Newbie.Starting again with Discus aquarium.

[RoxyGR1!]

Having had my Discus aquarium for around 2 years a massive algae problem occurred due to a phosphate peak.The problem was resolved but the algae,hair and a strain which I have not identified but was very dark green and covered the plants and grew in small round spots on the glass,persisted.I had no option but to strip the tank totally,sterilise, and discard all the plants.A large piece of bogwood has been pressure washed to remove as much of the offending algae.
The aquarium is 150lt with 2 fluorescent lights through 60cm of depth.The substrate is sand and pressurised Co2 is available.Ideally I would like to plant it with at least 1 type of plant that will aid in stripping the water of nutrients for Algae.So far I have considered Nesea Crasssicaulis,Ludwigia Repens,Utricularia Graminifolia and Aurea.Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I really dont want to go through all the hassle of deep cleaning again.

 

[ceg4048]

Hi,
I guess the first thing that ought to be clarified is that phosphate cannot cause algae and therefore you have drawn a false correlation between cause and effect.

Hair algae is cause by poor CO2 uptake so you need to examine factors such as injection rate, the timing of the injection as well as issues such as amount of flow rates and filtration.

I can promise you that you will continue to have algae problems as long as you continue to believe that nutrients cause algae. Instead of thinking in terms of getting rid of nutrients you need to think in terms of continually supplying nutrients to your plants.

Algae is caused fundamentally by poor plant health. Poor plant health is caused by poor nutrient availability, which is exactly the opposite of what you currently believe, therefore the more you try to rid your tank of nutrients, the more hassle you will suffer. Whatever you have believed in the past regarding algae you now need to discard and be prepared to believe the truth. When you fix your beliefs you will automatically fix your algae.

Give us more information regarding your tank such as how much light you intend to have, how much filtration you have. Go to the Tutorial section of the forum and read the articles there. Ask more questions if anything is unclear.

Cheers,