Algae / Plec Dialema ?

[george4]

Presently I have a 400 litre tank (rio 400) with 10 discus and a fully grown common plec. The plec does not bother the discus but I am aware he is a risky tank mate and would like to get rid of him as he is literally a poo machine and my tank would be alot cleaner without him.

PROBLEM is, i have tried getting rid of him in the past and within 2 weeks tank is covered in algae and needs a complete clean. I have recently switched to RO water which has reduced algae growth slightly but not enought to get rid of him i dont think..

What can I do to eliminate algae. I have tried dosing with ferts but this was expensive and ineffective . Any solutions would be greatly appreciated. I know I could manually remove algae every week but I do not have time for this especially considering the size of the tank.

I do weekly water change of between 30-40% nitrate nitrites are 0 all other perameters are perfect.


Any advice much appreciated

Thank you

 

[a.wagg]

Do you have any plants in the tank? If you don't, you could throw some in, they really make a tank look good, and out compete the algae for light/nutrients. Algae thrives off imbalance, so the lack of Mr. Pleco might throw your tanks ecosystem off. The tank will eventually come around, mostly likely, however you could try some other Algae eaters. Apple snails are good as well as some smaller plec's, like rubbernose/bulldog and well as many other varieties. Try the pleco section of this forum, where there's a pinned list of smaller plecos.

 

[walkers101]

wow you dont have the time to clean a 400 litre

i have an 800 litre abd clean it almost daily

maybe you should get a smaller tank

 

[george4]

I have time to clean the tank as I said in the post I do 30-40% weekly but I do not want to have to scrub glass every week when the pleco does a perfect job at the moment.... . A daily water change seems a bit over the top, my work commitments would not allow this.... wish I had the time like you .

I do have a reasonable amount of plants in the tank but these do not grow very well. Smaller plecs may well be a good option but would they eat any where near as much algae ?

 

[a.wagg]

I do have a reasonable amount of plants in the tank but these do not grow very well. Smaller plecs may well be a good option but would they eat any where near as much algae ?

I would add some ferts for an extended period of time. At the start, you might get some heavy algae, but once it gets established the plants will thank you, and probably start out competing the algae. Also, try some floating plant like frogbit to lessen the light

 

[kevinjames]

smaller bn plecs will work well here. how long are your lights on daily? oh and your nitrAtes shouldnt be zero.

 

[minnnt]

+1.

Your lights should be cut to 6 hours a day until you get it under control. The Common Pleco is a little too large and must stand out like a sore thumb amongst your graceful Discus? Try adding some fast growing stem plants such as Elodea and Hygrophila as these will use up nutrients very quickly indeed and will more than likely out-compete the algae for them. Don't under estimate the cleaning capabilities of a young BN, they will consume more algae than your Common Pleco is doing as he is more or less fully grown like you said? Try looking into the issue of sorting the algae rather than adding fish to sort it for you, but they would make a great addition, although it would depend on what temperature you are keeping you Discus at.