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Re:330 gallon


> Hi, I am real new at this planted tank deal so please bear with me. I have a
> 330 gallon tank with 9 discus in the 3-4 inch range and a number of tetras. I
> have this brilliant green algal coating on the bottom front center of my
> tank. It is fast and starting to grow up the leaves of my mini-Amazon sword
> plants. 

Hairy or dark greenish like the blob? Or something else like furry? First
remove it manually, try and get all of it out of the tank. This will require
lots of work:) Sounds like BGA (or cyanobacteria for the politically correct
crowd).  
Next, do a water change... say 50%. Use the normal Dechlorinator (Amquel
etc) and build your nutrients back up. How long has the tank been set up?
What kind of water change- pruning routine do you do etc? Clean filters and
check CO2 levels.
You can check for a good range of each nutrient if you wish. Some
recommended levels go from a Ph of 6.8 and a KH of 4. Test both at different
times of the day and see if you need to adjust things. Lower with CO2 only
and raise the KH with baking soda. GH can be 4 or higher. I have a GH of 24
FWIW and my plants do well. Less would be better the though:) Perhaps in the
6-8 range. Crushed coral can help or SeaChem's equilbrium, CaCO3 for both
(KH/GH). K+ can be quite high in the 20-30ppm range if you have decent
lighting. I would add either KNO3 and or K2SO4(you can find these from Dave
Gomberg's site or a gardening store etc). For a 330 I would add about 4
teaspoons a week of K2SO4. You'll have to measure the amount of NO3 to use
the KNO3 as well. A jobes stick under the swords will help as well. Make
sure they are in deep.

I also have some brown hair alga in some locations. I have checked
> water chemistry, everything is good, great in fact. What am I doing wrong?

Often you (we) do nothing wrong. You need to clean it up and do a water
change, get in and clean the tank every so often. No one keeps a perfect
tank 100% of the time. It's a big tank and will require a lot of work.
That's the price you pay for a big tank. A ten gallon is a snap.

A big issue with tanks..........getting the CO2, good currents and the
nutrients to the plants. In a small tank it is not so hard but gets more
difficult as the tanks get bigger.
I 
> live in upcountry Maui, Hawaii, and my water is soft, slightly acid, and high
> in silicates. The water supply folks also add Chloramines.

These won't matter as you will need to add KH/GH to your water and then
lower it back down with CO2 gas. Sound weird but it works. Very soft water
is not good for plants or the pH. Silicates are an issue for Salt/reef
folks, not very much here with plants. Sounds like a salt water person is
talking to you:) I think the thing to realize some times is if the plants
are doing well......so are the fish. Discus are not near as fragile as folks
try to make them out to be. They can handle a KH of of 6 and a GH of 9 just
fine and will breed even and perhaps harder water as well. They do not have
to have a temp of this or that unless your really trying to bred etc but
most plants are fine at 82F or so anyway going up to 84 won't hurt most all
the plants we commonly keep. There are a few exceptions but not many.
You seem to have a low population and are not over stocking which is the
worst thing folks often do with fish.

Some helpful things to add to your tank would be SAE's, shrimps(if the
Discus don't eat them(they did not eat mine..... but might eat yours) and
perhaps snails if you like them. Some folks seem to think snails are pest or
they are bad etc for plant tanks and unsightly. To each their own but they
have done a super job over many years cleaning and grazing on algae and can
be removed easily with a snail eater like a zebra or clown loach, SA puffer
etc. Otto's would be good too. You will need a number of them for a tank
this big.

Thanks in advance 
> for any suggestions. Sean.

It would help you out immensely if you read as much as you can and check the
APD archives/Krib etc as much as you can. Big tank= big problems and cost if
something goes wrong....  and if your new at this it will.......unless your
real lucky. I have not met anyone that lucky yet:)
Regards, 
Tom Barr
>