Algae

[Criggy]

Cant seem to get rid of this red runny algae on my substrate all of a sudden- any advice?

 

[dallasg]

Looks like cyano, po4 amd no3 readings? Whats the flow like? Any temp swings? If you swish your gravel is there sediment?

 

[Criggy]

Nitrate low, phos undetectable, not much sediment in substrate. Running a RW15 for flow on max flow and 2500lph return pump.

 

[Criggy]

Meant funny..not runny. Haha

 

[Criggy]

Temp fluctuates by most about 0.6 deg

 

[dallasg]

Nitrate low, phos undetectable, not much sediment in substrate. Running a RW15 for flow on max flow and 2500lph return pump.

value of nitrate? when you say not much its still enough for cyano

Temp fluctuates by most about 0.6 deg

not bad at all


if you brush it off how long before it grows back?

 

[459b]

That's not cyano
I've had it before. It only seemed to grow in my sump so id assume its light and flow related

 

[Criggy]

I have quad 55w t5 lighting open to the water cos i modified an odyssey setup and the reflector and bulbs are open to he evap in a closed hood..potential issues?

 

[CameL]

According to Bob Fenner on WWM, it is cyano. or so the discussion thread says. would be excited if it's not

 

[Lord_Blackadder]

Red cottonwool algae. Nasty stuff...spreads like crazy and hard to kill.

 

[Criggy]

Well any ideas on how to take it out??

 

[CameL]

Thanks @Lord_Blackadder, from a little bit of reading it appears that true mexican turbo snails will eat it.

 

[Criggy]

Hmmm- thanks for that. All i could find is plenty water changes?

 

[Ricky W]

Mexocan turbo snails and some foxface eat it as well. Smothers everything if u let it get out of control

 

[Criggy]

Its busy smothering a zoa colony. Strange that its only on the one side of the tank and also only on substrate. Im thinking of just removing substrate that its on..thoughts?

 

[Lord_Blackadder]

Our local Turbo coronatus also eat it, though that doesn't help much since you're in CT.

 

[Criggy]

i hv a couple turbos in my tank but they dont seem to be interested in it? What herbivorous crab options are there? On that note i have minimal cuc as they slowly disappeared. Zero crabs now and about 2 turbos and another snail that eats everything- forgor name now...

 

[Criggy]

So I went away for 2 weeks and what was initially a small problem has become a massive problem.
I have replaced white T5 bulbs, altered flow in tank, gotten 2 mexican turbos and a diamond back goby and have increased water changes. Turbos eating the algae but not as fast as it is growing. I want to manually remove but every time i disturb it it lands up somewhere else in the tank
Nitrates are very low and phos is undetectable-probably being taken up by this nuisance. Im running phosphat stop by ant and matrix in 2 reactors as well as biocubes. I have kh on a doser and manually dose calc and mg. Any help would be really appreciated - im losing this battle

 

[TaahirS]

Damn.
Maybe try a foxface? What size tank is it?

 

[Criggy]

1.2m