Pet Forum / Aquaria / General / June 2004

I've had a black hair algae problem in my tank since I brought it in
November. the tank is fully planted most of which are fast growing plants,
but the algae still covers some of them like my dwarf swordtail within a
month. I have been cleaning the gravel every week and have in the last
couple of months changed from weekly water changes to two weekly water
changes after discovering that the phosphate level in my tap water reads as
2.5ppm. the levels of phosphate and nitrate in my tank are 1ppm phosphate
0ppm or just over of nitrate. I have been thinking about trying phosphate
reduction granules and seeing if that works and then maybe buying an RO
filter to remove the phosphate, but I have also read that low levels of
nitrate and higher levels of phosphate can cause plants to grow more slowly
stopping the phosphate from being absorbed by them instead of the algae. but
I have read that if not done properly adding nitrate can kill fish, so I'm
not to shore if I want to try doing it at all. and I'm not to shore if
buying phosphate reduction granules or an RO filter is necessary because a
have known people who use the same water as me in there aquariums, who have
not had any problems with algae. thank you.