Ready To Give Up On Keeping Tropical Fish

[dean]

Hi people
It has been quite along time since i used this forum.
After keeping tropical fish for about 12 years i am now nearly ready to give up.
I have had my tank for about 3 years now, about 6 months ago i got really bad green blanket algae, i have tried emptying the tank and starting again keeping a quarter of the water so i can put my fish back in it. The algae just keeps coming back.Now its just brown algae growing on the glass every day.
I have a 4 foot tank which contains 37 gallons of water.
Arcadia light which is on for 6 hours a day/
ph 6.8
kh 0
no2 0
no3 10
gh 16d
I am using ro and tap water mixed.
I am keeping discus and cardinals.
Thanks for any help
I know i need to do a water change today, bt the algae has been growing so rapid.

 

[caino]

hey, sorry about the algea i had it pretty bad aswell, try here Planted section, this is a great guide on getting rid of algea and if you read some of the other posts and ask in there, they are really helpfull

 

[QuotheRaven]

I could be wrong with the name here but what about a UV sterilizer which I think make's crystal clear water.... Brown algae I think oto's eat

 

[helterskelter]

Their is a pond treatment called Blanc-kit just add a little to a tank and I've cleared tanks of bad blanket weed. don't know if discus will like it though.

or is it the slimy algae that creeps over plants and rocks then is a little harder to get rid off,

Uv only removes algae suspended in the water, not anything growing on the rocks/grave/plants/or side of the aqueria.

 

[Socks]

The brown algae thrives when you have too little light,turn it up to atleast 8 hours a day to get rid of that.

 

[fishnterrapins]

There is another way, from what I remember about alage and blanket weed (related) they thrive on disolved calcium in the water. Therefore it might be worth (even if you aren't in a hard water area) adding something like one of the electrical water softening solutions to the pipe that you get the water to fill the tank from.

It might help

 

[confusion]

In general, algae thrives when there is high light and high phosphates, among other nutrients. Having an overstocked tank and/or not performing adequate water changes will create a build up of the nutrients algae needs to grow.

I'd recommend extending your lighting to 8 hours a day like Socks said, and increasing the frequncy of your water changes. 25%/week seems to be pretty standard.