Algae ID

[richardiv87]

Have lots of algae and need some help on IDing and what to do about it (i.e. should I try and get rid of it, and if so how, or is it ok to keep?).

1st kind. Brown - looks like pulled cotton (like the stuff you can buy at Halloween that is like spider webs). Grows very fast.

2nd. Green - Long grass-like. Spreads very quickly.

3rd. Red. Growing on the sand, flat, and looks like slime. Not growing quickly.

Any help appreciated.

[skippy2]

1) diatoms. perfectly normal for a new tank.
2) green hair algae. needs to be removed.
3) cyanobacteria. needs to be removed.

[richardiv87]

What's the best thing to remove this algae?

[Max]

1) time and use ro water to remove the silicates it needs to grow
2) depends on what sort of hair algae but, get some snails,craps etc to eat it
3) increase circulation make sure you don't have dead spots.
For all 3 do water changes to help remove excess nutrients from your tank water. Also a lot of it might be your tank breaking in give it time and,water changes.