The Algea is coming back

[Macrosill]

So I had an alge problem about a month ago. I posted here http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=73041&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0 I was able to get rid of the algea. I believe it was BBA but I may be wrong. It looks like little dark green cotton balls. I followed the advice and blacked out the tank for 3 days. I vac'ed the gravel did back to back 80 % pwc's cleaned out my filter really well took out all the deco's rinsed, scrubbed and rerinsed them then let the dry out for about a week. I put then back in a few days ago. Today I am seeing some of those cotton balls growing on the silk plant leaves. I check my KH which is 4 drops, equal to 71.6 ppm. My GH is 5 drops, equal to 89.5 ppm. I have no idea if these are good levels or not or if they are causing my problem. I can't test my phosphates because my test kit came broken today, DR Foster & Smith are sending me a new one. Ammonia is zero, Nitrites zero and nitrates is 20ppm.

TIA,
Brian

 

[flipz]

Hi Brian,
I saw in your other post your tank was 10g, so I'll just state that for anyone coming to this new thread.

Is your tank near a window? How long do you have the lights in the tank on each day?

About your hardness, I don't know what type of fish you are keeping but that would put your water at med-low which is more than likely not a problem at all. The only algae that I know of effected by hardness is red algae, and that's attracted to hard water. But I'm no pro.

The phosphate test would be good, but as you already said yours was broken. Hopefully it comes soon! Is this a FO tank or do you have plants? How often do you do water changes? Your nitrates aren't too high and are actually at a pretty acceptable level, but 20 ppm could be causing the bacteria because there is a lot of nitrates for it to feed off of if you only have fish. You should be doing PWC's once a week.

-brent

Edit- That was my 700th post, you win a prize.

 

[Macrosill]

Brent,
I thought I got all the details in there, I missed the 10 gal tank size, thanks for picking up on that. n The lights have been off since the black out a month ago. When I tried to put them back on they flashed and turned off, the ballast went. I only replaced the fixture today and that is when I noticed the "cotton balls". They are only on the silk plants right now but they were on everything last time.

Just as a reference my tap is zero on Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate the KH in 3 and thE GH is 5.

Thanks
Brian

 

[Macrosill]

Any more ideas?