Help! I Still have Algae

[beanhead]

So my 10 gallon tank is 55 days old and went thru the initial diatom bloom and then got green hair algae. I have been doing a weekly 1 gallon water change since the tank finished cycling and use ro/di water from the lfs mixed with IO reef crystals. I scrub my LR with a tooth brush in the bucket of old water to remove the hair algae weekly when doing the water changes. It just keeps coming back and now im also getting red slime algae too and i cant figure out why... I'm running a 100ml bag of purigen and a 100ml bag CPE in the HOB and only feeding small amounts frozen food every other day. All of my water parameters test out fine and the tank is on a 10 hour light cycle. (1st and last hour atinic only) Let me know what i should do!!! i was thinking of ordering a TDS meter but the LFS tells me there water is good. I can't figure out the cause please help.

[nibor]

Buy the TDS meter. Take control of the quality of water going into your tank.

 

Can you post a detailed stocking list?

What are your water parameters and what test kits are you using?

[saltwatercoral]

Buy the TDS meter. Take control of the quality of water going into your tank.

 

Can you post a detailed stocking list?

What are your water parameters and what test kits are you using?

+1 Need to know the water parameters

[beanhead]

PH 8.0

salinity 1.025

ammonia 0

nitrites 0

nitrates 0-5ppm

phosphate 0 ( I dont believe it )

calcium 450

kh 10

temp 80

 

API test kit

 

stock list:

1" mis bar percula

1.5" YWG

1.5" Pistol shrimp

5 nerite, 25 dwarf cerith, and 5 nassarius snails

small colony of zoa's

teal mushroom

lavendar clove

small polyping toadstoal

small frogspawn

 

 

 

should i maybe be doing a larger water change or maybe more frequent? I figured i was good because a 1 gallon water change is about 15% weekly after you account for water displayed by the LR and substrate.

[nibor]

You are right not to believe the API phosphate test, it is useless for reef aquariums.

 

You have a decent number of algae eating snails and are not excessively stocked. Focus on the water you are using for top off and making salt water IMO. Bigger water changes won't help if the source water is the problem. You need to eliminate it as a potential culprit.

[mpg732]

What phosphate test kit are you using. You need a low level test kit, like the one by Redsea. Your basic test kit will show zero once you get down below 1 ppm. You realy are aiming to get it below .04 PPM. You know you have phosphate because you still have algae. Also, you may need to increase circulation. Most of the slime algae will grow in low flow areas. A TDS meter will help but it will not tell you every thing about how well your RO/DI unit is working. Once you get the low level test kit test both the source water and the out put water from the RO/DI. Hopefully it will be below .02PPM.

[Kid03]

IMO

 

Find the source of the issues and:

 

Buy ---> RO/DI filter + TDS meter + Salt + Power Head+ Test kit.

Test---> TDS going into rodi filter and coming out of filter +Tank.

Do----> Make & Mix your own salty water + Always ask questions.

Add--> Flow to your tank 20x turnover.

 

If you find any extra sources of issues Remove it.

 

Problem Solved!

[beanhead]

Thanks for the replies, I will definately get a TDS tester to verify the quality of my water source but there is one other thing that i was thinking may be causing my problem. When i first started the tank i was getting my source water from another location and come to find out it was crappy, is it possible that my LR is phosphate laden from the old water? I only have bad algae growth on my rock, very minimal growth on the substrate and glass. thoughts?

 

additional info: I do mix my own WC water weekly the day prior to change and allow it to aerate over night, all water added to the tank is ro/di, and my tank has a AC20 and 2 hydor nano 240's so im turning around 600gph with 12 lbs LR and 20lbs aragonite.

[beanhead]

Thanks for the replies, I will definately get a TDS tester to verify the quality of my water source but there is one other thing that i was thinking may be causing my problem. When i first started the tank i was getting my source water from another location and come to find out it was crappy, is it possible that my LR is phosphate laden from the old water? I only have bad algae growth on my rock, very minimal growth on the substrate and glass. thoughts?

 

additional info: I do mix my own WC water weekly the day prior to change and allow it to aerate over night, all water added to the tank is ro/di, and my tank has a AC20 and 2 hydor nano 240's so im turning around 600gph with 12 lbs LR and 20lbs aragonite.

 

 

underlined above...anybody???