Hey everyone,
So i was pretty optimistic starting out with a new reef tank and I enjoyed it for a while, it was quite beautiful, then I had a hair algae outbreak. I scrubbed, water changed, the whole lot, and eventually it started to go away only to be replaced with Red Slime Algae. I am getting ready to throw in the towel because the tank is starting to loose its visual appeal. Is this normal?

I am going to list my complete setup in hopes that someone can pinpoint what is wrong and what is causing the algae to spiral out of control.

Equipment
20 Gallon Tall Tank (Not near a window)
Lighthouse Light by Catalina Aquariums (Dual 35 Watt I believe?) – On a timer from 8-6
Marine Land Bio-Wheel Power Filter 150 w/ Chemi Pure and Filter Floss
Whisper 5 Gallon Internal Filter with Poly Filter Cartridge
Aquatech Power Head 170 GPH
75W ViaAqua Glass Heater

Livestock –
2 Clowns
1 Green Mandarin
1 Yellow Watchman Goby
2 Emerald Crabs
20 Nassarius Snails
6 Turbo Snails
1 Red Starfish
I had a sea haire who ate quite a bit of algae and died a couple days later – Cause unknown

Corals -
Galaxia Coral
2 Kenya Trees
1 Medium Red Sponge Tree (Becoming covered in hair algae)
Medium GSP Frag
1 Toadstool Coral
1 Small Zoa Frag (Keep having to clean the red algae off of it)
1 Medium Mushroom
1 Small Mushroom

I am doing a roughly 20 – 30% water change once a week with RO Water and IO Seasalt and Kent Osmo-Prep and Calcium supplements.

My current water conditions are
20 Nitrate
0 Nitrite
120 Alkalinity
8.4 PH

Please someone tell me there is hope!