolved oxygen in the water, so thats what the denitrator does, removes the oxygen so bacteria can grow.


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