Thanks for the help. I took a water sample to the store I always deal with and my water was fine. I threw out the old meter and bought a new test kit. They also told me not to use our tap water even treated for water changes, to use ro water. I didn't even realize that could cause algae problems, I thought it was something else. I am still in a learning process here, I have had the aquairum only about 4 months really and I just get really nervous about the possiblity of killing fish through neglect when I should have been worried about stupidity
I guess I just over-reacted and I am sorry if I wasted your time, but I did learn more through this. I also threw out the test strips because it was sometimes just too close to tell the colors apart. I actually have been extremely lucky so far, because I have had a hard time getting the chemistry in my head, (blonde moments). Nitrate, nitrites, salt, ammonia was making me dizzy
But the store I deal with are very patient people and family-owned and always helpful to me. I just have never read a breakdown of what everything is, (ph, alkalinity, nitrates, etc.) it was all greek to me. But, I haven't killed them yet, and am doing better with it than I imagined so thanks so much for your help and if you have any good tips for a newbie please share. Connie