Sorry tank

[Swampman]

My 20gal tank is in a sorry state. My water parameters are Amonia 0, nitrites 0, Amonia .25, Nitrate .5, Phos 0 and Ph 7.8 I keep getting brown algae . Plants look terrible. But the fish 6 rainbow an angel and a horseface loach are fine. I have a canister and a hang on back filter. Figuring to get what ever is ruining the tank out. H2O changes 7-10 days. I have phosphate remover in canister now. Phos was terrible. I thought it would stop the brown algae. but no. Cloudy water. It is getting to the point that I will break down the tank and start again. This tank is the Bain of my fish hobby. I would post a picture but ashamed to show it. I've been in this hobby for the second time 15 years. Never had so much problems with a tank.

 

[Andy Sager]

My 20gal tank is in a sorry state. My water parameters are Amonia 0, nitrites 0, Amonia .25, Nitrate .5, Phos 0 and Ph 7.8 I keep getting brown algae . Plants look terrible. But the fish 6 rainbow an angel and a horseface loach are fine. I have a canister and a hang on back filter. Figuring to get what ever is ruining the tank out. H2O changes 7-10 days. I have phosphate remover in canister now. Phos was terrible. I thought it would stop the brown algae. but no. Cloudy water. It is getting to the point that I will break down the tank and start again. This tank is the Bain of my fish hobby. I would post a picture but ashamed to show it. I've been in this hobby for the second time 15 years. Never had so much problems with a tank.

Sometimes it's just a poor combination of situations that make a tank a PIA ( Pain in the arse. ). Brown algae is sometimes removed by more lighting/ light spectrum/ light hours. You might want to consider with one or more of these to see if that solves your problem.
If this is your only tank with issues, you might want to look into a better filter for your tap water? Maybe R/O? Maybe rain water? You might have other minerals in your source water that is "feeding the beast" that is making algae. Lastly, you may just have too much detritus in the tank that a total restart can solve that problem. All things to consider.

 

[V227]

As long as the fish are thriving, the noted problems are relatively small, and can eventually be fixed. No worries.