Hi,
I got 20 and 55 gallon planted tanks. I light them up for 12 hours. They both have brown algae on the substrate. I was wondering if I am lighting it up too much and should reduce the hours to 8 or 10 instead. I have 5 otos in my 55 gallon tank and they just can't keep up. I also got 2 otos in my 20 gallon.
Also, the 20 gallon tank has been having algal bloom that makes the water murky. When I clean the tank, it is brown.
A related fact is that about 3 weeks ago I had put some plastic plants above the sponge filters (on the water surface) to entrap the air bubbles. The reason I put it wa to protect the glass covering from having scale build up. Anyways, there is a significant build-up of brown algae there as well. Any ideas on how else I can entrap the air bubbles? Or is my flow rate too high?
I had heard that snails also clean algae up really well. However, I don't want to have my tank overpopulated with them. Are mystery snails good for this purpose? Any ideas or suggestions would help.
~Ami
I got 20 and 55 gallon planted tanks. I light them up for 12 hours. They both have brown algae on the substrate. I was wondering if I am lighting it up too much and should reduce the hours to 8 or 10 instead. I have 5 otos in my 55 gallon tank and they just can't keep up. I also got 2 otos in my 20 gallon.
Also, the 20 gallon tank has been having algal bloom that makes the water murky. When I clean the tank, it is brown.
A related fact is that about 3 weeks ago I had put some plastic plants above the sponge filters (on the water surface) to entrap the air bubbles. The reason I put it wa to protect the glass covering from having scale build up. Anyways, there is a significant build-up of brown algae there as well. Any ideas on how else I can entrap the air bubbles? Or is my flow rate too high?
I had heard that snails also clean algae up really well. However, I don't want to have my tank overpopulated with them. Are mystery snails good for this purpose? Any ideas or suggestions would help.
~Ami