apotocki
Aquarium Advice Regular
Ok....I have a 70 gallon that has been up and running for 12 weeks now. It's been approx 4 weeks since my tank cycled and I've been adding fish every week. Water quality remains good (0 ammonia, 0 Nitrite, about 5 Nitrate, Ph a rock solid 7 and the temp 79)
My 'problem' is that I seem to be getting a quick (and continuing) build up of algae...mostly brown but some has turned green. It's starting to bother me as my once pristine looking tank is starting to look (as my wife puts it - ugly). Is this a normal happening for a relatively new tank and it will eventually slow down?
I've tried vacuuming the gravel (lightly and 1/2 at a time) as well as PWC's of 30% about 2xweek. My silk plants look terrible and I've taken all of them out and cleaned them probably 2-3 times already. The algae comes back within about 3 days.
I added a Gold Nugget Pleco about 2 weeks ago and while he did a good job of cleaning the driftwood, he doesn't seem to be doing much for the rest of the tank. He's about 4 inches and I NEVER see him during the day!?! (although he looks really cool, I'm starting to wonder why I paid the 'big bucks' for him!) He's very shy and hangs out in the cave ALL THE TIME!
Any ideas? Maybe my lighting is too much or on too long? (I'm running a dual tube (due to the tank being very tall) for about 11 hours a day.Would adding a couple (2-3?) Oto's help??? My LFS initially told me not to get Oto's until there was green algae...they said to get a Pleco instead.
Thanks in advance.
My 'problem' is that I seem to be getting a quick (and continuing) build up of algae...mostly brown but some has turned green. It's starting to bother me as my once pristine looking tank is starting to look (as my wife puts it - ugly). Is this a normal happening for a relatively new tank and it will eventually slow down?
I've tried vacuuming the gravel (lightly and 1/2 at a time) as well as PWC's of 30% about 2xweek. My silk plants look terrible and I've taken all of them out and cleaned them probably 2-3 times already. The algae comes back within about 3 days.
I added a Gold Nugget Pleco about 2 weeks ago and while he did a good job of cleaning the driftwood, he doesn't seem to be doing much for the rest of the tank. He's about 4 inches and I NEVER see him during the day!?! (although he looks really cool, I'm starting to wonder why I paid the 'big bucks' for him!) He's very shy and hangs out in the cave ALL THE TIME!
Any ideas? Maybe my lighting is too much or on too long? (I'm running a dual tube (due to the tank being very tall) for about 11 hours a day.Would adding a couple (2-3?) Oto's help??? My LFS initially told me not to get Oto's until there was green algae...they said to get a Pleco instead.
Thanks in advance.