Which Algae Eater

[AdAndrews]

how will the stocking affect levels of algae nick, he might have 1000000 fish but not have a problem with high nitrite levels or phosphate.

Thats the problem with this forum, you ask a simple question and people try to find out your life story, HE ASKED WHICH ONES WERE SUITABLE, FOR HIS SIZE OF TANK, Idiots!

 

[saz326]

well you havent said what you stocking is in this 54L tank, this will enable us to tell you what you could get.

Woah - Nick. Deep breath please.

You are kinda the guy sounding agressive here. Starting a sentence with "well" reminds me of the kids in mums class (shes a teacher) trying to outdoo each other "Wellllll, Mine is better than yours!"

Even mature and perfectly balanced tanks can sustain algae. Just because a tank doesnt have perfect balance doesnt mean that it will get algae. I actually think a little algae is needed - on rocks specifically in my tank. It makes things look a whole lot more natural.

Ash - Is your tank a new setup - or has it been going for a while? Is the algae new? Or has it been growing for a while?

If a mature tank develops algae that it never had before then it can indicate water problems.

I personally love my bristlenose, and my shrimps for removing algae.

 

[Schmill]

I think there are definitly 2 sides to this...

Firstly yes, you need to know why you have algae growing, and what algae you have growing.
However that doesn't mean you HAVE to do anything about it. As said above, some algae is good, it helps the rocks etc all start to become 'part' of the tank, rather than just sat in it.
Taking it to an extreme there would be no problem really with having so much algae that you could bearly see through the glass, if you had a tank of algae eaters, it was the right algae and thats what you wanted...

So first, what algae is it, and why is it growing? (Once you know this you may be able to increase / decrease the growth as you desire).
Secondly what algea eaters will eat it?
Thirdly will they fit in your tank?

Seems like we have a good source of information for 'stage 3' of what will fit, but until we understand the algae (stage 1), I'm not sure you can really decide which fish to put in (stage 2)

Good luck, following with interest

 

[Nick16]

how will the stocking affect levels of algae nick, he might have 1000000 fish but not have a problem with high nitrite levels or phosphate.

Thats the problem with this forum, you ask a simple question and people try to find out your life story, HE ASKED WHICH ONES WERE SUITABLE, FOR HIS SIZE OF TANK, Idiots!

haha now this is funny, if you have a 54 litre tank, he may have rtbs in it you never know so therefore it is pointless getting something like ottos as they will be eaten. that comment was not to do with chemicals but having 1000000 fish in that tank would have very high nitrates let alone getting them all in. i think you should read up. if he has a small communty tank with very few fish then maybe but algae eaters like small plecs produce soo much waste, but being the expert that you are i suppose you already though of that but your intelligence was far beyond that to even think of posting it up.
in summary, he may have lots of options or have may have just snails as an option if his tank is already full, and like i have said, ottos require perfect water parameters and are very succeptible to sudden changes in water temps etc.

 

[aaronnorth]

how will the stocking affect levels of algae nick, he might have 1000000 fish but not have a problem with high nitrite levels or phosphate.

Thats the problem with this forum, you ask a simple question and people try to find out your life story, HE ASKED WHICH ONES WERE SUITABLE, FOR HIS SIZE OF TANK, Idiots!

I am not intending to turn this into an argument, but if you would of read rdd's post he summed it up perfectly - just because a fish is called an algae eater, it doesnt mean it will eat all types of algae, otocinclus are a suitable size for his tank, but what is the point in getting them if he has hair algae? They only eat diatoms and GDA. He would need a SAE which will get too large for his aquarium, so we need to fix the cause, causes of hair algae include ammonia spike, poor CO2, low nutrient levels. So by simply fixing the problem, the algae will be eradicated.

Stocking also plays an important role, no point in him buying more fish if he is overstocked, it will lead to more problems, and he may have 1000000 fish with no nitrite or phosphate (dont know what PO4 has to do with it) but the fish health will deteriorate as they will feel insecure and will have no room to swim,

 

[Nick16]

i think you summed it up in better english than i did. cheers for that aaron

 

[Ash18]

O dear looks like ive caused quite a stir in here

Anyway ive had my tank set up for ummmm....... over 6 months now. like i say my tank isnt over run with algae lol its just on the back glass and bits on some plants but it has been like this for a while and doesnt seem to be getting any worse.

I think i do have too many fish in my tank also but im re-homing my 2 angels as they grown fast than expected hehe
Also i make sure i do at least 20-25 % water change every week.

My stocking is:

3 Honey gourami
5 white cloud mountain minnows
2 angels( re-homing)
2 amano shrimp



Also i have never cleaned my tank from algae since ive had it so i quess its just natural algae rite?


oh i forgot to discribe what it looks like:

Well it appears to be brown

Would an oto eat tht lol

 

[fish.com1]

O dear looks like ive caused quite a stir in here

Anyway ive had my tank set up for ummmm....... over 6 months now. like i say my tank isnt over run with algae lol its just on the back glass and bits on some plants but it has been like this for a while and doesnt seem to be getting any worse.

I think i do have too many fish in my tank also but im re-homing my 2 angels as they grown fast than expected hehe
Also i make sure i do at least 20-25 % water change every week.

My stocking is:

3 Honey gourami
5 white cloud mountain minnows
2 angels( re-homing)
2 amano shrimp



Also i have never cleaned my tank from algae since ive had it so i quess its just natural algae rite?


oh i forgot to discribe what it looks like:

Well it appears to be brown

Would an oto eat tht lol

No otos mainly eat green algae. You could get some more anamo shrimp or even some cherries.

 

[Nick16]

so all the people that argued with me, and said why are you asking all these questions, would have gone out, bought an 'algae eater' and found it didnt eat the algae. a round of applause for those people :stupid:

anyway, with brown algae, i think you should read up about it and try to eliminate that suff. look on aaronnorths sig, he has a link to all the types of algae and some info on it.

 

[Ash18]

well ive just cleaned it off and il reseach the algae and see what the courses could be.

My stocking is ok though when the angels have gone yeh?

Thanks guys
sorry for all the confusion

 

[Nick16]

when the angels have gone, its fine. i would up the shrimp population to about 5 or 6, that way they eat algae but are not having a massive effect upon your bio load. also they are facinating to watch.

 

[Ash18]

i think il just try get some more shrimp then

if i had cherry shrimp would they quickly breed lol because i dont kow wot id do with all the babies hehe

 

[Nick16]

cherries will breed fast but only t the 'size of the tank' once they feel the tank is crowded enough they will stop. but they dont do much for algae, amano shrimp are far better but you cant really breed them that easily. and they are cheap anyway.

 

[Gruffle]

I see the FishForums.net Forum Police(tm) have visited this thread

 

[Ash18]

Il try get my hands on some of those then

Thanks for all you help everybody

and sorry if i sounded aggresive at any point lol it wasnt intended