[joe kool]

if the tank is more than a couple months old and is still not able to maintain lower levels of amonia you need to do partial (+/- 25%) water changes about every other day. the low PH is actually a good thing in this case because ammonia is "less" toxic to fish at lower ph ... meaning amonia @ 8 ppm might be slowly killing the fish but at 7.5 or 8 ph that level of ammonia would probbably wipe out you tank in a day. the algae is a good sign too as this means the ammonia is being converted to nitrite and nitrate which the plants use as food ... sort of ... yes algae is a plant sort of ... just not like your used to.

more air will help the gas exchange at the surface as will leaving the water a little low and letting the water from yout filter "splash" into the tank.


AND untill you get the ammonia thing under control I'd change your tetra cartridge every other week too ... get the cartriges online for like $17 for 25 cartriges here http://www.thatpetplace.com/Products.../Itemdy00.aspx

maybe cheaper elsewhere but that price is hard to beat

they more gunk you have in your water the faster the carbon gets used up AND I saw a report on a study that said something to the effect that the activated carbon did "most" of the absorption in the first couple days then tapers off.

hope this was helpful