Healthy Algae Level

[Mlkirby]

I have a 75 gallon with only small fish (1 MM Platy adult and 4 babies, 1 Black Molly, 2 glofish, 3 neon tetras, 2 red velvet swordtails, 1 otocinclus (sp)). I've recently had an algae outbreak on my live plants, deco, rocks, and glass. It's not a super amount, but just enough to drive me crazy!

After doing quite a bit of research, I realized my oto cat wasn't going to cut it in that large of a tank, so I opted for a pleco. The one I just purchased is an Albino Bristlenose, since I didn't want a 24" fish at the bottom of my tank! lol

What is a healthy level of algae in this size tank? My water levels are perfect and I'm not having a problem losing fish but I just don't want it to get out of control.

I'm a fairly new enthusiast (less than a year) and I just want to get it right!

Thanks

 

[tulip55555]

I think plecos really need driftwood more than algae. i don't have much algae either. i feed my ancistrus cucumber, zucchini, watermelon, carrot. I leave little strips of skin on and she really goes after those parts.
You can also feed algae wafers. Just look for one with algae as the first ingredient. Some that I have looked at weren't really algae wafers as they had all the same ingredients as the regular fish food. Omega One is what I use and the first ingredients are kelp and spirulina.
With the veggies most people blanch them to soften them up. I only blanch the hard ones like carrot. I figure that if they can rasp wood they can eat raw cucumber.
In the herbivore section of this link is a good list of veggies they like to eat. Also read the wood eater section. I think algae is the smallest part of their diet.
Feeding Plecos, Part 1 • Types of food • Catfishology • Shane's World • PlanetCatfish

 

[Dale_I]

You may want to consider adding a few more otocinclus. They are reported as most comfortable in a group of 3 minimum. I have a 55 gallon tank and have 4 otocinclus and 1 bristle nose pleco. They keep the tank pretty clean. If I see that there is no algae on the glass of the tank, I'll drop in an algae wafer or two every couple of days to make sure they have something to eat.

The pleco will also dine on bloodworms that make it to the substrate past his tank mates, and blanched veggies are not a bad idea. But, make sure to remove the uneaten portion of the veggies after a bit so your bio load isn't increased from rotting food in the tank.

 

[tulip55555]

Yes, I should have mentioned removing the veggies. I leave mine in for 24 hours and have had no problems with anything I listed. I forgot a piece of zucchini for 48 hours and it disintegrated and really messed up my parameters.