Algae ID?

[AlexJordan]

I've had some problems with cyanobacteria in the past (capital P Problems), and this looks a little similar. It's threadlike, slimy, and rubs off pretty easily unless it's on the glass.. I can't decide if it's hair algae or something different.

Water parameters:
Tap
KH 23
GH 17
pH 7
Ammonia .5
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 15 ppm

Tank
KH 12
GH 18
pH 7.5?
Ammonia .75
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 30

I dose excel every other day, and flourish three times a week.

Here are some pictures for reference: http://imgur.com/a/dUWk1

Thanks for your help!!!

 

[Tyler_Fishman]

Hair algae I think. I'm not an expert on algae however, but that looks like hair algae

 

[StevenF]

What type of flourish. Flourish comprehensive, Flourish iron, Flourish phosphate? Sachem flourish is large group of Sachem products.

Without a picture it is not possible to Id the type. The only other thing i can say is your Ammonia levels should be zero. If your tap is truly 0.5 your tank should be the same 0.5. Ammonia is toxic and ideal you want to keep it at 0ppm. If your tap is truly 0.5 you should be filtering the water or using RO or distilled water. Many people have high nitrate but I know of no-one else here that has ammonia in the tap. So people believe ammonia causes algae. However I have not seen any evidence to support that claim. I don't personally believe ammonia or any macro nutrient causes algae.

 

[AlexJordan]

Tyler - I think so too, to be honest

Steven - Sorry about that! Flourish comprehensive. There's a link with a few pictures in the original post below the parameters. Also, I might retest the water tomorrow, I remember it struck me as odd when I was testing the tap when I moved here. I live in a pretty agricultural town, if that explains some things, but I'll look into a filter as well.

Thank you for both of your responses

 

[AlexJordan]

Update!

I just retested both tap and the tank water

Tap:
Ammonia - .5
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 10

Tank
Ammonia - Between .25 and .5
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 30

Definitely going to look into RO water. I thought it was a little weird that ammonia was so high in the tank since the bioload consists of a GBR, a platy, and a snail. It's planted as well, so I don't know if I just left the test out too long. Should the nitrifying bacteria be able to neutralize the ammonia, or should I look into ammolock or something of that nature until I can get some sort of water purification system?

 

[Tyler_Fishman]

The bacteria should really controlling the ammonia, how old is the tank?

 

[AlexJordan]

About ten or eleven months.

 

[Tyler_Fishman]

Your tank is very well cycled at this point, I would suggest that you set up an RO system if your feeling an bit iffy about water chemistry