Reddish brown algae

There is some reddish brown algae accumulating on and in the sand. It makes the sand kinda chunky too. What kind is it and what causes it?

 

Cyanobacteria, also called Red slime algae or blue-green algae.

Most often caused by decreased oxygenation in the tank, lack of flow, and augmented by a high amount of phosphates/nitrates.

Also spreads like wildfire, only limited by the total amount of nitrates in your tank to feed on.

Try pointing a powerhead in that corner and see if that helps.

 

+1 on phayes comment, that should help a lot with your problem is bacteria more than algae, I am battling it right now!...lol if to much flow will blow the substrate every where
and not enough will cause it to come back. Is a no win situation seems like

 

I battled this and won, at least about 98%. I fixed my levels, Mg, Ca and dKH, and increased flow, also cut back on feedings, seemed to do the trick

 

Plus if you are just setting up your tank it is because of the cycle and it will correct itself as your cycle ends. I will tell you before I knew better and before I had an RO unit I was using tap water and had a huge bloom of it.

 

If you aren't able to get rid of it with water movement try Blue Life Red Slime remover. It will be gone in a day or two.

 

I can safely say it's not due to cycling. I use RO water from Walmart in a jug, it's been working out pretty. It's cheaper for now since I only do a couple of gallons at one time. I suspect it could be both flow and oxygen. I did overfeed for a while and noticed a change in the tank and since cut back. I can easily add an air stone during the day when I am at work... I hate the sound they make. As for the flow, well I am not sure how to go about it yet. I have been thinking about going from my old fluval 2 filter (carbon and sponge) to a protein skimmer but didn't know much about them. Would it create more flow... worried that it will create too much flow for the space.

 

If your not currently using a protein skimmer, I HIGHLY suggest buying one, even if you want to continue use of your fluval filter. The protein skimmer will pull out DOC's before they have a chance to break down into nitrates and feed your cyanobacteria or any algae that may be present in your tank (green hair algae anyone?).

 

maybe for now it did, the spores are still in the water column. other contributing factors are Si, PO4, O2.

 

+1, and I'd probably leave that fluval on there too. I'd doubt you'd have a problem with TOO much flow, specially with low-flow filters and skimmers