Black/purple dots of algae?

[travis simonson]

I really can't, in good conscience, recommend any Tetra test kit. Check out Seachem or Aquarium Pharmaceuticals for good low-priced kits. If you're looking for something that is dead-on accurate and want to spend fifty to seventy bucks for the comfort of knowing that you know exactly where your water parameters are, check out LaMotte test kits. They're all I use anymore and I trust them completely.

[betowess]

If its BBA, aka Black Brush Algae, and that was my first suspicion when I read your first post, the only known cure/control is going pressurized [acronym:8e23daca0a="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:8e23daca0a] with an inline reactor and keeping your [acronym:8e23daca0a="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:8e23daca0a] at or near 30ppm. The reason one needs to go pressurized is that [acronym:8e23daca0a="Do it yourself"]DIY[/acronym:8e23daca0a] [acronym:8e23daca0a="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:8e23daca0a] can never get up to 30ppm, unless you had multiple [acronym:8e23daca0a="Do it yourself"]DIY[/acronym:8e23daca0a] 2 liters going and that is a PITA. Pressurized [acronym:8e23daca0a="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:8e23daca0a] can work wonders on a tank. This cure/control works, as I battled and battled BBA unsuccessfully, until Rex Grigg guided me to this cure.

[acronym:8e23daca0a="By the way"]BTW[/acronym:8e23daca0a], Glass Gardens (online) has some Milwaukee "all in one" regulators which include the needle valve, bubble counter, a solenoid, and a custom built reactor for a little over $100.00 USD. All one needs is to add a 5 or 10 lb tank of [acronym:8e23daca0a="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:8e23daca0a] from the local welding supply shop and plumb this into the outflow from a canister filter. Its probably where I'll get my next [acronym:8e23daca0a="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:8e23daca0a] setup for an 80 or 90 Gallon I am working on putting together. And yes, you have very hard water, which I believe red algae like BBA like. [acronym:8e23daca0a="Hope this helps (or) Happy to help"]HTH[/acronym:8e23daca0a] bob