algae eater choice

[orangepunkins]

What's anyone choice an a effective algae eater. Currently I have an issue with 2 different tanks.
tank 1:
75 gallon tank heavily planted. Issues with BBA algae and spot green algae.
I have tried mystery snails they live for awhile and then die. I have tried brittle nose pleco. These to me became lazy. All they wanted to do was hide under the driftwood and eat at the wood. I have 2 otos. They do NOTHING except lay around and yes they are alive. I also have 4 Panda Garra. These will only eat the algae after I have started scraping if off the glass. Then they are like wow there's food there. I have a variety of Community fish in this tank.
tank 2:
This is a 10 gallon lightly planted. I have issues with brown algae. and stag-horn algae. (this is a new algae to me). I only have 1 mystery snail the other 2 have died.
So no more mystery snails for me. In this tank I have 1 kilifish and 1 peacock grunion. Yes I know I need more fish but right now I cannot afford to spend on it yet.

The lighting for each tank is a finnex. They are BOTH on diffrent timers and run as least as I can without hurting the plants. I have started boosting up the water changes. to about 1/2 for each tank 1x's a week. I use eco complete in both tanks. I don't do ferts since I don't know much about them.

Any info would be of great help. Please try to be as basic as possible with names.
Thank You
orangepunkins

 

[ImACoolguy]

See how you like a Siamese Algae Eater. When small they eat BBA. I have a small one in my 75g and he has almost eradicated my BBA issue.


Caleb

 

[Rianyu]

I had (and still have) a case of BBA. It was really bad at one point and I bought myself 2 SAEs (be careful to get proper Siamese Algae Eaters and not fakes ones sometimes labeled Flying Foxes)

They do a decent job keeping BBA in check, but it won't be a 100% cure for sure. I've read that BBA can get too tough for them to snack on and spot treating with Excel helps 'soften' them for the SAE to munch on.

My Otocinclus control brown algae very well. When I first put them in I could see little 'roads' they've made in the algae on the rocks overnight.

Unfortunately (or fortunately for me) I haven't had experience with staghorn algae.

For the 75Gallon tank, you could look into UV sterilizers. They are supposed to rid your water of free-floating bacteria and algae, helping prevent more algae sticking onto glass and object in the tank and growing.

Hope that helps!

 

[Trainer_Ruby_]

For stag horn algae i found that if you over fertilize your tank it'll start killing it off. Do one cap of fertilizer every second day and a 30% water change once a week. After 3-4 weeks it should start turning brown and dying.


Keep calm and drum on