Algae question

[Choonchiesback]

Hey every. My tank has been set up for a little more than 5 months now and I'm having algae issues. Brown algae on glass, rocks, and sand. I have 2 naked clowns a fire fish three herms 2 bumble bee snails red mushrooms orange mouth polyps a toadstool. Running 2 power heads heater HOB filter and ecoxotic LEDs at about 50% for 6 hours a day. I only feed the fish every other day and my numbers are nitrites 0 ammonia 0 nitrate a little under 20 using API kit. What am I doing wrong? I'm topping off with distilled water last few weeks cause I havent been able to get to LFS.

Thanks!

 

[Choonchiesback]

It's not diatoms, by the way. It look like brown slime..

 

[fort384]

Some pictures may help.

 

[Choonchiesback]

This is some of it.

 

[boardsurfer]

Use RO/DI water only, more water changes to get the nitrates back down, and feed frozen food instead of flakes. Flake food has much more phosphates than that of frozen food. Its the phosphates that are your problem and even if you test for them, it'll read low due to the algae skewing the test results. May also want to increase your cleanup crew too, what size is your tank?

 

[boardsurfer]

Increase flow to the area (for a temporary fix) and siphon out the algae, but get those phosphates down.

 

[Choonchiesback]

15g. I only do the pellets once a week for the garlic in them. Guess I'll have to figure out when to go to the LFS.