mike3epanda
Aquarium Advice Freak
I just got back from vaca & found a bunch of red algae all over my rocks... it looks really nasty, and has bubbles all over on top of it... i need help on how to get rid of it...pls help.. ty 
red algae.... need help
- Thread starter mike3epanda
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Sounds like Cyanobacteria, which blooms when high concentrations of organic nutrients are uncontrolled. Water changes (can be siphoned off surfaces), increased flow/oxygenation, mechanical/chemical filtration, and macroalgaes can help recess the nutrient load.
mike3epanda
Aquarium Advice Freak
so put the oxygen pump and PWC?... is there any chemicals i should get to prevent this in the future after this problem and to fix it right now?
No need for an oxygen pump, but rather added water flow/oxygenation through powerheads if available. If not, water changes will curb the problem in time. I would only use filter socks, pads/floss, carbon, and/or purigen as most chemicals treat the symptom and not the root.
mike3epanda
Aquarium Advice Freak
so i just need to get more powerhads and it'll go away.. or do i have to actually get it out of the tank?
mike3epanda
Aquarium Advice Freak
ok.. I'll mix up about 5 gal of SW today and put it in tommorow... yea I just got rid of my powerheads and im now using the one somebody gave me because my old ones needed 220v of power and so I went from about 600gph to 225... I put in the oxygen pump... hope it helps at least a lil....
mike3epanda
Aquarium Advice Freak
thanksmelosu58 said:
Kurt_Nelson
Aquarium Advice Addict
If you dumped a huge load of food in your tank before you left on vacation, you found your source of nutrients for the cyano. You're going to have to manually suck it out and do water changes to get your nutrient levels down. And most likely it'll be back really quick. Just keep on it and you'll shake it.
mike3epanda
Aquarium Advice Freak
ok... well I actually didnt... i had somebody feed it for me while I was gone.... it wasnt overfed... but yea I just rubbed the red algae off the rocks so its everywhere now and I didnt really take it out... did I just make it worse?.. is it gonna spread all over now?..
ezy33
Aquarium Advice Addict
There is a chemical you san use to kill the CYNO it's a temporary fix. But it will help you control this outbreak. Ask your LFS.
pinkie
Aquarium Advice Activist
ChemiClean works really well to clean up your cyano in about a week. After you get rid of it, it may come back as red slime algae which means you are having a problem with phosphates and you will need to get rid of your phosphate problem. One of the more common sources of phosphates is using a cheap brand of GAC. Black Diamond is a good brand as is Seachem to use as your GAC. They have extremely low phosphate leaks. To eliminate your current phosphates there are various products you can get, some being filter pads, others being filter media.
Water changes will definitely help but it's like if you had a pool with a sewer pipe leaking sewage into your pool. You can do water changes to help decrease the sewage but what you really need to do is shut off the sewer pipe. Same thing with treatments. You can dump chemicals in to get rid of it but it's going to keep coming back until you find the source. Even though it is technically not an algae, you cure it in similar ways. Reduce excess food, reduce lighting, and in the case of cyano get rid of the phosphates in your tank.
The water flow from powerheads helps keep the cyano from being visible, but only by keeping it from settling. It doesn't actually remove it from your tank.
Water changes will definitely help but it's like if you had a pool with a sewer pipe leaking sewage into your pool. You can do water changes to help decrease the sewage but what you really need to do is shut off the sewer pipe. Same thing with treatments. You can dump chemicals in to get rid of it but it's going to keep coming back until you find the source. Even though it is technically not an algae, you cure it in similar ways. Reduce excess food, reduce lighting, and in the case of cyano get rid of the phosphates in your tank.
The water flow from powerheads helps keep the cyano from being visible, but only by keeping it from settling. It doesn't actually remove it from your tank.
pinkie
Aquarium Advice Activist
Yes I do agree you should be careful with chemicals. I don't even use the recommended dosage on most... usually start at 50% recommended dose then add to it only if needed. I've found that with this product in particular 50% of the recommended dose does a good job if the dose is repeated 3-4 weeks later before the cyano fully returns.
