Problem running multiple digital RGB LED strands with a single arduino uno

Hello! I am really quite new to this field and am completely out of my element. I am trying to run five digital RGB LED strands from a single arduino uno. And I am having problems - needless to say.

Before making a complete wire mess, I did run the strand test and it has always been successful. It still is, I have just make a bigger mess of the wires since then. Currently, I have three of the five RGB LEDs wired together as a single unit and the other two wired together to act as a single unit as well. I guess, from five

5 strands
/ \ divided
3 2 and
/ \ soldered
1 1 to make 2 units

...if that even makes a lick of sense. Anyways. That's what I did and how they currently are. I did it because I wanted 3 of them to act together and the other 2 to work together independent of the other three.

Which now brings me to my problem. I have wired this mess up and now I am not entirely sure if I did it right.

So I have three of the send in port ~11, three of the receive in port 13, two of the send in port ~9 and two of the receive in port 8. And because I don't know any better all five strands are common ground and all five strands are hooked up to the 5V port. (The whole unit is attached to a 9V battery, if that is relevant) Is this set up right at all?

I have been successful in getting the three unit to light up and the two unit when I switch ports but I can't get all five to run the test run. Also, I currently have the three strand unit lit and the two strand unit's first RGB LED is completely freaking out. It goes either red or if I touch it, the unit starts blinking madly.

If there is anyone who can help, I would be really happy! I need help with the programming. I am so new to this, its kind of sad. I am a musician by trade, so I am completely lost.

~Gadget

First things first, what kind of RGB strings are these? Link would be helpful. When you speak of 'three send' and 'three receive', that means nothing to be quite honest. We need to know what the hardware is before we can tell you whether you're doing it right or not.

I don't understand anything you said.

What LED strings? How many LEDs? How are you connecting them to the Arduino? etc.