Freshwater dillema

[Jarbour88]

Hello everyone. I am pretty knowledgable with saltwater tanks but not so much with freshwater. My fathers freshwater tank has been having some weird issues, no matter how hard we try to increase the ph whenever we test it, its back below 6 (way too low), some fish have died from cloudy eyes and fin rot. Today i noticed some weird red dust like algae on the back glass which I have never seen in a freshwater tank. Any ideas how to fix these problems?

 

[UkiahTheTurtle]

Do a water change that always will help

 

[Jarbour88]

Water changes happen twice weekly with no help

 

[zoaprince]

what kind of substrate do you use?
do you use Tap or purified water?
how big are the water changes?
can you provide pictures of the algae?
do you dose fertilizers?
what exactly do you do to increase PH?

 

[Jarbour88]

Gravel substrate
Purified water and add stress coat after water changes
About 10 gallons each water change out of 55
I do not have pictures as my dad just scrubbed it off
We use ph up and ph 7 powder, we have tried baking soda once with no luck.

 

[zoaprince]

Gravel substrate
Purified water and add stress coat after water changes
About 10 gallons each water change out of 55
I do not have pictures as my dad just scrubbed it off
We use ph up and ph 7 powder, we have tried baking soda once with no luck.

have you considered switching to tap water? Tap water should have a more suitable ph and unlike reef systems, freshwater creatures do well in (most) tap water.

really odd that the PH drops. I haven't tried those products, but I have used http://www.saltyshrimp.de/english/aquarium_mineral_gh_kh_plus.html which has worked for raising the ph in my purified water.