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Old 06/16/2006, 10:07 AM
Travis L. Stevens Travis L. Stevens is offline
My Life for Aiur!
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Stillwater, OK
Posts: 13,497
Phosphate is phosphate. Algae will use this regardless of the form. So, as long as there is phosphate, nitrate, light, and a slew of other things in the tank, you will have algae. If you can get rid of any one of those, then your algae will die. For example, no light; no algae, and no nitrate; no algae.

Also, your tank isn't "near perfect" In fact, it's not even close. Sorry Ten ppm of Nitrates is way more than enough to have a tank covered in algae. You also have to remember, that is just excess nitrates that are in the water column. That test is inaccurate to the sense that algae is also consuming it. So, for all you know, on a daily basis, you will have 20-40 ppm of Nitrates before the algae consume it. Also, your Calcium is a low. I'm not 100% sure how to convert a ppm reading of Alkalinity to something I'm more familiar with; dkh and meq/L. If I remember right, that Alkalinity is a little high. If that is the case, then that might also be one of the reasons why things aren't doing so well in your tank. FYI, when you test the TDS, you're testing the total dissolved solids. You normally test the TDS on freshwater. More commonly right before you make it into saltwater.

First and more importantly, I would step back and take a breather. Take some time to read some articles and books and help familiarize yourself with the chemicals in the aquarium and learn how they all effect each other. Then, once you know what the chemicals are and do, then start taking steps to correct them. Once they are corrected, then you should be able to start taking steps to solving the algae problem. And the best part is in the mean time while you are learning and correcting things, the algae will most likely grow and then start to die off. Especially if you drastically reduce your feedings.

Make sure that you read up on what Calcium and Alkalinity really are and how it effects the aquarium first. Once you are familiar with that, here are some steps to take to correct that problem. Most likely, you will see an improvement in water clarity and invertebrate growth. http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2002/chem.htm
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Travis Stevens