Algae - HELP!!!

[kite]

I've got a 500 Litre tank with 15 medium sized discus.

It's a planted tank and the water conditions all seem fine.

Unfortunately Algae, mainly Green although there is some Hair, is a major problem.

For lighting, I've got 2 x 10,000 K Halogen bulbs which I run for 6 hours a day.

Does anybody know of any Algaecide which are safe to use regularly with Discus?

[funkyfish]

i have heard that hydrogen peroxide will do it. i can't remember the dosing but i'm sure someone here can help with that

[sidra]

I would like to know about this too. I don't have a green algae problem but some of the leaves on my amazon sword would have hair as long as mine :( if I didn't keep picking it off. It's black hair and specks on the leaves. I bought some Algae killer at the lfs that says it's safe for plants, but I'm always afraid to try new things in my tank.

[Carol_Roberts]

Don't use the algaecide with discus.

For people that don't have plants simply dosing with salt at 3 tablespoons per 10 gallons will kill hair algae

[sidra]

Whew! Glad I asked first. Thanks, Carol. Okay, so what does one WITH plants do. I had two oticinclus in the tank which did help some, but one started sucking on slime coat of my discus (needless to say he went to the misfit tank of tetras, etc). The other one doesn't bother the discus. Are there any snails that would do the job? Or any other recommendations?

[Howie_W]

I've found that otocinclus are not overly fond of hair algae. The reason one of them is bothering your Discus is lack of sufficent food source for them. You might want to consider getting some ancistrus (bristlenose) as they do a great job of keeping plants and tank clean. I'm not a fan of snails as to me they are unsightly looking in a nice planted tank.


Howie

[peteypob]

Are you dosing any fertz? I also had this problem a while back but ten times worse! I had BGA and brown algae and boy was it BAD, I wasnt dosing my fertz 3x weekly and didnt really have it on a regular schedule either.SAE are the best to rid of your hair algae and are very friendly with discus. I also upgraded my clean up crew with SAE and ottos. As far as using those products to get rid of algae, I dont thinK there is any out there that you can use with live plants. Howie is right about the bristlenose, I also have two of these guys in my 55gal and they do a good job on keeping the glass clean of algae. They sometimes with attach on plants but tend to feed of the algae on the glass.HTH
Pete

[lldewe]

So how about brown algae and slime on the glass? I do wc after wc and I still get it in my 46 gal bowfront. I only have 2 adult discus in there, bare bottom, Aqua Clear filter.

TIA,
Lorie

[peteypob]

If its the brown algae Im thinking of its could be because of the silicates in your water. I used to get that too on my bare bottoms when I did 100% tap water changes. Silicates are the amount of metals and all that good stuff in your water. I now do 75% RO and 25% tap and it went away. With slime algae, is it green?
Pete

[lldewe]

>>With slime algae, is it green?

No it's all brown...

Lorie