 Re: Newbie with lots of questions.
Having cyanobacteria or diatoms is just a normal part of a new tank and it is frustrating. However you'll get there. You can ask your local water company for a water quality report. Unfortunately, a lot of water companies are adding chloramines and phosphates to their water now instead of just chlorine. The phosphates they are adding are partially what is causing the diatom/hair algae/cyanobacteria problems in a lot of people's tanks. '
You can add a DI unit to your RO unit relatively cheaply. Like Scuba said, it will remove the phosphates and silicates from your top off water. That is important because of this.......PHOSPHATES=BAD!!!
I'm not saying you have this because you don't have an RO/DI unit instead of an RO unit. The phosphates can be in your food, salt mix, top-off water, etc.
I PROMISE......it will get better. The fact that you want to fix this before moving on is a good thing.
_________ Curt  | 
