red algae?

my tank is 5 months old now. ive got a lot of current. got new red algea growing. its bright red. kinda slimly. is that good or bad?

 

Sounds like you have a case of cyno.

 

If you get a turkey baster or something, can you easily blow it off? If so, its probably red cyanobacteria. Very common. The algae itself isn't usually very bad, but it says that you have a source of phosphate and nitrate in your tank. You want to feed less, create more flow, and get better filtration. You may also want to cut down the number of hours per day that your lights are on.

Now is the time that you want to tell us everything from what type of lighting you are using, how old the bulbs are (if T5), everything you are adding to the tank (including chemicals, type of food, etc), if you are using RO/DI, how often you are doing water changes, and every piece of equipment, etc.

 

We mean -everything-

 

ive got 55g reef tank 4 t5ho[ 2-10.000& 2-blue bulbs] filtration-skimer not a on back[300gph not a protien skimmer] c360 canaster, uv sterilizer. 750gph cirrcalation pump. my bulbs are 2months old. i ckeck my water every week all my levels are good.. very little pros. i feed every day brine shrinp and veg food. i feed my corals 2 week. i do use ro water. do i need a protien skimmer? more current?

 

How old is your tank? Cyano is normal in a new tank.

 

5 months old

 

what do i do?

 

ive got 55g reef tank 4 t5ho[ 2-10.000& 2-blue bulbs] filtration-skimer not a on back[300gph not a protien skimmer]

c360 canaster,

What is the purpose of this filter? I've never heard of it. Are you changing the filters (or performing the proper maintenance for this filter)?


uv sterilizer.
750gph cirrcalation pump.

I have read water flow should be approximately 35x your water volume. So for a 55g, you want 55*35 = 1925 gph of flow. The extra flow will definitely help with the cyano!!


my bulbs are 2months old.

This is good. You want to change them approximately every 9 months. Believe it or not, old bulbs support algae growth better.


i ckeck my water every week all my levels are good..

What test kits are you using?

very little pros. i feed every day brine shrinp and veg food. i feed my corals 2 week.

Feeding less will help.

i do use ro water.

Do you make this water yourself? Is it RO? Or RO/DI? What is the TDS? If you don't know, get a digital TDS meter. It should measure 0. Exactly 0.

do i need a protien skimmer?

Probably.. How many fish do you have? What kind?

more current?

Yes. For sure.

what do i do?

Get rid of nitrates and phosphates. Get good test kits. Don't waste your money on phosphate test kits, they are useless. You can judge your phosphate levels by the amount of algae growing, or even better, you can get a digital tester! You can lower your phosphates by using GFO. You can lower both by getting a skimmer, doing more frequent WC's, and getting more biofiltration (i.e. a refugium with lots of macroalgae, more rock, etc.) More importantly, you can make sure that you are not adding anything to your tank that contains these nutrients. The food will contain some, but that is why you want to cut it back as much as possible.

 

I was getting nailed with this red gange. I kept steady om wwc and after bout 2 months things are getting much better. Nasty stuff. It was even growing on my seahorse. How bad is that.