Slime/Hair algae-need help

[tazdevil]

My 75 gal is getting full of both slime and hair algae, cant find source. ammon/nitrtie at 0, nitrate was at 1, phosphate was 1.2, ph 8.0-8.2, temp 78f, calcium 425, skimmer skimming well (green/brown liquid in it), 13 dwrf hermits, 2neon gobies, 2yellowtail damsels, 90lbs live rock with some small featherdusters here/there, also some small anemones that dont look like aiptasia, one is almost black in color, and much smaller than typ. aiptasia. 10% water with r/o/di changes every week. Ideas??????

 

[davelin315]

Your phosphates are the reason. 1.2 ppm is very high, and I would recommend boosting your calcium levels to help precipitate out phosphates and also addinga phosphate remover for a few days and then replacing it again until you've gotten them down to being undetectable. This should solve your hair algae problem with the aid of all your grazers. As far as the slime algae, manual removal is what I would suggest, followed by replacing your bulbs if they are old, and then take a chance and use a slime algae treatment (some type of antibiotic such as erythromycin, or I used a commercial slime algae product).

By the way, aiptasia have no effect on hair algae or slime algae, and a small black anemone that looks like aiptasia probably is. Don't forget that they start out very tiny and grow, and the smaller it is, the darker it is likely to appear.