# red hair algae



## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

has anyone ever had any red hair algae in there tanks , as i am looking at my tank more and more i see little tufts of red algae looks stringy and matted my camera takes crappy pics i can try to take some pics .its almost a purple color should i take the rocks out and scrub them.the only reason i did not scrub them when i moved my rocks was there are some leathers and such attached to the rocks so i just put it in the tank any ideas would be great .
thanks 
tom


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## thmh (Mar 17, 2011)

What's your n03 and p04 level? It could also be that your running your lights for to long or having to little flow in your tank


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## wtac (Mar 17, 2006)

You have a type of "red turf algae". Mexican Turbo Snails and longspine urchins should do the trick.

HTH


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## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

*algae*

hey there i will chk my water quality tonite or in am , but i am sure it prob started from lack of frequent water changes and lights on too long ,this is why i moved my set up from basement to up stairs so tank could be enjoyed .my results will not matter right now as the tanks is basically a new set up i am trying to raise my salinity so doing frequent water changes.


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## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

*algae*

just a side note i am scrubbing with a wire brush and yes using the propane torch for the rest ,wife is wondering what that stench is ,not sure if this is the right way but it was peeving me off .i understand and know i will have to deal with the "why " issue .
why am i doing this at midnite ...lol
will prob get a mexican turbo snail tommorow to see if i can keep it at bay.
cheers

yup.......... wife is officially pissed lol


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## thmh (Mar 17, 2011)

You should always try to find the problem and solve it, in my experience stalling will lead to other problem.


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## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

*red algae*

totally agree with u on that ,im not giving up on trying to find the fault .just could not bear the site of it last nite thats all .


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## J_T (Mar 25, 2011)

You dont need more than one turbo in there. I had 4 in my 155, and one died. Any more than three, and some starve to death. They are machines! And they move faster than you would expect a snail to move.

Posted with my Xperia, using Tapatalk 2


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## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

*results*

no3= 5.0 ppm to 0 in between both 
po4= .25

keep in mind this tank was moved this week .have been doing water changes dailey.and have been mucking around with rocks and stuff .


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## thmh (Mar 17, 2011)

Your p04 is really high, and let the tank settle down and then find out out what's causing the high p04.


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## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

*p04*

i did do a lot of moving and such in the tank , what are causes of the p04 being high and what should the level be at .what is the rec level


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## thmh (Mar 17, 2011)

Over feeding, having lights on for more then 10hrs a day, not skimming, to much live stock and last but not least not enough water change. A good level of p04 for my tank is. 03-. 05 but I run an sps dominated tank.


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## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

i do believe that i did have lights on for more then 10 hours 
and water changes were not done on a schedule ,i will keep on chking my phospates ,and see if i can get the numbers to .05 ppm and will go from there .thanks for your help hopefully i can keep the red algae from growing back .


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## thmh (Mar 17, 2011)

Do you use coral snow? It's a good practice to do before water change is blasting your rocks and sand, drop coral snow in and wet skim so you can get all the dirt and algae out before adding the new water in.


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## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

*alage*

no i dont use coral snow ?? what is it ,is it a form of food,will look it up ,i have not used power head before to blast rocks .


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## 50seven (Feb 14, 2010)

Your phosphate should be close to 0. Mine is. The spike will probably be mostly from disturbing the sand bed, seeing as you just moved the tank. Aragonite sand will slowly over time absorb phosphates, especially if the tank itself and its filtration doesn't export 100% of the phosphates on its own. So when the sand bed gets disturbed, often the sand will release some of it into the water. 

The cheapest and easiest fix is to grab some phosban media and put it in a nylon sock and drop it into a place in your filter that has good flow. 

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

*algae*

hey kevin thanks , i agree my tank has had a hell of a week ,just gonna let it settle down and keep an eye on my numbers i may just pick up the phosban media today to help get it down.
thanks again guys for the speedy responses.
cheers


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## 50seven (Feb 14, 2010)

You can do a 5-10% water change every day, but be careful. Sometimes people get too aggressive with WC's but don't make sure that the new water is properly pre-mixed and the right temperature.

Stability is most important in a reef, so coming to your desired parameters slowly and gradually is better than trying to fix it instantly. Less risk that way too. 

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## thmh (Mar 17, 2011)

You don't have to use a power head I sometime in get lazy and use a baster.
Also if your going to use phosban or gfo try to add small amount of at a time or else running the risk of stripping all your nutrients.


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## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

*algae*

I think what I will do is just continue with min water changes
Till my tank settles down before I start dosing and adding
Stuff. I know I had an issue before my goal is to keep it away
So I work on my housekeeping of my tank and tackle the problem 
As it rises...
Cheers 
Tom


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## thmh (Mar 17, 2011)

Sounds good! Good luck and hope everything works out for you.


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