Red Algae help

adamsfour · Dec 30, 2019

I have had a small breakout of red algae for a while. It mostly concentrated on the Rock and I believe in the low flow areas. It doesn’t seem to be getting worse but it’s certainly not going away. I am continuing to remove the pockets as they appear. I would prefer to solve with out using Chemiclean but thinking lately I should just use Chemiclean and be done. What is everyone recommendation. Thanks all for the help

sixty_reefer · Dec 30, 2019

It’s Cyanobacteria, if you end up going the chemical way just don’t forget to increase aeration wile you doing it. The increase in bacteria will reduce the tank of oxygen.

adamsfour · Dec 30, 2019

Thanks. Yes I am aware as I have done it once before

adamsfour · Jan 1, 2020

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Oldreeferman you sent the following. By response is below your comments. Thanks for your repky
How old is the tank?
Does it have a refuge & if so do you have a sizable ball of Cheato in it to absorb excess nutrients or other algae types in it?

Lighting & water flow is all that is probably left unless overfeeding or high bio load is the issue, in most cases it will clear up on its own..... IF the underlying issue is addressed.

I had a pretty bad case of red Cyano in my reef tank for several months that was giving me fits of what to do & adding a sizable pc of Cheato algae stabilized my tank very quickly in just a week or so & i didn't have to resort to chemicals in the end luckly as i really didn't want to add anything that would/may/might effect pods or any slow growth beneficial bacteria or anything else.
The natural way i prefer leaving chemicals as a last resort after all other attempts have been tried first since Cyano is a natural growth that is out competing something else better what is the question usually.:thumbsup:

Tank is 5 years old. Yea there is a refugium with Cheato. But I seem to have to replenish my Cheato every few months which I don’t understand. The bio load is low. It’s 100 gallon tank and only four fish. I agree with not using chemical and hopefully will beat it with good maintenance