Purple Algae Takeover

Hey, I would really like to know why this purple slime algae keeps growing all over my live rocks and sand?

 

Cyanobacteria.

Your nutrients are too high for one or more reasons.

Overfeeding
Using tap water for waterchange
lazy maintainance

 

Ok, I use destilled water for water changes. So, If I lower the feeding amount then the algae will soon die out?

 

No. Siphon (using a siphon or turkey baster) as much out as you can. Lower your feedings. Try running one of these in a small reactor or filter bag in medium flow - GFO (Granular Ferric Oxide), RowaPhos (namebrand GFO), Chemipure Elite, etc.

 

Ok, never tried this before.

 

Be patient, it won't go away fast, but it will go away. This is the best test for proper husbandry in a tank. Stay away from chemicals, since this will not solve the root of your problem, and will be extremely damaging to any reef life you have. As stated earlier, get control of the nutrient problem, and your issue will disappear. You'll see it start turning black in large clumps when you're on the right path.

 

You can also go a day or two with the lights out to get rid of it quicker. You will still need to eliminate the cause though, or it will come back.

 

Thank you everyone, I will try all of these.

 

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.

 

Get on a schedule to do water changes.