Algae Eater Needed/wanted

[diet]

Hi all I need tour advice.

I have a problem with algae on my glass. I know this is prob caused by direct sunlight but i cannot re-locate the tank to anywhere else.

Im think about poss getting something to help keep the algae down on the glass.
I thought along th elines of a pleco but i know they are way to big,

I need somethign that will stay small 2 Inches long or thereabouts.

I have a community tank that is pretty much stocked to the hilt so cant have a fish that needs friends.

see sig for tank info

 

[samyboy]

ive got a golden alge eater great lil fish they do get big(ish) and can become agressive to others

 

[nuttsaboutfish]

An otocinclus is a dwarf catfish only growing to around 1" so would be suitable to clean up for you and not over stock your tank.
seems quite a bit in your tank at the minute for the size of tank.

 

[diet]

An otocinclus is a dwarf catfish only growing to around 1" so would be suitable to clean up for you and not over stock your tank.
seems quite a bit in your tank at the minute for the size of tank.

Yeah i know, some of those fish are rescued from another tank who's owners were just goign to kill the fish.

The situation may not be ideal but the fish all seem ok and there's no aggression at all.

Getting another tank soon for my daughter so i will be able to split them up in 6 months or so

 

[nuttsaboutfish]

Do you have extra filtration as well as just the standard juwel. May need to run either an external or another internal to deal with all the extra waste if you plan to run for another 6 months.
Do you do water test and change water weekly?

 

[Marshall..]

If you keep up the water changes and regularly wash the filter in aquarium water you should be able to keep
them healthy.But I don't think you could afford any laziness where maintenance is concerned(This could be
why you have a lot of algae!)Great that you rescued the fish though I would have done the same.

 

[diet]

I have a ehiem 2213 (external filter) set up runnign aswell.

I do weekly 30% water changes and the filters r cleaned inturn everyweek.

I do the strip test once a week or any sign of trouble and a full water test at the lfs every fortnight. (using the liquid test thingy)
which only costs me a £1

I looked at those small catfish but it says it needs to be in groups of 3 ormore and there are report of them being none community friendly.

The algae is caused by the sunlight coming in from the window which is off to the side of the tank.... Nothing i can do about that i can keep cleaning the front and sides every day but the back is a lil more difficult to get to.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Do you know what sort of algae you have? Not all algae is caused by too much light, some algae is caused by too much or even too little nutrients in the tank, while other types of algae can be caused by things like too little light. How long do you leave the tank lights on per day and what are your nitrate readings and does the tank have any healthy live plants? How often do you do water changes and how much water do you take out/replace on average?
Your tank is overstocked, so you should avoid adding any more fish if you can (even though oto's make good small and efficient algae eaters, they are very sensitive to water quality and don't cope with stressful conditions/situations very well, so don't make good fish for crowded tanks).

 

[nuttsaboutfish]

I have a ehiem 2213 (external filter) set up runnign aswell.

I do weekly 30% water changes and the filters r cleaned inturn everyweek.

I do the strip test once a week or any sign of trouble and a full water test at the lfs every fortnight. (using the liquid test thingy)
which only costs me a £1

I looked at those small catfish but it says it needs to be in groups of 3 ormore and there are report of them being none community friendly.

The algae is caused by the sunlight coming in from the window which is off to the side of the tank.... Nothing i can do about that i can keep cleaning the front and sides every day but the back is a lil more difficult to get to.

If you keep the maintenance up and the testing hopefully things should run ok for you. As for the otocinclus if you keep 3 of them its still less than a bristlenose catfish which groes to around 4". Have you thought about apple snails?

 

[diet]

Do you know what sort of algae you have? Not all algae is caused by too much light, some algae is caused by too much or even too little nutrients in the tank, while other types of algae can be caused by things like too little light. How long do you leave the tank lights on per day and what are your nitrate readings and does the tank have any healthy live plants? How often do you do water changes and how much water do you take out/replace on average?
Your tank is overstocked, so you should avoid adding any more fish if you can (even though oto's make good small and efficient algae eaters, they are very sensitive to water quality and don't cope with stressful conditions/situations very well, so don't make good fish for crowded tanks).

the lights are on for 12 hours a day, as reccomend somewhere here on this forum.
Nitrate is 0the tank has several java ferns that are as healthy as can be.

water change info is above.

Ive decided against the otto's allready because of numbers and the unfriendlness reported in some community tanks.

 

[Jeewhizz]

without meaning to point out hte obvious, can't you cover the side of the tank with something to block sunlight?

 

[diet]

quote]
If you keep the maintenance up and the testing hopefully things should run ok for you. As for the otocinclus if you keep 3 of them its still less than a bristlenose catfish which groes to around 4". Have you thought about apple snails?
[/quote]

I have thought about snails but am a lil worried aboutt hem escaping and scampering across my lounge floor.

God forbid my misses finds them!!! and i can justimagine my 7 month old daughter crawling around having a play with them if she finds them eeek

without meaning to point out hte obvious, can't you cover the side of the tank with something to block sunlight?

light comes in from the right hand side and front of the tank

 

[nuttsaboutfish]

Def think u be better givin snails a miss dont want the child tryin to eat them

 

[diet]

Def think u be better givin snails a miss dont want the child tryin to eat them

lol

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Do you know what sort of algae you have? Not all algae is caused by too much light, some algae is caused by too much or even too little nutrients in the tank, while other types of algae can be caused by things like too little light. How long do you leave the tank lights on per day and what are your nitrate readings and does the tank have any healthy live plants? How often do you do water changes and how much water do you take out/replace on average?
Your tank is overstocked, so you should avoid adding any more fish if you can (even though oto's make good small and efficient algae eaters, they are very sensitive to water quality and don't cope with stressful conditions/situations very well, so don't make good fish for crowded tanks).

the lights are on for 12 hours a day, as reccomend somewhere here on this forum.
Nitrate is 0the tank has several java ferns that are as healthy as can be.

water change info is above.

Ive decided against the otto's allready because of numbers and the unfriendlness reported in some community tanks.

The tank lights really don't need to be on that long especially if the tank is getting a lot of natural sunlight. Java fern is a generally very undemanding and hardy plant to look after, it can do fine with very little light, i would advise leaving the tank lights on for a lot less (like only having them on when you are around the house and want to see the fish in the tank).
Increasing the amount of plants you have in the tank can also help fight and eradicate the algae, as algae is not a very advanced/evolved plant and usually only thrives when the existing plants already have more nutrients and light than they need, or are dying due to various reasons and giving the algae a chance to take over. It doesn't do well with lots of competicion from more evolved aquarium plants, so if you stock up on more healthy live plants, they will start to out-compete the algae for resources and it will die off .