Red Purple Slime Algae

[jjhill]

I have an infestation of what I believe is red slime algae. It is a deep reddish, purple colour and is somewhat stringy. I have a couple times scraped it off the rocks and sand only to have it come back in a day or so.

It is definaltly getting larger and I want to get rid of it as soon as possible. Anyone have any suggestions? I have read that cutting back on my lights might help. I currently run two T5's for about 8-9 hours a day and LED moonlights at night. Would it kill the algae if I were to turn the lights off for 24 hours or so?

If it helps my pH is 8, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 5, I don't have a phosphate kit so I'm not sure what that is. I presume it could be high as I do have some hair algae that I also can't get rid of which has to be feeding on something.

I recently added (yesterday) a lawnmower blenny and a chem charcol bag to take up some of the phosphates and nitrates but it is too soon to see much of a difference.

Any other suggestions on things I can do to clean this tank up?

Thanks