Question regarding heaters

[Elladan]

I've got a tropical fish tank, so a heater is pretty much required unless the water itself will magically maintain it's temp... In eithercase, in the past I've had algae and the alike clouding the tank because of the warm conditions. That may be that the heater was on too high or whatever, this one automatically keeps it at 78 + or - 2 degrees... Is there a way to avoid the algae or has the heater keeping it at that temp range prevented it?

 

[CaptainAhab]

saltwater but same difference.. read here http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f14/green-cloudy-water-116076.html#post981496

 

[Elladan]

Thanks!

Although there is likely a thread in the forum, what are the levels suppose to be for the listed items, and the best way to maintain them?

 

[CaptainAhab]

The levels are the regardless of salt/fresh:
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrates low 0-20 pref , the higher the more likely algae
phosphates low - 0

Nitrates are mainly controlled through regular water changes, not over feeding and if you have a planted tank; the plants

 

[Elladan]

Thank you again!

 

[Elladan]

I went to the store and bought some testing kits aaaaand everything seemed to be on the 0 or very near it... However PH was quite high... How might I go about lowering that?

 

[gzeiger]

What is "quite high?" An aquarium will be fine up to at least 8.5, and it's generally not recommended that you adjust it. Fish can adapt to any level from about 6.5-8.5 (some species are a little more sensitive), but adaptation is required - they will be stressed by significant changes. Buffer products you can buy (pH Down) are a temporary fix and will result in swings of pH that are unhealthy for fish unless you're monitoring, changing water and treating daily. If you're not trying to breed a particularly picky fish there's no need for that. pH has little if any effect on algae. If other nutrient levels are fine I'd look at light as the next likely culprit.

 

[Elladan]

Well then, I guess the PH is good >.>; silly me, it was around 8.4 when I checked, everything else was in balance.

So far I haven't experienced the algae in this tank, in my last tank (Long time ago) I had algae, and unknownly thought it was the extra heat helping it grow... I think that location was in the sun more and I had no knowledge of Ph, nitrates, nitrites etc...