my tank looks like shit! i have green hair algea and red slime all over everything. my nitates were 10 to 20 ppm, so i started doing bigger water changes. i was doing four gallons a week then i uped it to seven and i dont think its helping, can anyone help me?

There is a quick and painless way to get rid of both. The underlying problem needs to be addressed though. Phosphates are the biggest fuel for both. They come from food and possibly tap water, if you're not using RO/DI water.

Flake and pellet foods have large amounts of phosphates as well as the gellatin binders in frozen foods. Eliminate flake and pellet food and rinse frozen food.

Use RO/Di water if you're using tap water.

Increase water flow to help keep organics suspended in the water column so they can be removed by the skimmer or other mechanical filtration.

Red slime/cyanobacteria can be eliminated in 3-5 days by properly using an anti-bacterial such as Ultralife red slime remover. Myself and many others have used it on established SPS reef tanks with no ill-effects. Don't be scared off by nay sayers.

GHA(green hair algae) can also be eradicated in less than a week using a fluidized fliter(phosban reactor) with granular ferric oxide media such as Pura Phosloc or Rowaphos

There is no replacement for good husbandry and it can maintain a 0 GHA and Cyano system and can very slowly eliminate the 2 problems but only an anti bacterial and phosphate binding media will get rid of them quickly with no side effects. There is one caveat though. If you has SPS coral, using too much GFO too quickly could cause an RTN event by stripping phospate from the water too quickly thereby upsetting the coral. If you have no SPS coral, no worries.

I run a phosphate reactor and my phosphates have been at zero. I use ro di water but one day just for the he'll of it I tested the tap water for phophates and it said it had zero. Do you think I need a new tester?

the place I get the water from has a Tds meter on the to unit and I'm sure they check it all the time.I put pura phospholock in the reactor

i feed ocean nutrition formula two flakes every two days and marine supreme (frozen everything) once a week i have current duel satelite power compacts 2x65. i dont know what a photo period is but i changed the bulbs a couple of months ago. the temp is 77-79. the sand bed is about two inches thick ,live sand. i have one maxijet 1200 and two hydor koralia nanos. i have a 37 gallon tank. i have an olympus protien skimmer. the tank has been running for about a year and a half and i have allways used ro. every couple of days i blow stuff around with a turkey baster, especially all the red slime. i have had the reactor for a year or so and i use a couple of table spoons of phospholoc (whatever it says on the bottle). i have tested the ro/di water for phosphates and it tested zero but i might need a new tester.

i have heard that lights could be the cause of gha and red slime. is it possible i bought bad bulbs? i dont remember the exact brand but i remember they were big name brands.

and i appreciate all the help

ya it does ill try that