Plant Diatoms Wont Leave!!

[Gboy66]

I Have brown diatoms on alot of my plants. The tank has been setup for around 4 months now and this stuff has decreased, but not left.

Now, my question is, are there any snails that would help with this problem? I love my mystery snails, but they really are terrible algea eaters lol.

Now, before anyone says that you shouldnt buy a fish/invert to fix a problem, i really like snails. So them being good cleaners would only be an added bonus because they are really cool.

Unfortunatly, I dont really have room for fish like otos or plecos, so that option is out.

 

[Gboy66]

Ill post some pics of the plants later on

 

[okapizebra]

Nerite snails are wonderful algae eaters.

 

[adadkins1]

Well it depends on what plants are effected. Certain plants are harder if not impossible to access by snails because they have such small stems and leaves. I would recommend a Horned Nerite Snail as they are the smallest Nerite and they would be able to climb plants better than other larger species.

 

[Gboy66]

Well it depends on what plants are effected. Certain plants are harder if not impossible to access by snails because they have such small stems and leaves. I would recommend a Horned Nerite Snail as they are the smallest Nerite and they would be able to climb plants better than other larger species.

Oh ya that is true, where do you all think i could get these? I have never seen them at the lfs

 

[adadkins1]

You could see if the LFS could order them possibly. If not, I believe SM and HN1 have them available.

 

[Gboy66]

You could see if the LFS could order them possibly. If not, I believe SM and HN1 have them available.

Ya, i have asked my lfs to order fish before, but they never got them

I might try sm when they put up their new list..how much do these snails usually run for? Also, how many do you think i should add to keep a 40 g nice and tidy?

 

[okapizebra]

Since they're so tiny you'll need quite a few to make a large impact.

 

[Gboy66]

Since they're so tiny you'll need quite a few to make a large impact.

Really? How many ya think? I think sm and hn1 sell them for like 3$ each...so that would be pretty expensive plus shipping...

 

[adadkins1]

Horned Nerites do stay fairly small, under 1" if I remember correctly. I would say you could do 3 snails and be doing good.

 

[Gboy66]

Horned Nerites do stay fairly small, under 1" if I remember correctly. What size tank are we talking about?

40 gallon, but the main concern are all the diatoms on my plants i have quite a few. Maybe get 5?

 

[okapizebra]

I have two nerites in my 29 gal and they barely make an impact... I can see little spots where they've eaten algae but I'd need quite a few more to make much more of an impact.

 

[adadkins1]

Sorry, edited my post. He only has issues on plants, not a full blown tank algae outbreak. I think 3-5 would be fine.

 

[Gboy66]

Sorry, edited my post. He only has issues on plants, not a full blown tank algae outbreak. I think 3-5 would be fine.

Really? Cool. I just made a wanted thread.

Ya, i have a mag float so its actually kinda fun to clean the glasd the plants need work though

 

[Koikid88]

Check out Garra gotylas if you want algae eating fish. Best out there, a **** of a lot more fun to watch than other algae eaters.

I just cycled my 90g tank, 1 week with nothing, 2nd week planted maybe 30%, 3rd week another 30% of plants plus a school of bloodfins. 4th week another 10% of plants, plus my yoyos and red eye tetras. Entering 5th week, here come the diatoms accompanied by the nice dark brown algae. Was expected, and was looking for various ways to combat this, which is when I came across your post.
Still nasty looking as ever in week 6, Now about 60% stocked with 85% planted.

I cleaned some plants by hand, trimmed all the plants that had extreme amounts of algae. It's slowly declining.


So when it comes down to it, nerites will eat this stuff?

 

[okapizebra]

Yes. They are excellent algae eaters IMO.

 

[fisheyed]

Nerites are good algae eaters, but in cases of bad algae, I focus on regular small weekly water changes, dosing ferts, and that's always restored balance for me after a solid month. Algae is always present, it only starts to thrive when your plants cannot extract nutrients from the water which can happen when there is not enough nutrients, not enough light, to much light, not enough water changes. But I do love Nerites and do think they help, they are just not capable of cleaning up constant algae growth. Maybe for soft algaes also try Otto cats