Grren hair n Red slime

I have a bush of Green hair algae growing in my tank its about 4 inch tall and 3 inch thick. Is this bad for my tank? I have some sort of dark red (maybe even purple) algae staring to cover parts of my tank and a bright red algae growing on my sand. What should i do? My levels are good and i dont overfeed. Not even sure how these things are living in my tank with how good my levels are. Any suggestions would be much appreciated?

 

are you using ro/di water? you should do a massive water change while sucking out that cyanobacteria(red slime). look up the exactly name of your green algea. it may be a benefical algea to have in the right case.

 

There is obviously some sort of nutrient problem going on in the tank. Nirtares and/or phosphates are probably elevated. How old is the tank? This is normal in new tanks but a bad sign in older ones. Maybe visit a local fish place and ask them to test a sample of your water for nitrates and phosphates, then we'll get a better idea of how to help you.

Good luck with the tank.

 

Algae problems are usually caused by aquarium water with excess nutrients like phosphate, nitrates etc. You can try and siphon out what you can to remove the algae in the short term. In the long term you may have to examine how you care for your tank. There are some commercial dry foods also contain excess nutrients and other undesirable things like nitrates, phosphates etc so I strain/rinse my fresh/frozen foods before feeding my tank. You may want to consider feeding your fish less often. Also using RO/DI water and a high quality salt with little if any NO3, phosphates etc like Tropic Marin will really help too. Adding a phosphate remover and increasing flow in your tank may help too.

 

Well my first question is do you have a sump? Macro In there really helps with hair algae " probably the long green stuff your describing". One major thing many reefers don't realize is detritus sits allllll over your tank so Bout every two weeks I grab one of my power heads and Blast my rocks and caves. You would be duprised how much gunk comes out. As far as cyano what type of lights are you using and how old are your bulbs. The easist way to kill cyano is to shut your lights off for a day or two " and yes your corals will be fine as long as they have flow" didn't mean to write a book here but these are the things that have helped me. And on the hair algae note don't be afraid to snag rocks out of your tank and scrub them off or pull it off it won't disapear on it's own lol.
Hope it helps

 

Green hair and red slime are normal for new tanks. How old is your tank?

 

it was my qt tank and has been up for a year but my daughter and a 3 months worth of food convinced me to move everything to my qt tank till my dt is good to go. Bulbs are new light is only 3 months old. its a 30 inch coralife with 10000k daylight and anetic