Algae clean up crew

[jim692]

Well, the tank has some brown and a little green algae. If I've got the algae, guess I can get the algae eaters. I've looked around and I like the smaller plecos, oto cats, and Siamese algae eaters. They don't seem to big for a 46 Gal. tank, and they look cool.
So, any advice on a good quantity/mix for a 46 gal. community tank.
pH- 7.8, GH-15*, KH-8*, temp-77*f.

Eventual tank mates: (hopefully)
6 cherry barbs
4 zebra danios
2 paradise fish
14 cardinal tetras
1 black molly
8 harlequin rasbora

All thoughts greatly appreciated.

P.S. all thoughts on the eventual stock list also greatly appreciated.

 

[mitcore]

for the green alage bristle noses will fix it for you
as for the brown algae it is not algae as such it is mud, just use the magnet cleaner and run it over the glass that will fix the brown
if the algae is a long and thin sort of flowing in the water then a siamese flying fox is needed they eat this and it is called hair alage
to minimise your alage growth have your lights turned on only 8 hrs a day
this will help stop masses of alage
any of the fish i have mentioned above will be fine in your current stock list

 

[fort384]

Jim,

I recommend the SAEs. I have 3 in my 29G and they do great at cleaning up brown/green and any hair algae in the tank. Just make sure you get true SAEs. A lot of stores sell other fish that look similar but are not SAEs... and they won't touch the algae. The true ones can be harder to find as they are wild-caught and imported.

Here is a link to a good article about how to id them:
Algae Eating Cyprinids

By the way, even with a good cleanup crew, you can expect some brown algae to be on the glass. I wipe mine with a magnet about 2-3 times a week and that keeps it looking nice and clean.

 

[Nyquil Junkie]

I put 2 little otos in a tank whos glass was plastered wwith algae on 2 sides, I was stunned that these little guys after a week have the tank glass nearly licked clean.