Everybody who uses math in any (even the most basic) form is an algo. You are an algo as soon as you reach the mathematical complexity of things like 1+1=... 1 second charts or calculations are useless, algo or not.
The problem on ET is that you are never sure if it is a joke or not. I have already read many things that were beyond idiot posted by "professionals". So there is nothing anymore that can surprise me. Theoretically you can be an algo trading 1 sec charts/data. And as you posted about tick charts I assumed it was not a joke:
I use the Daily, 30min and 2 mins. I use to use the one min alone but like someone said, it is too unstable.