red algae

[coolreeferchick]

I recently have had trouble with red algae on my sand. I've used phosphate remover and siphoned out algae but continues to be a problem. Curious to know if maracyn will kill it off or just kill all my coral! PLEASE HELP!!!!!

[bertoni]

[welcome]

Assuming this is a slimy film, Maracyn likelywill kill it, but the effect is temporary, in most cases. It can also crash the tank. If you decide to dose it, I'd recommend siphoning out as much of the film as possible just before treating.

Has this tank been running six months? If so, the problem is likely overfeeding or lack of nutrient export. Can you tell us more about the setup? How much live rock, what fish, etc?

[coolreeferchick]

It's a 29 bio cube, i have about 50 lbs of live rock, ricordia, star polyps, unhappy zenia, mushroms, starfish, snails, hermit crabs, algae blenny that is wasting away, and 2 clowns

[bertoni]

Sorry to hear about the blenny.

I would guess the issue is too much food going into the tank, but poor water circulation can be a factor as well. I try to have at least 300 gph total flow in my 29g tanksm, and I have a lot less rock, so getting flow throughout the system might be easier.

How much food is being fed per day, and what type?

[coolreeferchick]

Tiny pinch of Sera Tropical flakes for clowns daily, and shrimp pellets for starfish and hermit crabs twice a week

[bertoni]

Sorry, I accidentally deleted the e-mail for this thread, and had to do a search to find it.

Well, that sounds like a reasonable amount of food. How much flow is present in the tank? Low flow is often said to cause filtration issues, although I'm less sure about that.

If you don't mind the looks of Chaetomorpha, you could try growing some of that in the tank and using it to out-compete the red film. Chaetomorpha doesn't attach to rock, so it's reasonably easy to remove when necessary.

[coolreeferchick]

I've got a maxi jet 300 plus the wet/dry output. I also tested the phosphates and that's at zero so I'm assuming that it's some kind of bacteria. I"ll try some of that chaetomorpha though. Thanks for all your advice Jonathan, It's greatly appreciated!

[bertoni]

I have two MJ-900s in my 29g. I think more flow might help as well.

Good luck!