Ornaments n plastic plants

The plastic plants n ornaments in my tank are getting algae n the algae eaters I have can't catch up or don't care too much bout it.
Should I just take the ornaments n plants out of tank, wash em up n put em back in or not ? If so how often should I clean em up ?

When you have an issue with algae it is usually caused by too much light of over feeding.

Anyway, yes, you can just wash the plants and stuff. Depending on how much of a problem the algae is you could just wash the items when doing water changes but would not need to do it every water change. When you wash the stuff I would suggest doing it in the container that holds the removed water.

No soap. Use a brush or a pad.

jaylach said:

When you have an issue with algae it is usually caused by too much light of over feeding.

Anyway, yes, you can just wash the plants and stuff. Depending on how much of a problem the algae is you could just wash the items when doing water changes but would not need to do it every water change. When you wash the stuff I would suggest doing it in the container that holds the removed water.

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Makes a lot of sense. Thanks for the advice

One of the fatal errors many aquarists make when they start out is over cleaning.

THink of the aquarium as a living organism, created as surfaces are colonized by bacteria and archaea, which give you the cycle. Remove that, and fish die. A sterile aquarium is a deathtrap.

So how neat do you need? If the decorations vanish under a layer of scum, you can clean them. If they are slightly covered and far from new looking anymore, let them be.

I gravel vac rarely. But I have been doing this for a long time, and I don't overfeed (much). All my tanks have plants. I do weekly 30% water changes, on a schedule.

Aim for controlled growth, at the most. This is a difficult hobby if you have control freak tendencies, as tank do what tanks will, often unpredictably. Fish will rearrange decor. Beneficial algaes will arrive along with noxious ones. Clean no more of the decor than you absolutely have to, and keep the water changes coming.

GaryE said:

One of the fatal errors many aquarists make when they start out is over cleaning.

THink of the aquarium as a living organism, created as surfaces are colonized by bacteria and archaea, which give you the cycle. Remove that, and fish die. A sterile aquarium is a deathtrap.

So how neat do you need? If the decorations vanish under a layer of scum, you can clean them. If they are slightly covered and far from new looking anymore, let them be.

I gravel vac rarely. But I have been doing this for a long time, and I don't overfeed (much). All my tanks have plants. I do weekly 30% water changes, on a schedule.

Aim for controlled growth, at the most. This is a difficult hobby if you have control freak tendencies, as tank do what tanks will, often unpredictably. Fish will rearrange decor. Beneficial algaes will arrive along with noxious ones. Clean no more of the decor than you absolutely have to, and keep the water changes coming.

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Totally agree and also, when I used to use artificial plants, I found that they really looked better and more natural with a bit of algae on them. Personally I'd worry a bit if my tank had zero algae as it is part of the ecology we are trying to mimic.

jaylach said:

Totally agree and also, when I used to use artificial plants, I found that they really looked better and more natural with a bit of algae on them. Personally I'd worry a bit if my tank had zero algae as it is part of the ecology we are trying to mimic.

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Makes sense. Thanks bud

A a good way to clean ornaments or plants with algae or other debris on them is to put them in a container that you can close and cover them with some hydrogen peroxide, close the lid or the container and allow it to sit for a little bit so the hydrogen peroxide can go ahead and destroy whatever is growing on top of your ornaments / plants. Come back with a brush and it should relatively easily scrub off. Now you have to do is rinse it off and you can put it back in your tank. I stopped using plastic plants and ornaments just because of this, and I also noticed that the ornaments were usually painted and the paint would chip off after a few cleanings. Now I just use natural rocks and wood instead of ornaments in my fish tanks and real plants when I can (can meaning I don't have fish that will operate the plans or eat them)

Would be good to see a picture of how bad it is and what algae eaters you have.
You say you have algae eaters so I would not want to cleanup too much.

How much other food do you feed?

I recently moved from feeding everyday to feeding every other day and have ended up with the opposite problem.
I have Dwarf sucker oto's, snails and shrimp and they are now running out of Algae (Except that long stringy stuff no one wants and an odd blob of black beard here and there)
I don't even clean the glass anymore.

Also you state you have plastic plants, any reason you are not using real plants. These will utilize alot of the same nutrients algae does and therefore potentially reduce the algae growth.

Boundava said:

A a good way to clean ornaments or plants with algae or other debris on them is to put them in a container that you can close and cover them with some hydrogen peroxide, close the lid or the container and allow it to sit for a little bit so the hydrogen peroxide can go ahead and destroy whatever is growing on top of your ornaments / plants. Come back with a brush and it should relatively easily scrub off. Now you have to do is rinse it off and you can put it back in your tank. I stopped using plastic plants and ornaments just because of this, and I also noticed that the ornaments were usually painted and the paint would chip off after a few cleanings. Now I just use natural rocks and wood instead of ornaments in my fish tanks and real plants when I can (can meaning I don't have fish that will operate the plans or eat them)

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I would love to have nice live plants n I tried the easiest ones but they died on me. Plus I'm still re learning how to take care of fish so live plants will be in the future once I become more knowledgeable bout taking care of them

TC33 said:

Would be good to see a picture of how bad it is and what algae eaters you have.
You say you have algae eaters so I would not want to cleanup too much.

How much other food do you feed?

I recently moved from feeding everyday to feeding every other day and have ended up with the opposite problem.
I have Dwarf sucker oto's, snails and shrimp and they are now running out of Algae (Except that long stringy stuff no one wants and an odd blob of black beard here and there)
I don't even clean the glass anymore.

Also you state you have plastic plants, any reason you are not using real plants. These will utilize alot of the same nutrients algae does and therefore potentially reduce the algae growth.

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In the purple leaves pics its kinds of hard to see it but the dark spots are algae.
The reason why I have plastic plants n not live one's is because I'm barely being able to take care of the fish the water parameters n stopping from dying so add live plants to me means buying more special lights, fertilizer, pay attention to the lights watts n time being on. So adding that to my brain trying to keep the fish n water parameters ok is a little too much.
I also tried the easiest ones someone told me like Amazon swords n 2 kinds of ferns they told me I didn't need special lights or fertiliser they would b fine on their own but they all died.
So I'm kinda of frustrated. But I will get there someday.
I boughta 36 G tank for my wife cause she had 3 koi betta females in a 5 G n she filled the new tank with live plants n hot some fertiliser. I will see how that goes n then might try again

I don’t think that is too much algae, especially if you have algae eaters…

I used to get much heavier algae than that, on the top leaves of a tall plastic plant, until my zebra Oto discovered it… they are now clean, and the Oto visits that spot regularly for a meal

Magnum Man said:

I don’t think that is too much algae, especially if you have algae eaters…

I used to get much heavier algae than that, on the top leaves of a tall plastic plant, until my zebra Oto discovered it… they are now clean, and the Oto visits that spot regularly

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TC33 said:

Would be good to see a picture of how bad it is and what algae eaters you have.
You say you have algae eaters so I would not want to cleanup too much.

How much other food do you feed?

I recently moved from feeding everyday to feeding every other day and have ended up with the opposite problem.
I have Dwarf sucker oto's, snails and shrimp and they are now running out of Algae (Except that long stringy stuff no one wants and an odd blob of black beard here and there)
I don't even clean the glass anymore.

Also you state you have plastic plants, any reason you are not using real plants. These will utilize alot of the same nutrients algae does and therefore potentially reduce the algae growth.

Click to expand...

I have 2 dunno if they're ottoman or siamess algae eaters they're always moving around but the algae is always there. I saw em on top of the dog statue kinda of eating the algae there but the algae is still there so I guess I have 2 lazy eaters I also have a pleco n a spotted Raphael catfish but none of them is doing its job .....

Most algae eaters don’t have “teeth” usually more like brush bristles… so they often remove thin layers… if algae is growing faster than they can remove it, it builds up

Magnum Man said:

Most algae eaters don’t have “teeth” usually more like brush bristles… so they often remove thin layers… if algae is growing faster than they can remove it, it builds up

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That makes sense