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algae control and pleco's

1K views 6 replies 6 participants last post by  ChuckinMA 
#1 ·
I have a 10 gallon freshwater tropical tank set at 80degrees. Fine sand substrate and It is heavily planted and has some driftwood. Inhabitants are 2 platties and a dwarf frog. Lighting is a full spectrum fluorescent and I got a Fluval C3 filter.


I only turn the light on 6 hours during mid day. It gets a few hours of dim indirect light before and after. I feed sparingly, only once a day for the platties and just what they eat in a minute or so. I feed the frog 5 sinking pellets every other day. I do water changes once a week about 30% and I drop 1ml of seachem flourish in there every OTHER water change.

However algae is growing on the leaves and decor and sides of the tank. I do scrub the tank and decor of algae during water changes. Should I just stop using Seachem Flourish?

Petco manager recommended I get a cleaner, a bristlenose pleco said they only get 5 inches max but he is about 1inch right now. So I did, algae still growing but is just growing slower. However, because the pleco free feeds all day and night within 2 days the sand is covered in pleco poo. He poops ALOT.

What else can I do to maintain a clean aquarium :(
 
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#3 ·
I have heard Amano Shrimp are great! Otocinclus catfish are also great (I've heard), but in my experience they are finicky and I've yet to keep one alive for more than a couple weeks. I've kept Amano's alive though, but I only had max 3 in my 50g tank so I can't tell if they helped with algae or not. Siamese algae eaters are also supposed to do good with certain types of algae such as red/brown brush or whatever. I notice these to sometimes pick on the other fish.

I don't really like plecos.
 
#7 ·
I've certainly gone through periods of Algae flares ups. Otocinclus have worked well for me, and I have had several about a year. They also do not damage the plants.

Whatever you do, do NOT buy a Chinese Algae Eater. While effective, they get big, they get very mean, and are REAL difficult to net. I find it surprising that Petsmart regularly sells them (and they call them "algae eaters"). Siamese Algae Eaters are fine though.
 
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