Algae on plants and glass

[Batesy82]

I'm having a hard time getting rid of some algae on my dwarf sag and the tank glass. I have the tank lit for 8 hours a day (12pm - 4pm). I have 2 ottos, 2 BNP, ghost shrimp and two silver mollies that i've been told eat algae as well.

Any advice on what to do to help get rid of this stuff?

 

[siva]

The very best detailers for plants and decors IME are nerite snails. Even common pest snails like ramshorns do a great job as well.

I'm surprised your oto's and BNP's aren't taking care of it on the glass though.

 

[Batesy82]

I have a couple pest snails but my loaches seem to keep them in check.

How big are the nerite snails? And will they breed with my pest snails?

 

[siva]

Yeah probably pond snails. Those are the most common in planted tanks.

Different types of nerites can reach different sizes but even the largest I've had is smaller than a ping pong ball. Horned nerites seem to stay much smaller than the non-horned types like zebra, red spot, and batiki. Nerites reproduce only in brackish water, and breeding requires a male and a female. Snails like pond snails and ramshorns are hermaphodites that breed in freshwater and will not interbreed with other types of snails.

 

[tulip55555]

You could try Flourish Excel. Worked for my bba outbreak.

 

[JustinKScott]

Pat is probably on the right track... Algea grows when there is a mis balance of nutrients. So there is something in your tank that is either too much or not enough.

First guess is you don't have enough plants to properly suck up the excess nutrients in your tank. How many plants?

What are your light/ferts/co2/ammo/Nitrate?

 

[AshleyXavier]

i suspect excess nutrients since they don't look like fast growing plants..

for me, best way to get rid of algae is to use a fast growing plant with med to high amount of light to soak up all the nutrients.. xD

works better than introducing pest snails... Otto is too gentle, it won't get rid of algae spots on the glass..