New to saltwater

[MidnightF66]

Hello, I'm extremely new to saltwater tanks. I have a 13.5g fluval tank its about 3 months old. All my water perimeters are all good, but I have had a algae bloom for the past week or so. I'm been doing small water changes (about 1g per change) every other day with distilled water (my nearest LFS is about 45mins away), but no change. I've turned off the light for now, and plan on getting a UV later this week. Is there anything I can get down the road that I can get to do this naturally? I would like to keep corals, but don't want to have a UV going since I've heard that it can heat up the water and stress out corals, which I can counter with a cooler. I have so much plug space! XD

Currently in the tank

1 Mocha chocolate clown
1 Wyoming white clown
2 Trochus snails
3-5 Nass snails
and a bunch of Cerith snails (freaking have babies every where)

 

[andrewey]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

UV will help when that comes in later this week.

While a UV will produce heat, it depends on the ambient temperature of the room and other factors as to whether this will produce too much heat or a trivial amount of heat in your setup. Many run UV just fine- the temperature of your tank will dictate whether or not it works on your particular setup.

As far as why you are having an algae bloom, have you measured your nutrient levels (nitrate & phosphate)?

What has your photoperiod been like?

 

[MidnightF66]

my nitrate level was at 0. I don't know about my phosphate since I do not have anything to test that. I just have the basic saltwater kit from API

 

[BighohoReef]

Welcome to R2R! I'd reduce your light schedule, for now. how long do you have it on? Don't feed the algae It's good to know all of the chemistry in your tank it'll help diagnose problems like these. How often are you feeding your fish and how much?

I agree with @andrewey regarding the UV. If you decide to go this route for your tank size I would look recommend a Green Killing machine 3w. It's small and powerful enough for your tank.

I started off with a Fluval 13.5 I have so many lessons learned from that tank. Holds a special place for me.

 

[MidnightF66]

I feed a tiny chopped piece of frozen shrimp once a day at night. My nass snails go nuts for it, and so do my clowns

 

[BighohoReef]

Surprising that your nitrates have stayed at 0, you should see some type of residual effect especially with such a small water column. I suspect that your algae is eating it up.

Is the piece of shrimp gone by the morning or do your remove any excess?

 

[MidnightF66]

Its normally gone by morning Edit: heres my water atm