Need help w/algae on plants! Suggestions?

[brendainnj]

I have a 46g bowfront currently stocked with a few low-light plants (sorry, can't remember names, although java fern is one of them) and fake plants. The plants are growing nicely but are covered w/brown algae. How does everyone keep their plants so GREEN?? So far, I've just used my fingers to rub the algae off...not very efficient, plus gross.

I'd love to get an algae eater;currently have 3 yoyo loaches, 6 cories, 14 von rio tetras, and a dwarf guarami. According to AqAdvisor, I have plenty of filtration, just not sure if I'm maxed out on bottom dwellers?

Any suggestions for fish that might help but not disturb the status quo?

 

[SFAquariums1]

Some people will disagree with this statement but I've have good luck with Siamese algea eaters. They've done wonders with my plants. When I did my first ever planted tank I got tons of black brush algea because I had to many excess nutrients. With 2 Siamese algea eaters it was gone in a few days!


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[Lucasraap]

I juse hernite snails the do a great job on alge on plant


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[Mebbid]

Siamese algae eaters do eat algae, but they generally turn into murderous killing machines that habitually eat the eyes of their tank mates while they are still alive. One of the single worst community fish in existence.

If you want something that will eat your diatoms then Oto cats are great for that. Nerite snails also work wonders.

However, that's just a bandaid and won't solve your problems.

How long are you running your lights?
What are your lights?
What are you using for fertilization?
What plants are you having problems with?

In my experience algae really only normally grows on plants that aren't growing very well themselves.

 

[Lucasraap]

The olny dwon side of snail the lai those teribelly eggs


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[SFAquariums1]

I have 3 Siamese algea eaters in my tank currently, and they've been there about 1 year now and I have not had a single issue with them attacking another tank mate.


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[brendainnj]

Ohhh, I was hoping it would be a simple fix....My lighting is poor--it's a 24" high tank & I have a marineland single bright LED. (forget changing that--would start WWIII here). Honestly don't remember what the plants are--foreground plants that needed low light. The lights are on 12 hrs a day--too much? I admit I've been pretty lax about fertilizer--was putting it in faithfully but never seemed to make much of a difference either way.

Not sure how the oto cats would get along with my loaches & cories or how many of them I would need. As for snails...would make a nice snack for the loaches!

 

[schoeplein]

12 hours is definitely too long. Cut back to 8 as a start.

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[Mebbid]

I have 3 Siamese algea eaters in my tank currently, and they've been there about 1 year now and I have not had a single issue with them attacking another tank mate.


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Sorry, I always mix up the Siamese and Chinese algae eaters in my head for some reason the Siamese are great for hair algae but not soo much diatoms.

It's the chinese algae eaters that are evil incarnate.

 

[elephantnose]

Try Otos, they stay small and eat algae like crazy.


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[SFAquariums1]

Yeah, Chinese algea eaters are awful and they make a mess out of tanks! Siamese algea eaters work great for me with all algea except for glass algea!

As for the oto's I don't think you would have an issue with your loaches. I would start with 1 as they are pretty good/ quick once they fin the algea!


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[Meggieelala]

Does anyone know what this algae eater is and how to feed it, it was sold to me as a Chinese algae eater but when I looked up online doesn't appear to be one. I am worried it may starve to death as my tank is pretty clean and it will not go on the bottom of the tank to eat algae wafers.


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[Mebbid]

Its a hillstream loach. Sadly, they only belong in very specific setups and definitely arent suited to a regular tropical aquarium. They need extremely fast flowing cold oxygenated water to thrive. They usually suffocate in a regular tropical aquarium.

 

[keegster803]

If you get the golden otos, they stay 2 inches or less and my peppered cories love em


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[Hoffman]

What worked for me was a group of shrimp and water change every day. It brought the nutrients down, and the plants finally won the battle and the algae subsided.

 

[keegster803]

I had that problem, so I added RCS and otos, and they keep it to a minimum, and love the plants


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[Hoffman]

If you do decide shrimp, try one or two first. In my one tank they become food quickly

 

[Meggieelala]

Its a hillstream loach. Sadly, they only belong in very specific setups and definitely arent suited to a regular tropical aquarium. They need extremely fast flowing cold oxygenated water to thrive. They usually suffocate in a regular tropical aquarium.

Thanks


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[gilpi]

I have a low light low tech setup. I had to cut back to one strip 6500k about 6 hours. My amazons don't do much under this light but the ferns grow nicely, give them more light and algae grows out of control, too much fertilizer will grow algae so it's all a balance I guess, I'm still learning.

 

[Luananeko]

If you do decide shrimp, try one or two first. In my one tank they become food quickly

I had that same problem in my 75g. Solution? Buy a ton of Ghost Shrimp at once (super cheap because they're sold as live food, and decent cleaners to boot) and add them all at the same time. Their bioload is low enough that even a big pack of them won't upset things. The biggest ones have survived in my tank for the last month while my loaches have gotten a nice snack out of the smaller ones. The smaller ones still helped clean the algae a bit before getting snacked on, and the whole pack combined with Nerites have allowed me to take back control of my tank after my substrate swap caused my plants to fall behind at outcompeting the algae. My loaches have LOVED being able to hunt for their live snacks, so its a win-win scenario

Altering your lighting/fert schedule is the first step to prevent additional algae from getting a foothold, and the shrimp/snails/ottos/SAEs will do the rest to clean up the pre-existing stuff.