Advice - Plec Or Other Algae Eater?

[MagicPie]

We are interested in getting an algae eater, but don't want a fish that will grow more than 6-8 inches long. We have a mix of brown and green algae - the brown stuff is everywhere and recently noticed green spots appearing on the glass. We have a snail already, but he's all we've got to control it in our 180L tank. My husband would happily get more snails, but I don't want to end up with a snail infested tank.

I would probably prefer several smaller algae eaters than one larger one. It doesn't have to be a plec. We were recommended sino's (I think that's what they were called), but thought I would get some advice here before deciding.

Thanks!

 

[three-fingers]

Well, first of you should understand that adding fish to eat algae is a waste of time in the long-run . A different species of algae will just grow so that the fish don't like to eat, because there's no other algae to out compete it any more. Also, algae eaters will still need fed other food anyway (algae wafers are recommended), so will just create more food for the algae with their waste.

Best way to get rid of algae is to get some fast growing plants growing, just make sure you choose species suitable for your tank, otherwise you will likely end up wasting money on plants that will just slowly die in your tank. Most LFSs give bad advice about plants, so dont count on them to know the species. I would recommend hornwort and Hygrophila species for most tanks, as these are easy and don't require much lighting. Floating plants are also a great idea, and are probably the easiest to grow - but will block light for any other plants you might want. Plants have the added benefit of giving you better water quality: look forward to lower nitrate levels.

If you still want an algae eater (to get rid of algae initially when adding plants) then bristlenose plecs are brilliant. A group (3 minimum) of siamese algae eaters would also be good, and are very nice active fish too.

Things to avoid (despite what LFS says) are most other plec species (most get too big or arent good at eating algae), Otocinclus (they are fine if you know that they will require a bit of extra attention, see this site), Chinese algae eaters (usually sold as "sucking loaches" or just "algae eaters", get to be big aggressive fish).

Synodontis catfish (usually called synos) are great fish, but aren't good algae eaters in the slightest. If you want one, make sure you know what species your getting - there's over a hundred species and they vary greatly in size and behaviour.

Other things that have been shown to reduce algae in tanks and is a common feature in planted tanks, is having a rated water volume turnover of around 10x per hour, minimum. Most filters produce a turnover significantly less than this. So to help rid algae, I would recommend adding a powerhead to the tank that will make up the rest of the 10x after accounting for the filter.

 

[Syphoniera]

Holy cow, I think I've just seen the perfect post...
Can I add my amateur suggestion that Nerite snails are fabulous algae eaters and can't reproduce in fresh water, although they do leave tiny, infertile eggs scattered about the tank?
While they're too heavy to clean delicate, small-leaved, upright plants, they do an amazing job on glass, substrate and decorations.

Also, I previously had to take off a 20 watt fluorescent plant bulb from a 25 gallon as it was growing brown algae rather than hygro, something that sorted itself out under better CF lighting.
Since I'm financially challenged, I recently tried balancing that canopy over a 10 gal. stocked with low-light plants, and wound up hauling it back off and sharing a canopy with CF bulbs between two tanks - it encouraged brown algae even in the much lower tank, although that's beginning to clear up with the better light which encourages the plants to grow and outcompete the algae for nutrients such as ammonia which can otherwise harm fish.
I don't know why such useless lighting capacity is provided with standard tank kits, (probably merely because there's nothing better available to buy without running into big bucks, so they still sell) unless you buy incandescent and get CF Soft White/Daylight bulbs...
But these are the only times I've had brown algae, that I can recall.
So, personally, I'd also consider lighting as a potentially contributing factor, especially if following the excellent advice to put in plenty of fast growing plants.
In my limited experience, brown algae seems to appear with inadequate lighting - even doing so in a tank with a hygro forest as in that 25 gallon mentioned above, which actually had otos (plump-bellied then and now) resident.
Of course, any excuse for acquiring otos and bristlenose plecs is handy, because they're great fish, assuming your conditions are suitable...