Hola! Tank Maintenence

[Alps]

I have a 10 gallon tank with 2 hatchet fish, 2 corys, and 3 neon tetras.
I also have those plastic plants that are difficult to clean.

I change about 20% of the water every week or two but my algae problems still worsen.
I am doing a big tank clean right now and was wondering

1) How should i clean plastic plants? I use a toothbrush now
2) any advice to help keep my tank clean - ex a type of fish besides large plecos?, water changes, and gravel syphons
3) any advice on a good filter- maybe the penguin bio-wheel 100?
4) do undergravel filters really work? I have the 2 tubes which i put the air hose down and the tubes connect to the undergravel filters/ more like elevated black panels below the rocks
5) what type of gravel would be easiest to maintain, and is good for bottom feeders? I have regular pieces of small gravel, but they really aren't good for corys

Thanks for the advice

 

[rdd1952]

Hi Alps and welcome to the forum.

The 2 biggest causes of algae are overfeeding and too much light. How long do you have your tank lights on each day? With plastic plants, you really only need to burn them while you're there to view the fish. Also, is the tank where it gets direct sunlight? That is a major algae trigger. How often do you feed them and do they eat it all in 2 or 3 minutes? Left over food will feed algae too. As for cleaning the plants, the toothbrush will work, You can also just rub the leaves or algae covered spots with your finger or dip them in a mild bleach/water solution. Just make sure you get them rinsed good before putting them back in the tank.

There are some small algae eaters that would work for your tank. Otos are very small, only about 1.5" when grown. Amano Shrimp also are good algae eaters. Unfortunately, you are pretty much fully stocked now so you don't have much room for any more fish. The shrimp would be your best option as they will eat algae and aren't much of a bioload addition. What type algae do you have? If it is blue green algae, there aren't any fish or inverts that will eat it. Check out this thread. It has loads of info on types of algae and algae eaters too.

As to the filters, UGFs are pretty much outdated. They don't offer very good filtration and you would be much better off with a power filter or cannister filter of some type. Just make sure it is rated for a minimum of 50 gallon per hour.

Corys (all bottom feeders for that matter) love sand. They find food with their barbels (whiskers) and the gravel can damage them, especially if it's sharp-edged. If you get rid of the UGF, you could switch to sand but be careful as most of your bacteria colony will be in your gravel since you do have a UGF. Aquaclear filters are supposed to be really good. I've never tried them but most of the members on here that have them really like them.

Last but not least, I see that your group is "Validating". You will need to go to the email you received when you registered and click the link in it to validate your membership. Until then, you will only be able to post in the Newbie and Beginners sections. Also, PM a mod (their names are blue in the list at the bottom of the Forums page) and have them move this to the Beginners section. You will get more replies to it there. Good luck.

 

[frazoo]

use snails to eat alge it may tank them a lil bit but if you buy any live plant from your lfs you should get atleast 2 snails. they reproduce fairly quicly but you may find them unsightly(so dont listen to me if you snails)
or you could buy a black or gold mystery snail for like $1.50 and they help a lil bit you may think these guys are gross too so dont listen to me
personaly i find snails attractive
as for the gravel just buy a big bag from your LFS wash it off and dump it in
I personaly like to tanke the gravel out of thhe creek in my back yard, civ it , wash it reely good and dump it in
(i put it through a sceen that has 1\2" square holes in it and so i get only the small rocks

 

[Alps]

use snails to eat alge it may tank them a lil bit but if you buy any live plant from your lfs you should get atleast 2 snails. they reproduce fairly quicly but you may find them unsightly(so dont listen to me if you snails)
or you could buy a black or gold mystery snail for like $1.50 and they help a lil bit you may think these guys are gross too so dont listen to me
personaly i find snails attractive
as for the gravel just buy a big bag from your LFS wash it off and dump it in
I personaly like to tanke the gravel out of thhe creek in my back yard, civ it , wash it reely good and dump it in
(i put it through a sceen that has 1\2" square holes in it and so i get only the small rocks

I'm trying to stay away from snails (bad experiences when I was younger)
I'll try 1 or 2 of those oto's and I'll be sure to give them wafers.

Is there any gravel or sand in particular that you would recommend? I'm trying to stay away from sand but still be able to have live plants.

- I just bought 1 cork screw plant just to test with the regular gravel I have now

thanks for the input

As to the filter I have an aquaclear mini and I have taken out my UGF