I seem to be losing the war

[plebian]

I've never had any luck with aquarium plants. It's not that I can't grow them, it's that they seem to be algae magnets. I've always had a problem with brown algae, but it wasn't that difficult to control via weekly maintenance when I had no plants. Every now and then I would have an issue with cyanobacteria, or black algae, but both were easily dealt with via spot treatment. I tried both physical and chemical removal of the brown algae from plants, but it doubled time spent doing maintenance and the plants never looked good for more than a few days. I would just give up. I tried many different plant species, always with the same result.

I recently planted a species of Hygrophila, acquiring a group of Otocinclus shortly afterwards. I thought my troubles were over. The Otos cleaned out so much brown algae so quickly I was actually worried I might lose a few to starvation. Algae-free, my plants were absolutely thriving. That situation lasted less than a month. Not only has the brown algae returned in force, but I'm now fighting green spot and black algae. So far, the green spot algae has been restricted to the glass and small portions of the substrate, so it's been manageable. The Otos are still keeping the plants free of brown algae, but the plants are now being colonized by black algae which the Otos won't touch.

It seems all but inevitable I'll be throwing in the towel, sooner or later, and my aquarium will once again be plant-free.