Do not worry - we will figure it out.

Is it an external skimmer? P.s. Colour sounds fine.

Is there an expiry date? Most kits have a shelf life around 2 years or more

Again this will probably not tell me much but is the algae growing on the glass? Is it targeting specific mediums?

The skimmer is an in sump skimmer. There is a slight algae that grows on the glass, It need cleaning every three to four days. I cannot see any expiry dates on the test kits

Test Kit

I would borrow someones nitrate test, if you buy one I have always been fond of API but this is me - I am sure there is better but API has always served me well!

Lighting

Can you adjust your spectrum? I am familiar with the brand and model but only through friends. - Not personal experience.

History

I am just confirming that even though today you have 0 nitrate / 0 phosphate - you have not had a sudden rise in the last 3 months. Any live stock die recently?

I have adjusted the spectrum in August to shut off red pads and reduce whites to 20%. I threw away my old test kits today and am awaiting my new ones. I did have some livestock die off around the end of August which very well could have been a spike. But I never tested at that point as I almost packed it in at that point and be the time I decided to keep with it it had passed

Dose #4
definetly noticing deterioration at this point. the algae strains are approx half the length of when I started. not noticing any new growth anywhere in the tank. everything is seeming happy.

This is good news!

I am glad this is working out - I am beginning to think that we are not chasing a current problem but the aftermath of a raise in nitrates that happened recently.

Algae is pretty resilient and once the requirements are met to begin growth, Algae can sustain itself be-it slowly off small amounts of nutrients added to the tank.

I'm hoping that whatever it is/was is the end and a new good beginning. Because I'm done with this hobby for a while if I can't overcome it, to which I hope isn't the case after 16 yrs in the hobby

Cheer-up! It is only frustrating because we do not know the reason behind the problem but if you break it down to it's core the problem is fixable.

Either the diagnoses is in-correct due to lack of knowledge or the tests are in-correct but either way its fix-able.

--

I moved homes and during the move the largest of my tanks was dropped, the movers promised me everything would be fixed but I had an issue of live stock that needed to be homed that day.

I tried to even give live stock away.

As undesirable as the timing was I was going straight from moving to a packaged holiday down south.

I came home to my friend telling me there was nothing he could do, the power was cut - he could not get a hold of anyone - the accounts where not setup properly for a while.

Needless to say after all the washing was done, I said to my wife "I am done - the tanks are clean, they can be easily sold at this stage. I do not have the time and money to rebuild all this back to what it was. I will cut my losses and focus on some other hobby for awhile."

As I noticed my friends expanding on their setups while I had nothing - I got a little jealous and bounced back.

The tank is without question looking better. Hard to say how much is resulted from the algaefix as I've been taking quite a bit of effort to get things back in balance. I havnt done any water changes during treatment yet. Possible before the 5th dose I will.

FTS today