Green algae/ red

[bmallia82]

Guys,

My tank is about 3 months old. I have gone through a lot of changes and my tank is doing well. I have a few fish in there, snails and hermit crabs. However,

I have some green algae buildup on the rocks, and its getting on my glass as well.

I also have some Red algae buding up on the left side of my tank

Any ideas as to why.

My water parameters are all good, except for my nitrates. they are a little high. I have been doing water changes and I just did a 15 gallon water change.

I have a 95 gallon tank.

I use nothing but Ro/DI water. SPectrapure 5 stage.

Help me get rid of this algae, making my tank look ugly.

[bjonesjr1]

If the red algae looks like this:
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/1/116685mini-HPIM0626.JPG

then this is red slime algae... I had a problem with this because of my phosphates were out of control, from OVER feeding. I cut back on my feeding & now target feed actually to make sure that no food is hitting the bottom of the tank. I also used a product called chemi clean from marine depot:

Chemi-Clean (http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=BE1115)

I took only 48 hours to get rid of everything, and now I use phosban to keep my phosphates in check, and I haven't had a problem since the treatment... Just to remeber follow the directions exactly, & everything will go fine

Some other cause of this problem could be that their is not enough flow in your tank, or maybe look into how old the light bulbs are on your tank... They may need to be replaced because they would be giving off the wrong spectrum... :) :) :)

Hope this gave you some insight, get a phosphate test kit if you don't already have one, and see where you are at. If that is not your problem, then it could just be one of those algae phases that new tanks go threw, but IMO their's always a cause for it to happen.

[bjonesjr1]

what kind of filtration is on your tank???

what about water flow???

do you have a skimmer???

[bmallia82]

160lbs of LIve rock and 4 in sand bed

Protein skimmer rated for 400g

I could prob use some more water flow.

The red algae build up is only growing in certain areas of the tank.

[fsa]

It doesn't sound too bad right now. I think I would try siphoning it up some. Your tank is pretty new. Most tanks go through these stages. Mine is. Again, I wouldn't really worry about it.

Frank

[Pete1399]

Mine went through that stage at about 2 months. I siphoned out the red algae and then I got some green algae. I siphoned out the green algae and now I pretty much do not have any 2 weeks later. I also use RO water so as I understand from what I have read in the past most tanks go through an algae "cycle". Since you are using the correct equipment I would not use chemicals or any thing. Make sure to keep up on the water changes once a week.

[Pete1399]

Detritus will gather in low flow areas. These areas will get algae no matter what until you direct some flow that way.

[NCreefwannabe]

ive never seen anything but diatoms since starting my tank. Its been a few months since I started, and Ive never even seen the slightest tint of green. I have 2 seio 620's facing from the middle to the sides. I have 2 low flow areas that I know of, and they still dont grow algae.

So as for flow, im not sure I believe that anymore. Check your phospahtes and work from there.