Can I Add A Pleco And Will It Help Me Algae Problem ?

[efina]

I have a 125l tank which completed its fishless cycle about 3 weeks ago and so far I have added 6 Glowlight and 6 neon Tetras. The tank also has a range of plants with CO2

The tank levels are good with NH3=0, NO2=0, but the PH level is a little low at 6.5, I think this is due to the Nutra soil I have used.

The problem I'm currently having is algae which is growing on my bogwood, background and tank glass. I have reduced my lighting to 8hrs a day and have done a 10% water change (should these be done daily ??)

I was hoping if I added a pleco fish it might help control the algae ??

Any suggestions would be most helpful ??

 

[Livewire88]

Adding a Pleco could solve the problem but could also make it worse due to the amount of waste it will produce.

The pleco will eat the algea and constantly poo everywhere so a better solution to your problem would be to find out why you are experiancing a lot of algea growth. Is your tank next to a window?

How about adding some shrimp, they will help control the algea and wont add hardly anyting to the bio load of your tank.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

If your nitrate level was truely 0, the odds of an algae issue would be low. Nitrate test kits are shocking inaccurate, in order to make them affordable, you literally need to hammer the bottles for minutes on a solid surface to get plenty of the test chemical back into solution to get anything close to a true reading.

I would choose something like a Panaque maccus over an Ancistrus spp. in a 125l, depending upon what tankmates it will have.

 

[stu40]

I have a 125l tank which completed its fishless cycle about 3 weeks ago and so far I have added 6 Glowlight and 6 neon Tetras. The tank also has a range of plants with CO2

The tank levels are good with NH3=0, NO2=0, but the PH level is a little low at 6.5, I think this is due to the Nutra soil I have used.

The problem I'm currently having is algae which is growing on my bogwood, background and tank glass. I have reduced my lighting to 8hrs a day and have done a 10% water change (should these be done daily ??)

I was hoping if I added a pleco fish it might help control the algae ??

Any suggestions would be most helpful ??

Do you know what algae you have ? Algae guide
When you say co2, what are we talking about?
Are you dosing additional ferts to go with the co2?
TBH if you're using pressurised & decent ferts i'd expect virtually no algae.

edit:do you do weekly water changes, and what was the lighting period before you reduced it to 8?

 

[efina]

Thanks for the information, the tank is not near a window so it is not being effected by direct sunlight. I will certainly try some shrimps !

I use the API test kit and the results seem to be fairly consistent. I have also recently used the JBL paper strips and they produce a similar result.

 

[efina]

Thanks for the info Stu, I am using a basic TMC CO2 pressurised system (£50 job) and also a weekly dose of ferts.

I will have a look at the algae guide later and see if I can detect which algae I have.

The lighting was on for around 12 hours, so probably a bit on the long side !! ... I also recently added some reflectors, so this may have complicated the issue as the lighting is more direct.

Thanks for the info livewire, the tank is not next to a window so is not exposed to direct sunlight and I will certainly look at the shrimp option ... Do you have any favorites ??

 

[Livewire88]

Well I love Crystal Reds and am breeding some at the moment. All depends how much you are willing to spend on shrimp but they are all good at eating algae.

I have Cherry shrimp and Ammano shrimp in all my other tanks

Also if possible try split your ferts down and dose daily, dosing once a week never worked very well for me.