A picture would be nice. There are a couple of possibilities.

Here's one:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-12/nftt/index.htm

Or does it look like this?

http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/macna15/sp_redalgae.jpg

Marc


Phil O'Connor wrote:

Cap,

Thanks for the input. My biggest frustration is just wanting to know what the
h the stuff is. I thought it was slime (which does exist) but I've been told
here beyond any doubt the slime will not adhere to the substrate under current.
Whereas this stuff clearly hangs on with the current blowing right on it. And
it is fuzzy. But I have 2 problems, the red slime, and then more recently an
orange fuzz/slime that people here have deemed dinoflaggelates. Actually, the
red seems to be subsiding, but the orange happily marches on.

As for the issues you bring up:

I have a 46 bowfront FOWLR. I run an aqua C Remora which should be
sufficient.

I have an Emperor filter (i forget the model number, its the double) which is
rated for that size tank.

Live rock, I dont have much. Certainly not enough for filtration, just some for
shelter, decoration, and food source. probably only 15lbs.

Crushed coral substrate.

My humu trigger eats all my snails and crabs, so no janitorial crew to speak
of. Some have survived (dunno why), but I've stopped replacing them, as the
trigger starts snacking the minute I put new ones in. Perhaps this is the area
I need to rethink.

I stay on top of the lamps, those are fresh and current. (Coralife 10000K)

My RO filter may be lacking. I have my own unit. I always figured it was fine
since my 7 gal nano reef uses the same water source but has had none of these
problems. But just recently, I see some green hair and diatoms in the nano reef
for the first time ever (2 year old). So I just replaced my membrane and
prefilters. Perhaps the other tank was symptomatic earlier for some reason, but
same cause. Just starting to work in the new water now....too early to tell.

I have 3 powerheads, 2 of them down near the substrate. No dead spots at all.
very strong current.

Feeding: I normally feed some Formula One pellets (actually the orange slime
appeared right around the time I switched to this food source), for the tang
and damsels, plus some sundried baby shrimp for the trigger. once a day. Then
some seaweed (nori) later in the day. Occaisionally, I'll feed frozen
(sal****er multipak) for variety, and some fresh squid for the trigger. so
once a day some food, and once a day some nori. they seem to consume it all.
Generally a pellet or two will hit the ground and be forgotten, with no
janitors, but shouldnt my filtration be able to handle that?

There is nothing eating my algae to my knowledge. My naso tang will nibble it
from the glass on occaision, but certainly not as regular practice.

Again, thanks for the help, and if anything here is setting a red light off,
let me know.
Phil

CapFusion wrote:



Every tank will have Red [and other color] algae. I have some very small
spot but will be gone eventually. I welcome red and other color algae to be
growth so it can be feed to my shrimps and tangs and clown. But in your case
is different since you probably have an abunden of them. My guess is your
have alot of nutrient in your water which feed your algae. These nutrient
can be from the food you feed to your fish. Double check how you feed your
fish and what food you feed them. Some food will leak extra nutrient to the
water instead of consume by your fish. The other thing will encourage your
algae growth is the light spectrum. Good lamp will not promote since within
the spectrim range. How long have you use that lamp? Next is to look what
type of filter you are using or effecient enough. In marine tank, you will
be looking at Live Rock / Live Sand / Protein Skimmer / janitoral crew
[shrimp/snail etc]. Protein Skimmer is very important since it will gather
and filter out any floating nutrient / floating particale from the water
circulation. Anything that is heavy, will sink down to the bottom [sand] or
to the Rock and will consume by those janitoral crew. And if those food is
miss, it will decay and release nutrient. Bacteria from the sand and Protein
Skimmer will finish that off.

Check if you overfeed.
Or the food you put in.
Check your lamp and how long it been use.
Check your PS is working properly.
Check your cleanup crew [janitoral] is there or enough.
Check your sand if it trap debris. If it does, it maybe decaying some meat
or food.

Check if anything is eating your algae. If it can not consume enough to be
incheck, you will need to manually remove it yourself by sipon or suck it
out. Not recommend just simply pull it or cut it since you going to release
nutrient during that process.

Whatever color algae you have, the general requirement for it to grow is the
basically the same.
http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/abo...aa043099_2.htm
http://www.melevsreef.com/gha.html

CapFusion,...

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