Best Pleco for Algae control

[joshv155]

So my 75 gallon tank has been up and running for about 3 months now and I am getting some serious yellow algae. I do not have a pleco, I have been waiting to get a Gold Nugget Pleco but after doing research I have learned that they don't really eat the algae off the side of the tank or glass. Is this true ?

Is it okay to get a Gold Nugget and another Pleco for algae control ? If so what would that be ? I really don't want to get one that gets huge. 8 inches at most.

I have been scrubbing the sides of the tank and doing water changes every week but the algae keeps coming back. It is coating my white sand too which makes it look filthy....

 

[Big.Jon]

I am a big fan of bristlenose plecos, they do a great job at algae control. I have three of them, my largest is probably 7" I think they can get a little larger, but not to much I would guess 8-9 at rare tops.

 

[CherryBarb123]

I agree with the bristlenose pleco

 

[Giant Danio]

I third the bristle nose

 

[paytertot]

+1 on bristlenose

 

[Scouser]

Yea you may wanna find the source of the algae instead of buying a fish to keep it down.

Never a good idea IMO...

 

[joshv155]

What would b some of the sources ? And thanks for all the advice.

Could a gold nugget and bristlenose co-exist ?

 

[Mogurako]

I agree figure out why you have the algae in the tank not just buy a bandaid. Sources for excess algae would be to much light and excess nutrients in the water.

 

[joshv155]

Excess nutrients as in what. Would over feeding cause it ? I've been struggling to find the right amount of food to give my fish. Have a black ghost knife, gold Severum, rope fish, red tailed shark. The ghost rarely comes out so I put the food in with him and he always is looking for more. Severum never seems to stop eating...

 

[Mogurako]

Excess food and lots of fish waste all convert into ammo and in turn nitrates which will make the algae grow like crazy. I feed small amounts twice a day just to ensure everyone eats.

 

[joshv155]

I know the fish waste is a problem. My canister filter doesn't seem to b strong enough to get the heavier, larger pieces of waste...it's driving me nuts. There is fish waste in bunches on the top of my sand. I do regular water changes and I clean the sand while doing so but even then some of the fish waste is to heavy to get sucked up.

Anyone have any ideas ? I'm getting frustrated. My tank is starting to look like crap ...literally !

 

[Readingexcalibur]

What would b some of the sources ? And thanks for all the advice.

Could a gold nugget and bristlenose co-exist ?

To answer that, I would say mostly no. My gold nugget (profile pic) is extremely temperamental with any other plecos or cat fish. He does not consume algae in my tank at all, in fact, he prefers blood worm/driftwood/cucumber only. Just wanted to throw my gold nugget experience in.

 

[Readingexcalibur]

Put your fish on a lighter food schedule, they will survive on a diet, they are resilient. Also, I found putting my light on a five our time fixed all
My algae issues. Good luck

 

[Mogurako]

Even if your fish waste got sucked up into the filter it's still in the system. How often do you do water changes?!

 

[Readingexcalibur]

To add, plants such as anarchist or hornwort are inexpensive, good with low light to high light. They compete with algae for food and suck up the nitrates. You don't need to plant them as they are a floating type of plant. However, you still need to get the fish poo out.

 

[joshv155]

I do weekly water changes. Just did one about 1 hour ago.

Thanks for the advice on the gold nugget. I have a 35 gallon community tank maybe I could put him in there. That tank has 0 issues with algae.

Is it okay to feed the fish every other day or just less each day ?

When I did my water change I scrubbed all the algae off the tank. Going to leave the lights off for a few days, feed less and see how it goes. The issue of the fish poop on the sand and not getting sucked up is something I don't have an answer for right now.

Are some canister filters more powerful than others at sucking the debris from the tank ? Mines an aqua top 400. Buddy of mine says I should get a Fluval...

 

[Readingexcalibur]

I do weekly water changes. Just did one about 1 hour ago.

Thanks for the advice on the gold nugget. I have a 35 gallon community tank maybe I could put him in there. That tank has 0 issues with algae.

Is it okay to feed the fish every other day or just less each day ?

When I did my water change I scrubbed all the algae off the tank. Going to leave the lights off for a few days, feed less and see how it goes. The issue of the fish poop on the sand and not getting sucked up is something I don't have an answer for right now.

Are some canister filters more powerful than others at sucking the debris from the tank ? Mines an aqua top 400. Buddy of mine says I should get a Fluval...

My friend has a fluval 406, not the 405. He dislikes it. Aquatops are best bang for the buck, but over rated for the actual water movement. Not to start a debate, but I love my Rena xP3. Sucks up alot of the "poo". I do plan on buying an Aquatop to add just for bio media.

 

[joshv155]

Ya, this one isn't moving any water...I need something to suck up all the crap !

 

[Greenphantom]

Algae

I have quite a few different species of fish in my 120 gallon fresh and I was having a bad algae problem because different species means a couple kinds of food I also was not following a light schedule so I went out and invested a 150.00 in a magnum 350 canister filter and cut my lights down to 10 hours a day but could do 8 but I have some live plants. I did a large water change and cleaned all visible algae hooked up the canister turned it on and used a strict light schedule and this has just about wiped it out you dont wanna kill it all because some algae is good